h * Cornell University Library HB 171 7.R72 Social economy. 3 1924 002 608 549 ONOMY QUESTIONS OF THE DAY. (The numbers omitted .represent Monographs no longer in print.) c. : Ele 9— The Co By io— Of \ 13— Publ Oct 14 Th By 16— The 20— The Cei 23 — Socii 24— The B01 25— The Oct a6— The 28— The Ba< 30— The THE LIBRARY OF THE NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY THINGTON .ocal), the ns of Gov- . 1 25 :ture and Thereto. 40 cloth, 75 1 Lowell. 40 Heredity. . 1 00 25 ast Half *5. 75 DWARD G. . I 25 Lawton. 50 h . 1 25 Walter . 1 00 :loth, 1 00 . 1 00 35 — Unwise Laws. By Lewis H. Blair. Octavo, cloth . 36 — Railway Practice. By E. Porter Alexander. Octavo, cloth, 75 37— American State Constitutions : A Study of their Growth. By Henry Hitchcock, LL.D. Octavo, cloth .... 75 38 — The Inter-State Commerce Act : An Analysis of its Provisions. By John R. Dos Passos. 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There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924002608549 Questions of the Day.—xxiii. SOCIAL ECONOMY T. E. THOROLD ROGERS TOOKE PROFESSOR OF ECONOMIC SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD REVISED FOR AMERICAN READERS PROPERTY OF L'^^ARY V s "! \T~" <"? r ~r. p" --■] ti'p. - "*** ,' ' * s ( ' '. i 'i r r ft c ■"' >Tf"? IhLt^h s,.L ft. • L.iLC-u t :•. :s , ,:. ii 6 CORNELL UNIVERSITY NEW YORK 4 LONDON G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS She Snicktrbochrr ")3rras 1893 Mtj) PREFACE. The object of this little book is to give instruction in the rudiments of social science, and to do so in such language and in such a form as will make the subject clear to the youngest students. The author has stated what he has to say in the shape of a series of lessons, each of which should be carefully read and understood before the pupil passes on to the next. It is hoped that when he has read through the whole, he will have got some insight into the laws which regulate social life. It does not follow that knowledge will make the person who possesses it discreet and wise ; but no person will be discreet and wise without knowledge. After that training which is necessary for each person in order that he may earn his living, no knowledge can be more usefully turned to account than that which explains the circumstances under which men live together in a civil- ized society, and confer benefits on each other. It is this knowledge which the author hopes to have given in the following pages. Oxford, Dec. i, 1871. PREFACE TO THE AMEBIC AN EDITION In pieparing thL volume for American Students, I have made no changes in the original plan, and have not pretended to add any thing to the clear and satisfac tory text of the author. I have merely translated his references to currency, measurements, trades, etc., from the English to the American terms, and changed some of the more important illustrations, so as to make them apply to American circumstances. I do not of course suppose that the American boy who will read this vol- ume, does not understand what is meant by a pound sterling, or a stone weight, but as the lesson to be taught is one of principles, and not of comparative values, 1 think the changes I have made will save him from giving time to any unnecessary details. The spirit and purpose of the book are excellent, and its teachings combine to a rare degree, simplicity and thoroughness. A full understanding of the princi- ples it explains, will give to our young American stu- dents the basis of the knowledge that is indispensable for the clear-headed citizens and wise legislators, they should aim to become. G. H. f. June, 1872. CONTENTS. LESSON L PAG* Savage and Civilized Life ll LESSON n. A Loaf of Bread 15 LESSON m. The Sharing of the Loaf — Rent 19 LESSON IV. The Share of the Workman 23 LESSON V. The Course of Improvement 27 LESSON VL Variety of Employments ....... 31 LESSON vn. Various Bates of Wages 36 lesson vm. Unpaid Work 40 8 CONTENTS. LESSON IX. Motives for Labor 44 LESSON X. Partnerships of Labor 48 LESSON XI. The Eight of the Seller to fix a Price 53 LESSON xn. The Employer's Wages 08 lesson xrn. The Use of Gold and Silver 62 LESSON XTV. Money ........... 66 LESSON XV. Substitutes for Money 71 LESSON XVL Freedom and Slavery 75 lesson xvn. Parent and Child 80 lesson xvrn. Public Education 84 LESSON XTX. Special Learning 89 CONTENTS. 9 PAGE. LESSON XX. Inventions and Books .... ... 94 LESSON XXL Restraints on Buving and Selling 99 LESSON xxn. Public Charities 104 lesson xxm. The "Work of Government ....... 109 LESSON XXTV. Taxes ... . .... 113 LESSON XXV. What do Taxes come from ? 117 LESSON XXVL The Punishment of Crime 121 LESSON XXVTL The Principle of Punishment 126 LESSON XXVTIL Restraints on Freedom 130 LESSON XXIX. Restraints on Callings 134 LESSON XXX. Laws Fixing Pri ?es 138 1* 10 CONTENTS. PAGE. LESSON XXXL Kogulations on Professions 143 LESSON XXXTT. Forbidden Callings 147 lesson xxxm. Callings which are under a Police . . . . 152 LESSON XXXTV. Poor-Laws ........... 156 LESSON XXXV. The Protection of the Weak 160 USSSON XXXVI Emigration It4 SOCIAL ECONOMY LESSON I. SAVAGE AND CIVILIZED LIFE. Few of the readers of this book, have not seen a town, and most of them have probably lived in or visit- ed the larger towns or cities. But nearly all American boys and girls will know that a little more than two centuries ago, there were not any cities or towns on this continent, and the people who lived on it, the Indians, wandered about the coun- try, chasing the wild animals, or fishing, or digging roots, in order to get food. In other countries, such as England, France, or Ger- many, the time when there were no towns was a good deal further back, but in them also some centuries ago, people had to get their living by hunting or fishing, or by pasturing such flocks and herds as they possessed wherever they could find grass for them to live upon. In those old days the people who could get their liv- ing in a country like England for instance, by the chase or by pasturing cattle, were very few, not more indeed than could be reckoned in a middle-sized town at the present day. Few as they were, they were all that could live. If the summer was very dry, or the spring very 12 SOCIAL ECONOMY. backward, many were starved. The whole of England and Wales in those ancient times did not maintain a hundredth part of the number who live in it at present, and did not maintain this hundredth part as securely and as comfortably as every Englishman is maintained now. There are parts of the world where the inhabitants live just as our forefathers lived in England ages ago, such as the Indian territories of the United States, the greater part of Africa, and large tracts in Asia. The inhabitants of these scantily settled and unculti- vated countries are said to be savages. Those who live in countries settled and civilized like our own are said to be civilized. The savage is poor, ignorant, and lives from day to day. The civilized man is, in compari- son at least, rich, wise, and has made some provision for the future. What are the causes which make so great a difference between the condition of the savage and that of the civilized man ? I purpose in this little book to give an account of some among the causes which make this mighty differ- ence. I cannot give them all, for if I tried to do so the book would not be little, and what is perhaps more to the purpose, I should mix up things which had better be kept separate. For example, good and just laws, wise and fair government on the part of rulers, virtuous and honest action on the part of subjects, are powerful causes of civilization. But I am not writing a book about law, or government, or moral conduct : I shall only try to show what is the reason why a hundred civ- ilized people can live on the space of ground which will hardly keep one savage alive ; why it is civilized people can live together in great towns, and are the better for then- neighbors, while a savage man is anxious to have as SAVAGE AND CIVILIZED LIFE. 13 few neighbors near him as possible. Stated in a very few words, the savage is obliged to do every thing for himself, and the civilized man is able to get an infinito number of things done for him. The principal necessaries of life are food, clothing, lodging. If we add to these the means of moving from place to place, we shall find that most labor is given with a view to satisfying those wants, either immediate- ly or indirectly. For example, a farmer who sows a field with wheat is immediately engaged in the supply of food, while the smith who constructs a plough is in- directly concerned with the same service. There is the same difference between one who shears wool, or grows cotton, and another who makes the weaving machine wherewith to spin either substance into cloth. The savage man has to provide himself with food, and with the implements or weapons necessary to obtain food, to make himself clothing, and to manufacture the tools needed for piecing the skins together which he wears. But the civilized man gets his fellow-man to do a vast number of these services for him, and does some service himself, in return for which he is able to get such conveniences as he requires. And he gets what he needs more regularly, more easily, more plentifully, and more cheaply than he would if he lived a savage life. As the civilized man gets what he wants more cheap- ly than a savage does, so he gets it more regularly. A great city like New York depends for its food, for the materials of the clothes which its inhabitants wear, and of the houses in which they live, on other regions. It is, so to speak, wholly dependent on other places for all which its inhabitants need. But it gets them regu- larly — with the exactness and precision, as people say, 14 SOCIAL ECONOMY. of clockwork. The case is very different with those who live a savage life, or even with those who are only partly civilized. Such people are liable to sudden oa lamities. A famine comes, and half the people perish sickness overtakes them, and the same result ensues. Again, you will see people going out to their work — engaged in the business of their shops and counting houses — occupied in a number of different industries They are eager in carrying on their calling, and have no anxiety, except as to the best way to do that which lies before them. But in countries where men do not understand the laws which are needful for the security of society, violence breeds suspicion and fear, and men are hindered in their calling by the necessity of defend- ing themselves. It is plain, then, that there are conditions of human life where men are unskilful ; where the means of life are irregular ; where labor, unless the workman carries arms and is suspicious and watchful, is wholly unsafe. Now the discovery of the means by which the largest number of persons can live in the greatest plenty, can look forward to the greatest regularity, and can do their work in the greatest safety, is the object of what is calle'l " social science." lesson n. A LOAF OF BREAD. If you take a loaf of bread, ani think of the persons who are set to work in order to produce or supply that loaf, you will find that the number of such persons is very large. The three principal persons are the farmer, the miller, and the baker. But the farmer almost always em- ploys labor, both of man and beast, in order to get his crop in. He also uses implements which are made by the la- bor of the carpenter, the smith, and in our time by the ma- chinist, for the employment of finished machines in hus- bandry is becoming very common. The presence of the smith calls into activity the work of those who raise iron and coal. Another kind of skill is needed in order to work iron and coal profitably — to direct the labor of those who are engaged in those industries. Again, the miller requires the service of those who quarry to supply him with the best stones with which to grind his flour — that of the weaver to supply him with the cloth, or of the worker in metals, who manufactures the metal sieve through which the flour is sifted, and of anoth- er kind of weav«" who makes the sack in which both corn and flour are stored. The mill in which he carries on his work is the product of another set of laborers — the car- penter, the joiner, the wheelwright, the mason, the brick- 16 SOCIAL ECONOMY. layer. If the power which he employs is water, a special kind of skill is needed in order to use the force of run- ning or falling water ; if it he wind, he will want the ser- vices of the weaver of such cloth as catches the wind ; if it be steam, a still more numerous and more scientific class of workmen must he employed. The baker, again, needs his assistants before he can carry on his calling. If he prepares his bread in wooden vessels, he calls in the help of the cooper. The brick- maker or quarryman supplies the bricks or stones of which his oven is built ; or in case the oven be made of iron, the miner and the smith must work to get the materials and fashion them. If the bread be baked in some shape or mould, other kinds of labor are needed. If it be made by machinery — as the best bread is now made — another set of persons is called on to exercise their industry. If the baker weighs his bread before he sells it — as he is bound to do — another set of persons supplies the weights and scales ; and so on with the materials of which those implements are made. For reasons which will be given further on, it is not found possible to carry out their transactions without money. Money is made of metals, which are, for the most part, discovered and worked in distant and barren re- gions. Here, then, is another field of labor. The miner is supported by food and other necessaries, which are car- ried to him in ships. The building of a ship calls into ac- tivity a whole host of industries, many of which the ex- perience or knowledge of my readers will remind them of. When the gold and silver are brought to this country, other people must be set to work, in order that the met alsmaybe refined, cut into pieces, and stamped as coins and a very nice and delicate process the work of coining is A LOAF OF BREAD. 17 Now I have only named a few of those persons who are engaged in producing a very simple necessary of life. But besides those who labor mostly with their hands, there is another class of men who labor mostly with their heads — the class of employers or, as they are sometimes called, capitalists. These men are engaged in directing the labor of others, or in studying the market, and in keeping up a continual supply of goods at as steady a price as possible. Unless persons were found to devote themselves to trade, the advantage of a steady, regular supply of the necessaries and conveniences of life would not be forthcoming. I said above that a savage was ignorant. He is a savage because he is ignorant. It would be impossible to keep the advantages of civilization unless each succes- sive generation were taught. If any society of men were to resolve not to give any instruction to their children — not to communicate to their descendants what they know themselves, such a society would in a short time relapse into the condition of savages. Nations are civilized because they inherit the knowledge as well as the property of their ancestors. Some of this knowl- edge is imparted by the skilled workman, either with or without the formality of apprenticeship ; but a great deal of the knowledge is given by the schoolmaster, who therefore discharges a most important duty to future so- ciety. There are, then, a very large number of persons en gaged in producing and supplying a loaf of bread. Perhaps my readers will wish to know why it is that I have chosen a loaf of bread in order to illustrate the great fact, that a civilized society is united by the mu- 18 SOCIAL ECONOMY. tual services which its several members render to each other. I began by stating that the same space of earth could maintain a hundred times more civilized people than it could savages ; in other words, it produces a hundred times more food besides producing it with far greater regularity. The number of people who can live in any country or in any town is measured by the number of loaves which this people can produce or can purchase. If the whole of America were as densely peopled as New York is, it would not contain too many persons, provided those who lived in it could procure necessary sustenance. There is, then, a great deal to be learnt from a loaf of bread. lesson in. IHE SHARING OF THE LOAF — RENT. Every one of the persons who assists in supplying a loaf of bread is paid out of the price of the loaf. The portion which some of these persons receive is, no doubt, excessively small, but still it is received. The price is said to be distributed among the several persons who contribute towards the loaf. A portion of the price, however, is paid to one person who does not con- tribute any thing ; this is the person who owns the land. It must not be supposed that he has no right to get it ; it is impossible to prevent his having it. If any other person — whether it be the community at large or the farmer who occupies the land — were to take this por- tion, it would only mean that the community made itself the landowner, or that the farmer was turned into a landowner. Let us see how this comes to pass. We shall be able to discover it more easily, if we take the case of some country which is differently situated from our own. However valuable, useful, or even necessary a thing may be, it bears no price if every person can get as much as he pleases of it without any trouble. "Without air we could not live two minutes ; but, as under ordinary cir- 20 SOCIAL ECONOMY. cumstances, everybody can get as much air as he likes, he need pay nothing for it. So with water, though in less degree. In the United States, and in the country parts of Europe, water bears no price, because it can easily be had for the getting ; but in the great towns of Europe, especially in such a town as London, water does bear a price, though the price is so low for those who want to drink it, that no one but a churl would think he did you any great favor in giving yon a glass of water. Now let us take the case of the middle island in the New Zealand group. The first settlers in that island found a few savages there, but only a few. The climate of the island is very like that of England, and the land is as fit for ordinary crops as that of our own country. Much, no doubt, was covered by wood, but there was abundance of open ground. As any person who came thither could have as much land as he wished, land was worth nothing; and no bit of land was more desirable than any other bit, or the most desirable bits were far in excess of the wants of the colonists. But in course of time a change occurs. Some bits get to be more desirable than others. The first place in which such a change takes place is in the towns. A road is made, and a place near the road is worth more than a place further from it. The town is a seaport, and the land near the sea is worth more than that which is more distant. A market is set up, and a plot near the market is more desirable than one which is less convenient. Immediately on such occasions, the land which is thus favored yields more advantages than other land does or, in other words, begins to yield a rent. In all newly-settled countries rent arises first in the THE SHAKING OE THE LOAF— RENT. 21 towns, since the causes which make rent begin hero first. In course of time the influence of this cause is rendered wider. The agricultural land near the town begins to be worth more than that which is further ofl It may not grow more corn, but it costs less to bring what it grows to market. It may have no greater nat- ural fertility, but it is at a shorter distance from the place whence it can get the means of artificial fertility. The occupier of such land finds an easier market for his produce. He is put to less cost in carrying manures to his farm, and conveying machinery thither. If he tried to sell his farm, he could get a price for it, which would be beyond the value of what he has laid out on it ; and the fact that he could get such a price shows that it is pay- ing a rent. By-and-by other farms, as the people get more nu- merous, begin to share in these advantages. It does not follow that farm produce gets a penny dearer; it may even get cheaper. It very often happens, in coun- tries such as I have described, that while land yields no rent whatever, the produce of land is exceedingly dear. In other words, the prices of wheat, butter, wool, and a host of other things, have nothing whatever to do with the rent of land. In the end, all the land of the country which can re- turn any produce to labor is occupied. It is still the business of the farmer to turn his land to the best ad- vantage, and as he does so, the owner of the land shares in the advantage of the farmer's skill. So the shop- keeper tries, in so far as the place where he carries on his business will aid him, to get the greatest advantage out of his shop; and if the advantage does depend on the situation of his shop, his landlord will share the 22 SOCIAL ECONOMY. gain. If his landlord did not share it, the occupiei would keep it to himself. But being better off than his neighbor is, by the possession of this advantage of situa- tion, he would be able to sell his advantage — that is to say, he would become a landowner. Now this is the way in which rent arises. Nor is there any limit to its increase, as long as the intelligence of men is devoted towards improving husbandry, and the number of people who live on farm produce in- creases with these improvements. In such a country as England land has become exceedingly valuable, partly because agriculture is practised so well in it, partly because the trade of the country has so mightily in- creased, and therefore people are willing to give so much for the right of occupying land which lies advan- tageously for trade. The owner of land therefore gets a share in that which labor produces without having contributed to that labor. But he does not get it by violence or wrong ; it comes to him by a law of nature, since what- ever is scarce and useful will fetch a price. Now when land is fully settled it begins to be scarce, and as in or- der for man to live he must get food by husbandry, there can be nothing more useful than that which sup- plies the means of life. LESSON IV. THE SHAKE OF THE WORKMAN. I have shown you how it is that the owner of land gets a portion of the price at which the loaf is sold : the rest of the price is divided among those who work. To work means to use one's bodily powers or one's powers of mind. Of course no one can use his bodily strength to a purpose, in any calling whatever, unless he brings his mind to bear on his work ; nor can the clev- erest and quickest thinker dispense with some bodily effort. When, therefore, we say that one man's labor is bodily and another's is mental, we merely mean that the work is more of the body in the one case, and more of the mind in the other. Useful qualities of mind are rarer than useful qualities of body, and are therefore more costly. The manager of a business is better paid than a common workman is, because his skill is scarcer. A great lawyer or a wise physician is more highly paid than a person of ordinary abilities in either of those call- ings is, because great powers in each of those prefes sions are rare, and the service which each of those per- sons renders is very much sought after. There is a sort of fertility of men's minds very like the fertility of cer- tain fields. In places where wine is grown, one spot of land will produce wine fifty times as valuable as that 24 SOCIAL ECONOMY. which comes from another spot, which to all appearance is of just the same quality ; so the work of one man may be paid for at fifty times the rate at which another man's work is paid, simply because people find out that it is worth fifty times as much. It is common to say that such and such a person has put so much money or capital into a workshop or business. This only means that he has put so much work into it, though the work is shown in different ways and under different shapes. I will try to make this clear to you. With one exception, and I have explained this ex- ception in the last lesson, every thing valuable gets its worth because work is expended on it. If the work- man has given his work wisely, the price of what he sells agrees with the pains he has been at to produce that which he sells. If be makes that which nobody wants, he will have wasted his labor altogether. If he makes more than is wanted, he will have wasted some of his labor. If he takes more time to make it than other people do, he will give more work for less price than other workmen do. Now everybody wishes to get as much as he can for his work, and to work as little as he can for what he gets. These are very plain facts, but they have been the causes which have led to that result of which I spoke at first — that in the present day a hundred persons can get their living where some centuries ago hardly one person could live. The reason why a piece of gold, roughly speaking, is worth fifteen times as much as a piece of silver of the same weight, and twelve hundred times as much as a piece of copper of the same weight, is that on the whole THE SHARE OE THE "WORKMAN. 25 it takes fifteen and twelve hundred times as much work to get a pound of gold as it does the same weights of silver and copper. The reason why one house in a street is worth a thousand dollars, and another house in the same street is worth two thousand, is that the second cost twice as much to build as the other did. The reason why a hundredweight of wheat is gene- rally worth half as much again as a hundredweight of barley, is the fact that it generally costs half as much more labor or expense to grow the former than it does to grow the latter. The reason why one kind of manual labor is worth twenty-five cents a day, and another kind is worth a dollar, is because it has cost so much more to prepare the latter kind of workman than it has to bring up the former. In brief, the value or price of any thing, whether it be work done or labor to be hired, agrees with the cost of making the thing or preparing the laborer. Nobody who wishes to get his living by any calling betakes himself to making that which nobody wants. It would be waste of labor to make parlor grates in a tropical climate, or sun-blinds in an arctic one. It is true that many people get their living by making or sup- plying things which others would be far better without ; but there are many things which people wish for, and sacrifice a great deal for, though their use is mischievous or even ruinous. Again, if more of any article is made than is general- ly wanted, some of the labor is wasted. It sometimes happens that more cotton or woollen cloth is made than people want to buy. But this evil soon rights itself. 2 26 SOCIAL ECONOMY. The commonest and worst case is when too many peo- ple enter into any calling. Thus it is said that at pres- ent there are more tailors and shoemakers than are needed to make clothes and shoes. Unfortunately, there have been for many a year too many needle- women. Now when too many people are engaged in any calling, they will either get low wages or irregular employment. It is as plain as figures can show that if there be only work for three, and six seek work, there are only two courses open for them : either the six must work so cheaply as to induce employers to give them full work, or each must work half-time. Lastly, the workman may take too much time at his work. He may be idle, or unskilful, or weak, may have bad tools, or not possess improved tools. In working land a plough is better than a spade, a steam cultivator better than a plough. In spinning yarn a hand- wheel is better than a spindle, a spinning-jenny better than a hand- wheel. An ill-fed workman is less profitable than a well-fed one, often even if the latter is paid double the former's wages, for low wages is very often another name for dear labor. LESSON V. THE COTJBSE OF IMPROVEMENT. In the last lesson it was stated that everybody wish- es to get as much as he can for his work, and to work as little as he can for what he gets. When I say that he wishes to work as little as he can, I don't mean that he wishes to turn out an inferior article, but that he wants to supply an article equally good with that which his neighbor supplies, but at less cost to himself. There is nothing which has helped the progress of mankind more than this motive or impulse. It has caused every kind of improvement in the manufacture of useful things. It has led men, with greater or less success, to devote themselves to that calling for which they find themselves most fitted. In seeking their own good they have done the best service to their fellow-men. I cannot illustrate what I have said better than by referring to the progress of agriculture. Two or three centuries ago the art of the farmer was very rude. He reaped a very scanty return for his seed; he knew nothing about those roots on which cattle are maintained in the winter-time, and his stock of animals was coarse and lean. But he was as diligent and thrifty in his call- ing as he now is. He paid rent, and got his living by his work on the farm. 28 SOCIAL ECONOMY. The first discovery he made was the value of turnips and carrots. Before he found out the use of these roots he had only a little coarse hay to feed his cattle on in the winter. In consequence, towards autumn it used to be the custom to Mil all the animals who could not be kept through the winter, and the people lived on salted provisions for several months. Now he is able to keep his stock, and get fresh meat all the year round. But the more animals that can be kept on a farm, the more grain can be grown ; and the increase of live stock led to an increase in the yield of corn. Next — always with the same motive, to get the greatest return at the least pos- sible cost — the farmer began to think what were the best kinds of grass on which to feed his stock, and which could be made into hay. Thus he sowed clover and rye grass, and other so-called grasses. More feed and more stock followed. By-and-by he began to choose his stock of cattle and sheep. He found that some breeds yielded more profit than others, and he selected these for his farm. Then he studied the land which he tilled, and found that draining would better this field, and chalk would better that. Then he learned the use of artificial manures, as certain substances are called. Lastly — always with the same motive — he began to use better and more powerful instruments for stirring the ground, for reaping or mowing the produce, and for threshing the seed. The end of all this has been that the land yields five times as much produce as it did in the days before these discoveries were made. The motive for these discov- eries was the expectation of greater profit on labor — i.e., the farmer's own interest. This he furthered in the first instance. But the nation at large had its advan- THE COURSE OE IMPROVEMENT. 29 tage in greater plenty, in more regular supply, and there- fore in the means for maintaining a large number of per- sons. The landowner got his advantage in the increase of his rent, which kept growing, for the reasons given in the last lesson but one. The same results have occurred in manufactures. The inhabitants of any country must live on its produce, or be able, in case they are too numerous for the land of the country to maintain them, to get the produce of other countries in exchange for what they make. Now it is clear, if agriculture is so backward that everybody's time is occupied in tilling the land, while the produce is only just sufficient to keep alive those who are engaged in tillage, that nobody can betake himself to any other calling. And conversely, if the art of agriculture is so advanced that a fifth part of the people can produce the food which is required for all, four-fifths of the people may be employed in some other calling, and many of these, under certain circumstances, need do no work at all. Now the manufacturer is open to the same influence which moves the farmer. He makes cloth, for example. If he can lessen his own cost or labor he will get a greater return for his labor ; so he eagerly welcomes all machines which shorten labor or lessen cost. Part of this extra advantage he keeps for himself, part he bestows on the public by lessening the price of that which he makes. At the present time it is probable that it does not take a fiftieth part of the time and trouble to make a yard of cloth that it did in the days when farmers be- gan to improve agriculture. Meanwhile the people at large have got better and cheaper clothing. When we think of the conditions under which the 30 SOCIAL ECONOMY. industry of any society of men is carried on, we shaL constantly discover that while men are endeavoring, by just and lawful means — that is, without violence, unfair- ness, or dishonesty — to further their own interests, they always further the interests of others also ; and the rea- son why this always takes place is that they who are en- gaged in honest industry are trying to do their neighbors a service. It is true that they expect some other service in return ; but the exchange of these services is a mutual advantage. If I have made a pair of boots, and my neigh- bor has made a table, and we agree to exchange these two useful articles, the fact of our making the exchange means that I prefer the table to the boots, and he prefers the boots to the table. We both gain : we should not make the exchange if each did not see his own good in the bargain. Plain as this fact is, it has taken a very long time to make it plain. What is true of the bootmaker and the cabinet-maker is true of all the people who live together and trade together in any one country ; it is true of the trade which is carried on between country and country. It is no honest man's real interest to make his neighbors poor and miserable : his best chance is in their wealth and pros- perity. But nations have not yet learned this truth. They still put hindrances between themselves and other nations. What should we think of a shopkeeper who wished to sell his own goods, and yet paid a policeman to prevent the people of another village from coming to buy of him, and sell to him ? Now this is just what a country does which prohibits or fetters trade with other countries. LESSON VI VAEIETT OE EMPLOYMENTS. The more employment is divided, the greater is the skill of those who addict themselves to a single employ- ment. " Practice makes perfect," says the proverb. No one can be dexterous without being diligent. By force of habit, persons are able to do things so quickly and so exactly, that they who do not possess the knack wonder how the thing can be done at all. But quickness and exactness mean cheapness, and contribute to what I have called the greatest amount of work with the least pos- sible labor. If everybody had to do every thing for himself, he could not do each thing nearly so well and nearly so easily as would be done if one man made it his business to make one thing, or even part of one thing. It is very useful to know how to do a great many things: it is wise to try to get one's living by making one thing. Nature points this out to us on a large scale. Differ- ent countries have different products. One region grows cotton and tea, another wheat, another rice, another spices, another wine and oil. One country possesses coal, another mines of metals. This division of material qual- ities points to a division of industries and employments, and an exchange of the benefits which those industries procure. 32 SOCIAL ECONOMY. Similar facts apply to the inhabitants of any one coun- try. In nearly all parts of the United States, agriculture is still the prevailing industry; but while in the Northern and Western States the inhabitants have devoted them- selves to the growing of wheat, oats and corn, in the Southern States the farmers produce principally cotton, rice, and sugar. In some parts of the country, moreover, while a large portion of the territory is still devoted to farms, a largo proportion of the inhabitants are engaged in other employments, as in New England in manufactur- ing, and in Pennsylvania and other States in mining and working metals. The United States have a long line of sea-coast, containing many harbors, while the sea in the neighborhood of some parts of this coast swarms with fish. Hence the callings of the sailor and the fish- erman. Again, there are occupations which seem to be proper to sex and age. It seems natural that men should do particular kinds of work — as that of a collier, a glassblower, a smith. No one would like to see women engaged in these callings. Again, some occu- pations seem peculiarly fitted to women — as that of teaching children, sewing, and domestic labor. The difference of fitness does not lie in the hardness of the work. Labor in a harvest field is hard enough, but in most countries of Europe, in the agricultural districts women bear a part in this. Some kinds of work are undertaken by young per- sons. It is cruel and foolish to give children hard work. It is too great a strain on their powers, and therefore stunts their growth and damages their health. It inter- feres with their school-time and learning, and therefore stunts their minds. Hence the law in England, and in VARIETY OF EMPLOYMENTS. 33 some of the United States, prohibits the employment of children below a certain age — at least in certain callings — and does not allow them to work more than a certain number of hours any week during another time of their life. It has been proved, however, that when children of a certain age do light work for a time, and learn for a time, their education does not suffer. A variety of circumstances, then, lead to a division of employments. Experience shows that such a division makes work easier. The most familiar and general of such divisions is that which sets a father to work, and gives the mother the management of the home. The wise expenditure of wages is as important and difficult as the skilful earn- ing of wages. No man is more to be pitied than a workman who, having a young family, loses his wife, ex- cept perhaps one who has a wife who neglects her du- ties to her home and her children. The largest example of the division of employment is to be found in the government of a country. If no arrangement were made for the public and private de- fence, for doing right between persons in courts of law, but everybody had to undertake the protection of his own home and family from violence, and to be the judge of his own rights and wrongs, the waste of such a system would be vast, the confusion would be con- stant, and society could not hold together. The soldier, the policeman, the judge, the ruler, are all appointed to the offices they fill, because it is the cheapest course to have such persons to do a great public service. If you were to go into a great manufactory, you would find in one place a number of persons engaged 2* 34 SOCIAL ECONOMY. in keeping accounts, and considering what work is to be undertaken. Then, when you go into the workshop, you would find a number of persons engaged in various kinds of labor. You might find some men occupied in work which requires a great amount of skill, others in work which needs little more than an effort of strength. You may find women employed in occupations which do not need much heavy labor, but which do require a cer- tain amount of taste or quickness. And, lastly, you may find a number of children occupied in that which does not require much strength or much skill. There may be, in short, many kinds of labor engaged under the same roof. Now it is plain that there may he, and is, a great variety in the value of these kinds of labor. It would rseem that the work which needs much skill and strength ought to be more costly, i. e. t be better paid, than that which needs only strength, or only skill, and much more than that which needs neither skill nor strength in any great degree. N"ow imagine that one man did all the work. Sup- pose that he is engaged in something that is really wanted, and which people will freely pay for in order to possess it. It is clear that in such a case he must be paid for the easiest and simplest work at the same rate that he is paid for the hardest and that which needs most skill, and therefore that what he makes and sells will be very expensive. The division of employment takes away part of the cost of labor. Easy work is paid at cheap or low rates ; hard work, and work which needs much skill, at high rates In a great factory, such as I have spoken of, one VARIETY OF EMPLOYMENTS. 35 •workman may earn as many dollars a week as another earns dimes. Nay, the most important ■workman of all, the manager, has, if he is paid properly, to receive much more than any of those who are put under him, and for a very plain reason. LESSON vn. VARIOUS RATES OF WAGES. Just as one field may grow more corn than another field, without putting the farmer to any greater cost in cultivating it, — just as a shop in one street may he more suitable for business than an equally good shop in an- other street, — -just as one mine may yield more coal or iron than another mine, while the cost of working both is the. same, and so on with a variety of other such nat- urally useful objects — so one man may, with no greater cost of preparation than his neighbor, earn a great deal more than that neighbor. There is a superior fertility of certain fields, a greater profit to be got in certain places, richer veins in certain mines, and similarly there is a greater natural power in certain minds. Two law- yers may have the same education and be equally dili- gent, but one may earn hundreds where another only earns tens. Two physicians may have had the same ad- vantages of study, and have equally striven to profit by their opportunities, and one may make a fortune while the other can barely earn a living. Now in the case of the field, the shop, and the mine, it is easy to measure the natural advantage which the more favored possess over the less, for reasons which I VABIOUS RATES OE WAGES. 37 gave before, when I told you how rent arises. It is not so easy, however, to measure the advantage which supe- rior abilities give some persons over others who work in the same calling; but they are none the less real and solid. These advantages of superior natural powers are to be noticed more frequently in mental labor than in man- ual. When an ordinary manual laborer has superior gifts, he seldom remains long in his first calling. He contrives to raise himself to what may be called the pro- fessional class, to leave off working with his hands, be- cause he is able to work with his head. The history of invention contains many instances of persons who have begun their career in a very humble station, and who have raised themselves to great eminence by their ge- nius and skill. I have mentioned this difference of capacity between man and man, because it is the only fact which prevents the rule which I am going to state from being universal — that the wages of every kind of labor or service which is offered and accepted are measured by the cost of pro- ducing and maintaining the laborer. As the mass of men have no remarkable gifts, the rule holds in their case without exception. I use the words " labor or service which is offered and accepted," because when a thing is not wanted it has no price or value. In degree, as I have said before, the same fact prevails when more is offered than is wanted. I put the case where the quantity offered ex- actly satisfies the quantity needed, because we are able to discover from such a case what follows when the offer is more than the want, or the want is more thai; the offer. 38 SOCIAL ECONOMY. From time to time every kind of labor rises and falls in value because more or less of it is needed. When in 1862, and for two or three years afterwards, there was a very scanty quantity of cotton to be sold, and therefore the price rose greatly, the services of cotton-spinners in England were less needed, and in consequence great distress prevailed in those English counties where the chief industry is that of cotton- spinning. When, a few years ago, it was no longer found to be worth while to build iron ships on the Thames, the same kind of distress occurred among the ship-builders. Taking these cases into account then, we shall find that the rule given above holds good. A workman is not paid wages in proportion to the importance of the service he does, or to the general skill with which he does it, but according to the cost of making him fit for the work which he has to do. There is no workman who can do so many things well as a good farm-laborer. He can plough. Now this is a work which requires a nice eye and a steady hand, for the ploughman has to drive a straight furrow for a long distance, and make that furrow of a uniform depth. He can reap — a task which requires no little skill; mow; build up a rick, thatch it; tend horses sheep, and cattle ; milk cows ; trim hedges ; clean and bank ditches, and a number of other things, any one of which needs great skill : but he is generally paid very low wages. The fact is, it costs very little to fit him for his work. At an early age he is made to earn the whole or part of his living, by being set to work in the field. He picks up his skill in other kinds of farm- work gradually. VARIOUS RATES OE WAGES. 39 There are other callings in which it is the custom to limit the right of working to those who have been ap- prentices, and further to limit the number of apprentices which a master may take. These rules make laborers scarce. The first rule makes the cost of training high, by delaying the power of earning full wages ; the second rule makes the number of laborers few. In callings therefore where these rules prevail, the wages of the workman — whose skill, maybe, is far less than that of the farm-laborer — are far higher than those of the farm-hand. But I must speak more at length on this subject here- after. A workman, in short, is just like a machine. It costs a great deal to render him competent to do work, and the outlay varies from hundreds to thousands of dol- lars. The workman has to be provided with food in or- der that he may work at all, just as a machine has to get its power of motion from fuel or some other source of power ; and similarly, the human machine lasts in its full strength only for a time, and entirely wears out at last. If there were any plan devised by which all the workmen in a particular calling were brought up and taught at the public expense, the wages of such work- men would reach the lowest range. In so far as some of such workmen were thus bred up, so far the wages of all would be lowered. There is no doubt, since many children of the poorest classes are brought up at the public expense in workhouses and elsewhere, that the general rate of wages is thereby lessened. There are some gifts which are not gains ; you may not be able to refuse their acceptance, though you may be none the better for them. lesson vni. UNPAID WOEK. The hardest labor which men undergo in field facto- ry, or mine, is not so hard as that which some undergo merely to amuse themselves. There are men who hunt, swim, race, row, run, walk, in a manner which, if they were forced to do these things by another's will, or for their living, would be a grievous hardship — a mere cruel- ty. So there are people who study. A man will gaze night after night at the stars with a patience and earnest- ness which few give to their common business — with far more diligence than any switch-tender watches trains. Another will pore over coins, and relics, and ruins, for months and years together; and not only will such peo- ple work very hard, but they will get nothing for their trouble. This kind of work is generally very pleasant to the man that undertakes it, and is sometimes very useful to society. Unless it goes into excess, exercise is of great service to the man who takes it. It makes him healthy, clear-headed, and strong; it gives, or ought to give, a lesson of temperance, for no person can excel in those exercises unless his habits are regular and sober. The change also from one kind of exertion to another is ex- ceedingly good for boys and men. A boy who mopes UNPAID "WORK. 41 in the playground seldom makes much figure in his class. These exercises are a good thing for society at large. It is everybody's interest that the men and women of the nation to which he belongs should be healthy and vigorous. A plant is healthy by reason of its leaves as well as its root ; a man is healthy when his mind and his body grow together. Now a race of stunted, sickly people may be said to be like a growth of stunted and sickly plants. Happily, however, it is almost always possible to put health into young people. It has some- times happened, though, that a race has been ruined. Again, when an astronomer watches the skies night after night — a geologist studies the manner in which the earth is constructed — a naturalist busies himself with the different habits and powers of animals — a botanist inquires into the structure of plants — these people are engaged in occupations which give them the keenest pleasure. The study of nature is one of the best and most gratifying of pursuits. You can follow it out in a great town as eagerly, though not perhaps as fully, as in a country village. It will give a relish to all occupa- tions, and add new powers to one's eyes, and sometimes to one's other senses. These pursuits give a great many advantages to him who follows them. It would be sufficient if they afford- ed him a rational amusement, and lifted him above merely sensual pleasures ; but they very often do much more. Observing eyes have frequently found out some- thing which have set many heads and hands to work. The prizes of human life are rare, and many may miss them who deserve them as much as those who find them , but nobody ever found them who kept his eyes shut. 42 SOCIAL ECONOMY. But I am more concerned at present with the effect of these kinds of study on society at large. They have constantly been the reason why mankind has made a great and lasting advance from weakness to power ; and there is no doubt that they will constantly produce the same results. It is easy to prove what I have said. Some student finds out that a little piece of stone gives a power to a little piece of steel of always point- ing in one direction. His discovery enables sailors to improve the art of navigation, and to find out a new world. Still, this discovery only tells the sailor which way he is going. Another person finds out that he can make, by reason of the qualities of certain metals, an instru- ment which will measure time with almost complete ac- curacy, and thus enable the sailor to find out where he is. The ship is, however, a very rough affair. Another person studies the properties of water, air, and wood, and defines, as accurately as a reckoning in figures will define any thing, what are the rules by which a ship should be built. Now let us take another subject. A student busies himself with the ground on which he walks, the quarries of stone which are dug out in it, and the shells and other relics which he finds in it. He is struck with the fact that the shells are exactly the same as those which are found near such coal-mines as are or have been worked. He argues, and he is right too, that though no coal is to be seen in the place which he has examined, the coal will be found on digging. He does the same with mines of metals. A chemist is engaged in trying, for the pure love of UNPAID WORK. 43 knowledge, to find out what are the properties possessed by gas-tar. Nothing, it would seem, but a love of sci- ence would lead him to trouble himself with it. But he knows that Nature is full of pleasant surprises, and that the more you learn about it, the more you enjoy it. By- and-by he finds out that this black, ill-smelling stuff con- tains the material for the most brilliant colors which can be given to cotton, wool, and silk. Hardest of all, a man busies himself with consider ing how the life of man can be spent most profitably to his neighbor and himself — how the world can go on with the least possible waste and disappointment. If he hits on the truth, he has done the rarest work of all, chiefly because the fruit of his discovery is to teach the way in which each man can make the best use of his powers. His work is of a very anxious kind, partly because it is so serious a matter if he makes a mistake, and persuades people that his mistake is a truth, partly because it is so difficult to discover the truth after which he is seeking. Perhaps not one of these persons is ever paid for his trouble. Many of them do not care to be paid, and if their work were ever so much slighted, would persevere as steadily as though it were reckoned at its true value. I have spoken of these cases because it must not be supposed that all useful work is paid for. Had it not been for such persons as these, who have studied what is to be seen and known for truth's sake, there would have been very little real progress made by mankind. Social science takes note of those services especially which are valued and exchanged; but it would be a great mistake to forget that some of the best services are beyond value, and cannot be priced, because no known price equals their worth. LESSON IX. MOTIVES FOR LABOK. It does not follow because a man works for that which will give him wages or profit, that he does not feel a pleasure in his work. Men may have a keen eye for the advantages which their calling affords them, and yet have as keen a love for the calling itself. A great painter, like Turner, may be quite devoted to his art, and yet be quite alive to the gain he makes by it. A great musician may be excessively fond of the wonder- ful subject on which his genius is exercised, as Beet- hoven was, and yet drive a good bargain with those who prize his compositions. It is a great mistake to think that the toil by which a man earns his bread must needs be unpleasant. On the contrary, he is a very silly fellow who does not make it agreeable, if it be possible to do so. But there is no doubt that every man who works for his living wishes to shorten his labor as much as he can. So also does he who works for his pleasure. Pro- vided it be only well done, no sensible person likes to linger over his work longer, than he can help. Now, what is it that sets most men and women to work ? It is necessity. A man must work in order to live. A few people can live without working in any so- ciety, but only a few. Nay, it is remarkable that of MOTIVES FOR LABOR. 45 these few a great many work very hard, some for profit, some for glory, some for what they believe to be the good of their fellow-men. In our country there are many rich but very few idle persons. Some of the rich- est are the most active, and if you remember what was said in the last lesson, some of them are the most useful. A man, however, may be very willing to work, and yet find nothing to do, because he has not found anybody who wants that which his work produces. Makers of carpets and fire-irons would find no employment in Bra- zil, for in a hot climate nobody uses a carpet or keeps a fire in his sitting-room. Somebody wants a man's work before he betakes himself to such an industry as he carries on. Somebody is ready to pay for it — that is, to give money for it, or to exchange something else for it — that is, to make something which he will give instead of it. For reasons which I shall show in another lesson, to buy and to bar- ter are really the same things. Two or more people work, then, because somebody wants what they work at. There are, of course, many kinds of wants, which are more or less pressing. Every- body wants food, clothing, and shelter. But there are many other wants when these are satisfied, which many or few people desire. If they do desire them, and they can be supplied, they get them satisfied. Tou will see, then, that the force which sets people to work is twofold : their own needs and the needs of others. If men wanted nothing, they would not work ; and if other men would give nothing which they want, it would be no good for them to work. Now if any man who works could easily and instant- 46 SOCIAL ECONOMY. ly find a customer or customers who would keep him in constant employment, and would give him in exchange for his work what he wants himself, the circle would be complete. Such a state of things occurs to a greater or less extent in country villages. A tailor or shoemaker constantly gets work from the villagers who live in the same place with him, finding his customers without any difficulty, and living entirely on their wants. In India the system is carried out much more exactly. In the vil- lages of that country there are always a certain number of artificers who live out of the common funds of the village, in return for the labors they give. Remembering, then, that the sole force which moves a man, whose needs compel him to work, is the willing- ness of others to buy the proceeds of his work from him, you will see that our social life, especially with those who dwell in large towns, is very different from that which belongs to our country villages, and still fur- ther removed from that which is found in India. The city workman seldom deals directly with the man who uses that which he makes ; he is generally employed by a person who is called master. This master or employer is really a middleman or go-between. His business is to find out customers for the workman's labor, and so to save him the trouble of seeking the customers himself. Now such an agent is a great saving to the workman. Though he does not say so in so many words, he does say in effect, " I will find you persons who will buy your labor, if there are any persons who will buy it." Next, his experience in finding customers not only stands the workman in good stead, but the same experi- ence enables him to guess with fair certainty what the MOTIVES FOB, LABOR. 47 number of such customers will be, and to take the risk of finding them out. Hence he is able to fix in a rough way how much of the labor for which he finds customers is wanted, and in a much closer way, is able to find reg- ular work for as many laborers as are needed for this work. There is nothing which a workman desires more than steady work at a fair price. This is what the middle- man or employer does for him, or at least offers to do for him. He buys his labor and sells it again. The laborer sells him his labor as really as the merchant sells the employer the leather, wood, cotton, or cloth on which the workman tries his skill. Nay, the workman actually lends his labor, unless he is paid from hour to hour, or the employer advances his wages, as certainly as the man lends money who makes an advance to the employer, in order to enable him to buy the materials which I named just now. Why, then, is this employer or master paid, and what is he paid ? He is paid because he does a service to the laborer, and for the matter of that, to the man who buys the laborer's work in the end. He is paid because he works; and he is paid well whenever his skill is no common power. The employer will and can no more work for nothing than any other laborer can or will. How much he will be paid depends on several things. It depends partly on the bargain which he can make with the laborer, partly on the bargain which he can make with the customer, partly on the shrewdness and skill with which he can guess at what the customers want. He does not, however, except in a very narrow sense, set labor in motion. He does not find wages, ex- 48 SOCIAL EOONOMX cept for a short time. He is a middleman, or go-be- tween, or dealer, -who does a very useful service to cer- tain persons, a service which very often is quite neces- sary. But many laborers do without him, many more could do without him ; some are doing without him on a very great scale. But social life can never wholly get rid of him, for he is sometimes a real necessity for la- borer and customer. LESSON X. PAETHEB8HIPS OF LABOB. The reasons which give a price to the master's or employer's labor, enable the shopkeeper to get a profit on what he does. The shopkeeper is the last link be- tween the laborer or producer, and the customer or consumer. If he were got rid of, or not in existence, the man who makes any useful article would have to hunt out the man who wants the article. This would be a waste of time, and therefore it is better to employ a go-between. The reason why there are such persons as merchants, agents, bankers, contractors, and so forth, is just the same. These are middlemen, who cheapen, or, what is the same thing, render more convenient the course of trade. Of course, if there are more of them than are needed, they are a hindrance and a loss. When there are too many of them they cause dearness, for they gen- erally unite together to fix the price of what they sell, and then look out for customers. They have a perfect right to do this, for everybody has a right to put his own price on his own goods and his own labor, and if need be, to unite with other persons for a common end ; but then, other people have a right to do without them if they choose to do so. 3 50 SOCIAL ECONOMY. No one, it is clear, has a right to demand of any other person that he should find him employment. A man who wants something may make it himself if he pleases, and if he can. A man who needs a service may do it for himself, if he is able, and nobody is wronged. So if a body of workmen or a body of customers can get rid of these middlemen, they are perfectly justified in doing so. This is sometimes done under what is called co-oper- ation. The word is rather an unlucky one, because there can be no human society at all without co-opera- tion; but the word is commonly used to express a par- ticular kind of partnership, in which the service of the middleman is got rid of. Of this partnership there are two kinds. One, the easiest and the simplest, is that which seeks to get rid of the shopkeeper, and therefore to sell the articles either at the ordinary price, and divide the profits among the customers of the shop or store, or at the lowest cost possible, after the expenses of the shop are paid. Such a scheme has been adopted in some settle- ments in the United States and in many towns through the North of England. The principle of the plan is that the shop gives no credit, and therefore runs no risk. The other kind of partnership is where the work- men find building, machines, tools, and materials them selves, and so get rid of the master or employer. This is a much more serious business. If it succeeds, the workmen, in addition to their own wages, get the em- ployer's wages also. In order that such a plan should succeed, three things are necessary: good management, promjt obedience PAKTNEBSHIPS OP LABOB. 51 to the necessary discipline of the workshop, and thrift. It is not difficult to secure the thrift, for when all the workmen, or a vast number of the workmen, are also owners, there is every wish to avoid waste. In this particular, an association or partnership of workmen has a great advantage over an employer. I am told that where this plan has been adopted the saving of waste is often very great. I am afraid it is true, and will be true for a long time to come, that people take more care of their own than they do of their neighbor's property. ' It is not always easy, however, to secure prompt obedience. Men who possess their own property don't like to be dictated to sometimes as to how they should use it, and English- American people, we are told, least of alL They make a great mistake when they show this self-will, even though no person's interest but their own is concerned. For, unluckily, the notion that a man will always save and spare what belongs to him, is a great error. Passion, and the habit of thinking only of the present day, instead of the future, make many men waste their substance, their powers, and their char- acter. But when another man's interest is bound up in one's own, the folly of negligence to duty, or order, or need- ful obedience, becomes a crime. Tou may see this best in an army. The safety of all lies in the obedience of all. If there be such a thing as natural rights, to go to sleep when you are tired is one of those rights ; but if a sentinel does so, he is shot. Another natural right is that of avoiding danger ; but a man who runs away in a battle is treated with the same justice as is given to a sleeping sentinel. It is quite fair that a man should 52 SOCIAL ECONOMY. choose those 'with whom he cares to have friendship but in war the choice is restricted, under the same pen- alties. Such, or something like it, is the case with a business in which many persons are interested. If one man ne- glects his work, another refuses to obey orders, a third undertakes that which does not belong to him, every thing is thrown out of gear. You can see the same thing in a school. The first rule of a school is order. Out of school the more liberty without wrong-doing the better : in school hours no liberty and full obedience is the way to work well. In some of these workmen partnerships of which I know, obedience is as strictly maintained as it is in an army ; in consequence, the whole of the workmen prosper. The hardest of all the needs is good management ; but the better and wiser the workman is, the easier is the management. If there were no wilful, foolish, and vicious people in the world, there would be no great trouble in ruling men. If there were no naughty and idle boys, the government of a school would be very easy. Perhaps, too, it is not so difficult to find people who will trust the ruler, as it is to find rulers who can be trusted. Now these partnerships of workmen have been en- tered upon in England and in the United States. They have been very successful where the plan has been car- ried out as I have described it ; but they have been still more successful in Northern Germany. LESSON XL THE EIGHT OF A SELLEB TO FIX A PEICE. In my last lesson I said that everybody has a right to fix the price at which he will sell that which he pos- sesses. This statement is. a general rule, to which there may be exceptions. For example, if a town was besieged, or in other way reduced to great straits, and a few men possessed all the food in the town, it is clear that, reasonable compen- sation being made, such persons may be constrained to bring the food they have into a common stock. And the ground of such an interference with trade is, that the siege being endured for the common safety of all, or the calamity, whatever it may be, affecting all, the full rights of property must be suspended for a time. In the same way, if it were necessary suddenly to undertake some work of public defence — as building forts against an enemy, or joining together to put down a riot, or laboring to check an inundation — it would never do to submit to the highest terms which those who might do the work could extort, but all might be justly called on to aid in what would be a common duty and a common interest. Again, it must be supposed that the person who fixes his price for his work or labor should be free to choose 54 SOCIAL ECONOMY. The law properly interferes to protect the weak against the strong. Hence it is held that the labor of children should he regulated by law ; that certain callings should not be followed by women; and sometimes that the hours of labor in the case of young persons should be put under some limit. But, with such exceptions as these, the general prin- ciple is that everybody has a right to fix what price he pleases for that which he has to sell, whether it be labor or goods. In the case of goods, very few people doubt that this right should be fully given ; in the case of labor, people are not so much of one mind, though they are much more agreed than they once were. If a man has the right of fixing the price of his own labor, he has a right to join with others in order to fix the price of all the labor which they may all be willing to sell. If ten, twenty, or two hundred persons can join in a trade partnership (and in some such partner- ships the number is reckoned by thousands — as, for ex- ample, in a railway), any number of persons can as rightly engage in a labor partnership, and thereupon agree to- gether as to the terms on which they will sell their labor. And on the other hand, persons who buy labor, or the produce of labor, have an equal right to decide with whom they will deal. If the workman has a choice as to the rate at which he will work, the customer has a choice as to whether he will accept the workman's terms. In the long run, the interests of the two parties to a bargain are so clearly understood that these things right themselves. When the workmen join together to fix the price at which they will work, the partnership is called a trades- union. I have called it a partnership, for it is just as RIGHT OE A SELLER TO FIX A PRICE. 55 much such an agreement as is the union of a number of persons to start a bank or make a railway, or work a mine. To refuse this right of partnership to workmen, and to give it to those who sell goods, is to do an in- justice. There is a very plain reason why workmen unite to- gether in such a partnership. The employer of labor, as I said in my last lesson, finds out the market price for that which he buys from the men whom he employs. Now he wants, of course, to get the best price he can, or as I said before, to get the greatest amount of wages for the least possible work. The employer of labor is the manager of a business. Management means work ; and work is, as I have shown you, to be paid for. The manager of a business, then, is just as much a workman as the people from whom he buys labor are. The price which he gets for that which he sells cov- ers the wages which he has paid the workman, the cost of his own materials, which are only labor stored up in useful objects and his own wages. If the price did not cover these items, it is clear that he would be working at a loss, and would not therefore continue his work. In one shape or the other, then, he gets wages for the work he does. N~ow it is possible to conceive that the workmen whose labor he buys may say to themselves, and then to each other : " This employer of ours gets too much wages for his work, and we get too little. We must try to put this right, and see whether we cannot get a larger share. How shall we set about this ? " There are three ways of arriving at such a result. One is, that the laborers should cease to work until they are paid more of the price at which the article which 56 SOCIAL ECONOMY. they make sells. Then they are said to strike — i. e., to leave off working till their claims are met. Unluckily for the workmen, they are not generally so well in- formed as the master or employer is as to the price which then- labor will fetch, and as to the needs of those who buy from their employer. Hence it has very often hap- pened that when they strike for higher wages they waste their own means, and do not gain the end they strive for. They are as much justified in trying to better the price of their labor, as a tradesman or merchant is who says he will rather not sell at all, than not get what he thinks his goods are worth. Another way of meeting the difficulty is to submit the whole case to some umpire. People seldom judge of their own rights wisely, and are frequently the better for taking counsel about them. You see this in the games which you play, and when you get older you will see the same fact in a hundred different things. There is a proverb, that " a man who is his own lawyer has a fool for his client." But a man who makes himself the judge of his own rights is even more certain to commit errors. Since this appeal to an umpire began to be prac- ticed in disputes between workmen and employers, a great many difficulties have been settled in a friendly manner. There is yet a third course ; this is to get rid of the employer altogether, and to enter into a complete part- nership, in which the manager of the business has the ordering of the labor, and in which the wages of the employer, after paying the manager, are divided among those who work with their hands. But this, as you will see, is what I spoke about in my last lesson, when I told you of labor partnerships. It is not perhaps possible to RIGHT OP A SELLER TO FIX A PRICE. 57 make this change in all oases, but where the plan has been tried it has often succeeded, and as time goes on it is likely to succeed more and more. Meanwhile the trial points out to workingmen what is the real position in wbinb. the employer stands to them. 3* LESSON xn. THE EMPLOYEE'S WAGES. Of course, if •workmen had the means wherewith to build the factories in which they work, and to buy the machines, if any, which shorten their labor, the materi- als on which to work, and could also bide their time till they can sell that which they make to the best advan- tage, they would be doing what the employer does for them when he uses his property for these ends. If, more- over, having these advantages in their possession, they could find a proper and fit person to direct their work, were content to follow orders, and to use thrift, their own interests would lead them to enter into the part- nership, and so save themselves the cost of using the employer's property and services. They are seldom able to do so. Workmen are rare- ly worth more than their week's wages in advance, and sometimes not even so much, but have to run in debt until they are paid their week's wages at the end of the week's work. Eveu if they have saved something, they seldom know how to set about creating such a partner- ship as I have referred to. They do not see how to begin. Besides, in a great many kinds of industry a very great outlay has to be made before any returns come in THE EMPLOYER'S "WAGES. 59 For example, a railway may be many years in making, before those who have made it can get a profit or reward for their expense. In other words, the property is sunk in the undertaking. Of course, it is possible for workingmen to find this outlay if they could join together to do so. The sum of money which has been put into the savings banks in this country is far in excess of the capital of the biggest railway. There are now working, and at a very good profit, two cotton mills at Oldham, in England, the larg- est capital of which has been subscribed in small sums by workingmen. In by far the largest number of cases, however, some one, two, or more persons called employers, capitalists, or masters, find all the property necessary to make the workshop, buy the machines and materials, and hold the goods. This is what they do. They do not really pay the workman, for at the end of the week they are in debt to him for work he has trusted them with. They merely buy his labor, as much as they buy whatever else they want ; and they sell what they have bought to the customer. Now you will see that the property with which the employer gets together buildings, machines, materials, and on which he can five till he sees proper to sell what he has bought, is only so much labor previously spent. We saw before that, with one exception, nothing has any value except by reason of the work which has been laid out on it. Property is value put into material ob- jects by means of labor. Some motive, however, must be put before the per- son who owns this property in order to induce him, in- stead of using it for his own enjoyment or amusement, 60 SOCIAL ECONOMY. to save it first, and then to employ it in assisting others to work. It is true that the owner of such property would not use it in this manner, unless he expected to get it back again in its full value; and get some- thing eloo as a reward, so to speak, for employing it to the good of others, instead of devoting it to his own pleasure. This reward or inducement is called interest. A man lends, so to speak, seed to the ground, and he expects not only to get back his seed at harvest-time, but a great deal to' re than he lent. In the same way, if a man puts propei