14.00 M YEAE. SIN G LE COPIES, 35 CENTS

Vol. V

THEI N T E R N A T I O N A L

MONTHLYA Magazine o f Contemporary Thought

F E B E U A E Y , 1 9 0 2

1. Trusts, Trade-TJnions, and the National Minimum-— Sidney Webb

2. The Armenian Question and Europe Archag Tchobanian

3. Tendencies in German Life and Thoughtsince 1870 (C on clu ded) Oeorg Simmel

4. The Search for the True Plato George Santayana

5. The Poetry of the South Hamilton W. Mabie

6. The Experimental Method of Studying Animal Intelligence Edward L . Thorndike

7. Chronicle of the Month Joseph B . Bishop

B U R L IN G T O N , V E R M O N T , U . S . A .148 C o l l e g e S t r e e t .

N E W Y O R K : L O N D O N :116 Nassau Street. The International N ew s C o., Chancery Lane.

L E IP Z IG : P A R IS :G. E . Stechert, Hospitalstrasse 10. Brentano’s, 37 Avenue de l’Op^ra.

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Copyright, 1002, by Frederick A. Richardson. Entered at the Postoffice in Burlington, F t, as Second-Class Matter.

T R U S T S , T R A D E -U N IO N S , A N D T H E N A T I O N A L

M IN IM U M

S ID N E Y W E B B , London.

N atio n s , it is to be feared, learn little from books or college lectures, or even from m agazine articles. W e m ay, indeed, go so far as to say th a t, in som e subjects at any rate , they learn only from experience,— a good teacher, if only the fees w ere no t so heavy ! I t took three v isitations o f A siatic cholera to teach English tow ns the elem ents o f m unicipal sanitation. T w o w hole generations o f academ ic dem onstration failed to convince the U nited K ingdom tha t it was im politic to tax the food o f the p e o p le : it needed a calam itous fam ine to drive the lesson hom e. W h a t, how ever, for m y present purpose is m ore im portan t is tha t there is a converse to this sta tem en t. E very strik ing change in the econom ic organization o f a nation teaches it som e lesson. W h a t is it th a t the A m erican public is likely to learn from the advent o f the T ru s t ?

I pretend to no in tim ate know ledge o f the industrial circum ­stances o f the U n ited States. B ut som e tw elve years o f observa­tion from afar, guided by tw o visits o f th ree m onths each , co n ­vince m e, at least, th a t the relations o f C apital and L abor in A m erica differ rem arkably from those in E ngland . T h is is a case in w hich the looker-on m ay possibly see, if n o t m ore o f the gam e th an the actual players, at any rate som e points w hich escape their no tice. I shall, therefore, a ttem p t to describe, first,

C o p y rig h t, 1904, b y F re d e r ick A. R ich a rd so n .

128 THE INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY.

w hat seem to m e characteristics com m on to both countries, and secondly, certain m om entous differences betw een them .

L e t us no tice, to begin w ith , how entirely bo th countries have departed from the industrial organization described by the classic econom ists. I t pleases m e to rem em ber th a t A dam Sm ith’s “ W e a lth o f N ations ” and the D eclaration o f Independence w ere given to the w orld in the sam e year. I do no t propose to discuss to w hat ex ten t the argum ent and philosophy o f both these m aster­pieces m ay have been influenced by the industrial o rganization then com m on to E ngland and N ew E ngland . W h a t is brought vividly and dram atically to our m inds by the form ation o f the so-called “ Billion D o lla r Steel T ru s t ” is the ex ten t o f the change w hich has com e over the econom ic status o f the m ass o f the nation . A cen tu ry and a quarte r ago, w hen Jefferson and A dam Sm ith w ere w riting , it could be taken for granted th a t the norm al sta te o f things w as for every m an to becom e, in due course, “ his ow n m a ste r” ; it could be assum ed tha t the w ork o f the world w as, for th e m ost part, done by m en w ho were moved by the stim ulus o f m aking “ p ro fit” as distinguished from wages or salary ; it seemed a scientific fact th a t values w ere determ ined by the m utual exchange o f the com m odities and services o f independent producers. I t was on these assum ptions th a t the classic political econom y was based. W h a t is m ore im portan t to us today is tha t, both in E ngland and in the U n ited States, the public opinion o f the educated and prosperous classes still m akes m uch the same assum ption. N either the prosperous E nglishm an no r the pros­perous A m erican can rid h im self o f the feeling th a t it is open to every one to becom e a profit-m aker, th a t no one need long rem ain a m ere w age-earner, and th a t it is, therefore, not really o f v ital consequence to the nation how those m em bers o f the com ­m unity w ho happen tem porarily to be w age-earners are actually living. T h e opening o f the tw en tie th cen tury sees, perhaps, som e w eakening o f this assum ption. E ngland pays m ore and m ore atten tion to its factory legislation. I do no t now find the prosperous A m erican , as I did tw elve years ago, believing and explaining, by w ay o f apology for the slum s o f C hicago or N ew

TRUSTS AND TRADE-UNIONS. 129

Y o rk , th a t all the slum -dw ellers could get ou t o f them if they chose. W h a t he now says and believes is th a t these are only “ dagos,” th a t at any rate every native-born A m erican can rise to a higher place, and th a t the status o f the hired laborer is, therefore, on the A m erican con tinen t, still som ething tran sien t, exceptional, and relatively un im portan t. H e is still revolted by any glim pse o f A m erican dem ocracy as a “ dem ocracy o f the c hired m an .’ ” Y et surely no th ing is m ore certain than th a t in the U nited States, as in W e ste rn E urope and A ustralia, the hired m en do, and m ust necessarily con tinue to , form at least th ree fourths o f the popula­tion. T h is is a fact w hich the advent o f the T ru s t , the suprem acy o f business conducted on a large scale, the rapidly increasing concen tra tion o f nearly every kind o f industry , can hardly fail to drive hom e to th e m ind o f the A m erican , as to th a t o f the E nglish citizen . H e w ill, for the first tim e, becom e aw are o f h im self as one o f a dem ocracy o f hired m en.

W e shall be conscious, too , by w hom w e are hired. I t has long been a fond dream , both in E ngland and in the U n ited States, to prove by som e m ysterious juggling w ith w age and price statis­tic s , th a t w ealth is getting m ore equally distributed, tha t the proportion o f sm all com petences is increasing, and th a t the num ber is grow ing o f those w ho, as stockholders or in terest receivers, share in industrial profits. T h is has, for forty or fifty years, been an am iable delusion o f the statistical ph ilanthropist. I t is now dispelled. T h e dram atic concen tra tions o f capital exhibited by the R ockefellers and P ierpon t M organs, like the visible accum ulations o f the E nglish ducal ground-landlords, have forced upon everybody’s notice the indisputable testim ony o f death duty statistics. T h e only point in dispute is w hether w ealth -concen tra tion has as yet gone fu rther in E ngland or in the U n ited States. T h is is, o f course, no t to deny th a t som e or all o f the property-less m asses have, during the past fifty years, found the ir conditions o f life im proved. B u t the advent o f the T ru s t is m aking both E ng land and A m erica realize , as they have never realized before, th a t in both countries n ine ten th s o f all the realized property belongs today to a class tha t com prises only one

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te n th o f the population ,— th a t n ine ty per cen t o f the citizens, the great m ass o f the people, share am ong them , even including the ir little hom es and fu rn itu re , and all the ir m uch-vaun ted hoards, only ten per cen t o f the capital w ealth .

B u t if the advent o f the T ru s t m akes us conscious o f ourselves as nations o f hired m en, it necessarily com pels us to realize tha t the conditions o f ou r hiring are all-im portan t, n o t only to our­selves individually, but to the com m unity as a w hole. “ Every society is judged ,” as M r. A squ ith , our late H om e Secretary, said the o ther day,— “ and survives, according to the m aterial and m oral m in im um w hich it prescribes to its m em bers.” N o te tha t w ord “ prescribes.” As hired m en, w e find ourselves graded in elaborate hierarchies, from the sw eat-shop hand or day-laborer, right up to M r. Schw ab at a m illion a year. B ut four fifths o f us are m anual-w ork ing w age-earners, filling our d inner pails and keeping our fam ilies, out o f earnings w hich m ay be anything from five to fifty dollars a w eek. T h e se earnings depend on our successful bargaining w ith our em ployers,— em ployers w ho used to be m en like ourselves, but w ho, as w e now realize, are, for the m ajority o f us, gigantic capitalist corporations, huge jo in t- stock mills, railroads, shipping com bines, and “ Billion D o lla r Steel T ru s ts .” B etw een these em ployers and the individual w orkm en there has h itherto been assum ed to be “ freedom o f c o n tra c t,” secured to us by the C onstitu tion o f the U n ited States o r by the contem porary general principles o f th e law in the U n ited K in g ­dom ; and this freedom o f co n trac t was inaugurated , and is today still usually defended, as being in the highest in terests o f the w age- earner himself. “ T h e patrim ony o f a poor m an,” says A dam Sm ith , “ lies in the strength and dexterity o f his h a n d s ; and to h inder him from em ploying th a t s treng th and dexterity in w hat m anner he th inks proper, w ithout in jury to his neighbor, is a plain violation o f this m ost sacred p roperty .” B ut the conditions o f industry have som ew hat changed since 1776, and the “ Billion D o lla r Steel T ru s t ,” though it does no t appreciably alter the cir­cum stances, is opening our eyes to them . W e see now , w hat the college professors have gradually becom e conscious

TRUSTS AND TRADE-UNIONS. 131

of, tha t freedom o f con trac t in the h iring o f labor m ay m ean som ething very like the com pulsion o f one party to serve the o ther, on te rm s nom inally con tractua l bu t virtually fixed by over­w helm ing om nipotence. W h e n the conditions o f the w orkm an’s life are settled, w ithout in terference by law or trade-unionism , by absolutely free co n trac t betw een m an and m an, the w ork­m a n ’s freedom is delusive. W h e re he bargains he bargains at a hopeless d isadvantage; and w ith regard to m any o f the term s m ost im portan t to his health , com fort, and industrial efficiency, he canno t bargain at all.

T h is conclusion will carry w ith it such m om entous conse­quences, and is as yet so im perfectly realized, tha t it is w orth w hile to th ink it over. L e t us consider how the w age-contract is actually entered into. L eave ou t o f accoun t, to begin w ith , any period o f bad trade, w hen m ills are shu tting dow n or runn ing only short tim e, and arm ies o f unem ployed are looking for w ork. A ssum e th a t th ings are in equilibrium ,— that there is only one place vacan t, and only one “ h a n d ” applying for it. W a tc h carefully the play o f m otives acting on the tw o m inds, th a t o f the “ m an w ith the d inner pail ” seeking em ploym ent, and th a t o f the em ployer or forem an w ith a place to fill. Suppose the w orkm an to dem ur to the wage offered by the em ployer. T h e re is, we assum e, absolutely no o ther spare hand in sight. T o leave the vacancy unfilled m ay cause som e inconvenience in the mill. T o com plete the orders in hand , som e o f the o ther m en m ay have to w ork m ore overtim e. T h e delivery o f the goods m ay even have to be delayed, the year’s o u tp u t m ay be dim inished, and the year’s profits m ay be fractionally less than they would have been. B ut in th e m eantim e th e capitalist or his agent is no t actually affected in his daily life. H e and his fam ily go on eating and drinking as they did before. A t m ost, the m atte r is a trifling one to them . T h u s , the capitalist can afford to w ait until the w ork­m an returns in a hum bler fram e o f m ind. A nd this is ju s t w hat the w orkm an m ust do. W h a t is only a trifling m atte r to the capitalist is to the w orkm an his w hole livelihood. M oreover, he canno t w ait. E ven if he stands out one day, he has thereby lost

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th a t day. H is very subsistence depends on his quickly com ing to an agreem ent. I f he is obstinate, consum ption o f his little hoard or the sale o f his fu rn itu re m ay delay the catastrophe. Sooner or la ter slow starvation forces him to com e to term s. A n d , since success in the “ higgling o f the m arket ” is largely dependent on the relative eagerness o f the parties to com e to term s, — conspicuously so if this eagerness canno t be concealed from the an tagonist,— capitalist and w orkm an always m eet, in the absence o f law or effective trade-unionism , on unequal term s. M ore­over, the capitalist know s the cards and the w orkm an does no t. E ven in the rare cases in w hich the absence o f a single w orkm an is o f any real consequence to the em ployer, this is usually unknow n to any one but him self. H e , too , know s the state o f the m arket, and can judge w hether it m ight n o t even suit him better to slacken production for the m om ent. T h e isolated individual w orkm an bargains in the dark. A dd to th is the fact th a t the w orkm an is n o t trained in the a rt o f bargaining, w hich is the daily business o f the em ployer, o r the co n stan t task o f an expert specially trained for the particular w ork o f hiring m en. T h u s , in the bargaining betw een a capitalist corporation and the individual laborers w hom it h ires, the laborers stand to lose at every point. T h e y are as certain ly “ d o n e ” in the deal as is the greenhorn playing poker w ith a transa tlan tic gam bler.1

So far w e have been assum ing tha t the labor m arket is in equilibrium , and th a t only one hand applies for one vacan t place. B u t at w hat periods, and in w hat trades is so perfect an equilib­rium to be found ? W h e n great corporations are concen tra ting the ir w orks and shutting dow n unnecessary m ills ; w hen new processes or new m achines are displacing la b o r ; w hen industrial crises, changes o f fashion, o r the m ere shifts and gusts o f in te r­national com m erce cause our production to w ane, now in this b ranch , now in th a t,— w hat freedom has the hired m an ? W h e n

( i ) For the latest and m ost explicit statem ent o f the process o f industrial bargaining, see The Case for the Factory Acts, w ith preface by M rs. H um phry

W ard. R ichards : London.

TRUSTS AND TRAD E-UNIONS. 133

the unem ployed are crow ding round the factory gates, it is plain to each one am ong them th a t, unless he can induce the “ boss ” to choose him rather than another, his chance o f subsistence for w eeks to com e may be irretrievably lost. B argaining, in any genuine sense, there can be none. T h e “ boss ” has bu t to p ick his m an, and nam e the price,— even if he does so m uch as nam e the price. O n ce inside the gates, the lucky w orkm an know s th a t if he grum bles at any o f the surroundings, how ever in to le rab le ; if he dem urs to any speeding up, leng thening o f the hours, or arb itrary d ed u c tio n s; or if he hesitates to obey any orders, how ever unreasonable, he condem ns him self once m ore to the sem i-starvation and m isery o f unem ploym ent. T h e alternative to the forem an or gauger is m erely to pick another laborer out o f the eager crow d at the gate. T h e difference to the capitalist corporation is nil.

B u t m uch m ore rem ains to be said. T o the capitalist cor­poration the w age-contract is sim ply a question o f so m any dollars to be paid. T o the w orkm an, it is a m atte r o f placing, for ten or tw elve hours out o f every tw en ty -fou r, his w hole life a t the disposal o f his hirer. W h a t hours he shall w ork , w hen and w here he shall get his food, the sanitary conditions o f his em ploym ent, the safety o f the m achinery , the tem perature and a tm osphere to w hich he is subjected, the fatigue or strains tha t he endures, the risks o f disease or accident th a t he incurs,— all these are involved in the w orkm an’s con tract, and n o t in his em ployer’s. T h e se are m atters o f as vital im portance to the w age-earner as are his w ages. Y e t about these m atters he can ­no t, in practice, bargain at all. Im agine a w eaver, before accep t­ing em ploym ent in a M assachusetts co tton mill, exam ining the proportion o f steam in the atm osphere o f th e shed, testing the strength o f the shuttleguards, and criticising the soundness o f the shafting b e l ts ; a P ittsburg m echanic prying into the security o f the hoists and cranes or the safety o f the lathes and steam ham m ers am ong w hich he m ust m o v e ; a w ork- girl in a C hicago sw eat-shop com puting the cubic space w hich will be her share o f the w orkroom , discussing the ventilation ,

1 3 4 T H E i n t e r n a t i o n a l m o n t h l y .

w arm th , and lighting o f the place in w hich she will spend nearly all her w orking life, or exam ining disapprovingly the sanitary accom m odation p ro v id ed ; th in k o f the m an w ho w ants a job in a N ew Jersey w hite lead w orks testing the poisonous influence o f the particu lar process em ployed, and reckoning in term s o f dollars and cen ts the exact degree o f in jury to his health w hich he is consenting to undergo. O n all these m atters, a t any rate , w e m ust at once give up the no tion o f freedom o f con tract. In the absence o f any restra in t o f law , the conditions o f sanitation , decency, and security from accident in the various enterprises o f the U n ited States Steel C orporation or th e Standard O il C om pany, the W e s te rn U n io n T e leg rap h C om pany or the Pennsylvania R ailroad, are absolutely a t the m ercy o f the ru lers o f these great undertakings. T h e y decide these conditions o f life for the m illions o f w orkm en w hom they em ploy,— and thus, to this ex ten t, for the A m erican nation ,— as arbitrarily (and, it is to be hoped, as hum anely) as they do for the ir horses. “ In the gen­eral course o f hum an n a tu re ,” rem arked the shrew d founders o f the A m erican C onstitu tion , “ pow er over a m an’s subsistence am ounts to a pow er over his w ill.” 1

T h e se features o f the lo t o f the hired m an are com m on to E ngland and A m erica, and , indeed, to every country in w hich capitalist industry and production are found on a large scale. W e m ust, in in tellectual honesty , recognize the fact. B ut this is no t to say th a t the condition o f the hired m an is either good or bad, or be tte r or w orse than in bygone tim es. I t is different from w hat it was w hen industry was carried on by the village b lack­sm ith , different from th a t described by A dam Sm ith, different from th a t w hich Jefferson knew . T h e d inner pail m ay be fuller,— as regards w hole sections o f th e com m unity , it can certainly be proved to be fuller,— but there has been a change o f relative status. M eanw hile , let us accept the resu lt in the great w age- earning class as we now know it,— a com m unity o f hired m en ; a relatively sm all proportion o f skilled artisans earning “ good

( i ) Federalist, N o . lxxix.

TRUSTS AND TRADE-UNIONS. 13 j

money ” ; the great mass living on w ages, in E ngland o f seven dollars, in the U nited States o f ten or tw elve dollars, per fully em ployed w e e k ; while below these com e the unskilled laborers and m ost w om en w orkers, existing, in greater o r sm aller num bers, under conditions o f “ sw eating ,” — authoritatively defined as “ earnings barely sufficient to sustain existence, hours o f labor such as to m ake the lives o f the w orkers periods o f alm ost cease­less to il, sanitary conditions in jurious to the health o f the persons em ployed, and dangerous to the public.” 1 In to one or ano ther o f these three categories com e seventy or eighty per cen t o f the w hole population. Such are th e free citizens o f the U nited S ta te s ; such are the loyal subjects o f E dw ard the Seventh o f E ngland . W e hate to th ink about it, bu t it is so ; and the advent o f the T ru s t is going to m ake us realize th a t it is so.

W h a t effect w ill th is grow ing consciousness o f industrial sub­ordination have upon public opinion ? L e t me confine m yself, for a m om ent, to the E nglish side o f the problem . In E ngland w e developed a capitalist industry a couple o f generations earlier th an did the U nited States. T h o u g h the tim e for trusts and great railroad com binations had not yet com e, the new mills and mines w hich, at the end o f the eighteenth cen tu ry , spread over the northern and m idland counties w ere the leviathans o f the ir day, and great was the pow er w hich they wielded in the labor m arket. C om plete “ freedom o f co n trac t ” prevailed. T h e resu lt, as every one know s, w as the terrib le “ w hite slavery ” o f the first quarte r o f the n ine teen th cen tu ry , w hen generation after genera­tion o f w orkers in the factories and coal m ines w ere stun ted and m aim ed, bru talized and degraded, and hurried in to early graves by the long hours, low wages, and insanitary conditions o f those hal­cyon days, in w hich , as has been said, “ it was n o t five per cen t, or ten per cen t, but thousands per cen t th a t m ade the fortunes o f L a n ­cashire.” B u t E ngland grew alarm ed, amid all its profit, a t the rapid degeneration o f w hole sections o f its people. By the un tir-

(1 ) F inal Report o f the Select Committee o f the House o f Lords on the S w ea tin g System, 1890.

136 t h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l m o n t h l y .

ing efforts o f the ph ilanthropists, factory law after factory law was passed, setting lim its to freedom o f con trac t, and substituting, for individual bargaining betw een m an and m an, definite, com m on rules on every point deemed o f prim e im portance to the w elfare o f the operatives. T h ese com m on rules, securing a reasonable m inim um o f leisure, safety, and san ita tion , applied at first only to the tex tile and m ining industries, and are, to this day, not yet coextensive w ith the E nglish w age-earning class. N o r do they apply to w ages. B ut there grew up , after 1 8 2 4 ,1 >n t l̂e principal E nglish industries strong trade-unions, w hich enforced , by the in strum ent o f collective bargaining, new , com m on rules supplem enting those laid dow n by law . T h e em ployers in each trade w ere num erous and divided. D iffering am ong them selves in w ealth and m agnitude o f business, as well as in personal char­ac ter, they proved unable to present a solid fron t to the trade- unions. T h e resu lt is th a t, in the course o f the last h a lf cen tu ry , som e o f the principal and m ost successful branches o f E nglish industry— notably co tton -m anufac tu re , coal-m ining, ship-building, engineering, and the building trades— have com e to be regulated by codes o f com m on rules, enforced partly by law and partly by collective agreem ent. T h e rates o f w ages, like the hours o f w ork and the fundam ental conditions o f safety and san ita tion , are, therefore, no longer at th e m ercy o f individual capitalists. T h e re exists, in each trade, a sort o f m inim um standard, fixed practically by general agreem ent am ong the whole body o f em ploy­ers, on the one hand , and the w hole body o f w orkm en, on the o ther, below w hich it is found im possible for any em ployer to descend. H e m ay break aw ay, but he discovers presently tha t it no m ore pays him to outrage the public opinion o f his trade than to infringe the factory law . In E ngland , the general opinion o f the com m unity acts, in all w ell-organized trades, as a real, though curiously intangible check upon the capitalist. Public sym pathy is always on the side o f a stable and highly organized trade-

(1) S. and B . W eb b ’s H istory of T rade-U nionism . L ongm ans: N ew Y ork.

TRUSTS AND TRADE-UNIONS. 137

u n ion defending itse lf against any encroachm ent on the com m on rules, o r reduction in rates. G rea t corporations like the L ondon and N o rth w este rn R ailw ay find them selves pulled up sharp by the perem ptory in terference o f the Board o f T ra d e , w hen they are guilty o f any conspicuous ty ranny over the ir em ployees. E ven in the late engineers’ strike, w here the m en lost sym pathy because they w ere believed to be resisting m achinery , and the em ployers w on all along the line, the final agreem ent form ally recognized the right o f collective bargaining and the need for com m on rules, while the result has been the establishm ent o f a new tribunal o f the trade to m aintain these ru les,— a jo in t tribu­nal, in w hich, for the m om ent, the associated em ployers doubt­less have a larger influence than the associated w orkm en , but one to w hich every individual em ployer, no less than every individual w orkm an , finds h im self practically subject. T h is collective rule o f the w hole trade over every individual em ployer in it, as well as over every individual w orkm an , is typical o f m ost o f the industries in E ngland in w hich there are great em ployers, o r strong capitalist corporations. M oreover, the law , w here it purports to contro l, really does contro l, even the greatest corporation . H ence neither our philanthropists n o r our w orkm en fear the T ru s t . E n g lan d ’s industrial peril lies in quite ano ther direction .

T h e w orst conditions o f em ploym ent in the U n ited K ingdom occu r in those industries carried on by sm all em ployers, or desolated by hom e w ork, w hich have either escaped as yet from the ever w idening scope o f the factory law s, or in w hich such laws are not yet effectively enforced. H ere ph ilan thropic sen tim ent has h itherto been evoked by the spectacle o f the sm all m aster, struggling to rise in th e w orld , and unable to afford to his sw eated em ployees e ither w holesom e w orkshops, decent san ita tion , o r a living wage. T h e se un fo rtunate w orkers, incapable o f effective organization , have h itherto failed to obtain the sam e help from public opinion or the sam e m easure o f protective legislation th a t P arliam ent concedes to the politically active co tton operatives or coal m iners, w ho need it far less. U n fo rtu n a te ly , too , the efforts to secure effec­tive factory laws for these w orkers are at presen t balked by th e

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doctrinaire resistance o f m any o f the leaders o f the m ovem ent for “ w om en’s righ ts.” T h u s , the sweated trades, in spite o f the ir disastrous effects on the com m unity as a w hole, are given, at presen t, a positive advantage in the com petition for the w orld-m arket. T h e absence o f any collective regulation enables the em ployers so to use the ir superiority in bargaining for the hire o f the ir labor as to reduce its condition even below subsis­tence level. T h e se trades are, in fact, parasites on the rest o f the com m unity , draw ing from the m ore prosperous sections, in one form or ano ther, a continual “ bounty ” w ith w hich to eke out the ir starvation wages. F o rtu n a te ly , the great staple indus­tries o f the kingdom , in w hich relatively good conditions prevail, gain so m uch in efficiency by the ir very regulation th a t they go on , no tw ithstand ing th is v irtual boun ty to the sweated trades, increasing in ex ten t and prosperity year after year. W h a t loses ground in E ngland is any industry w hich escapes the beneficial effect o f collective regulation , bu t w hich for som e reason fails to get the boun ty im plied in industrial parasitism . T h e m ost conspicuous exam ple is E nglish agricu lture, w hich is constan tly falling m ore and m ore behind no t only the great regulated trades such as co tton and coal, but also behind the m iserably inefficient sw eated trades, fed by parasitic b o u n ty .1 T h u s , w hat is m ost urgently needed in the U n ited K ingdom , and w hat is m ost likely to spring from our grow ing consciousness o f the w eakness o f the hired m an, is no t any in terference w ith the great em ployers o r the ir capitalist com binations,— w hich are, a t p resen t, the least u n co n ­trolled o f our industrial forces,— but an extension o f the strong arm o f the law on behalf o f the oppressed w orkers in the sweated trades.

M odels for such action are afforded bo th by N ew Z ea ­land and by V ictoria. T h e tim e is n o t far d istan t w hen we shall see in L o n d o n , as already in M elbourne, w age-boards for all the sw eated trades, form ed partly o f em ployers and partly o f w age-

(1) For the w hole argum ent as to industrial parasitism, see S. and B . W eb b ’s In du stria l Democracy. Longm ans: N ew Y ork.

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earners, and em pow ered to fix m in im um rates o f piece-w ork wages, below w hich it will be illegal for any em ployer to h ire a hand. W e shall, in fact, begin at the bo ttom o f the industrial arm y, w hich suffers, no t from great capitalists, but from small m asters,— not from the new est m ethods o f industrial o rgan iza­tion , bu t from the belated survival o f old-fashioned ones. T h e se w age-boards, beginning, as in V ictoria , in th e sw eated trades, w ill, also as in V ictoria , no t rest there. N ew Z ealand points the w ay. M ore and m ore nearly do we approach the stage at w hich the conditions o f em ploym ent,— wages as well as hours, sanitation as well as p ro tection from acciden t,— if no t fixed by au thorita­tive decision o f jo in t com m ittees represen ting all th e w orkm en and all the em ployers, are settled by an arb itra tor’s decree to w hich both parties find them selves com pelled to subm it. T h is will long be veiled in the U n ited K ingdom , w here reform s usually arrive in substance before they are called by the ir nam es. Y e t E nglish public opinion is already m uch im pressed by the fact th a t in V ictoria and in N ew Z ea land th e standard m inim um co n ­ditions o f em ploym ent,— rates o f wages as well as hours and sani­ta tion ,— w hich the com m unity th inks fit to require from tim e to tim e in each particular trade, are prom ulgated as law , and enforced by the crim inal courts. T h e n ine teen th cen tury in the U nited K ingdom has seen the ex tension o f the factory law to sanitation and decency, hours o f labor, and pro tection against accidents in a select set o f trades. T h e result o f ou r grow ing consciousness o f the w eakness o f the w age-earner, in his bargaining w ith the great capitalist em ployer, is to bring us, a t the opening o f the tw en tie th cen tu ry , to the threshold o f the L egal M in im um W ag e for every branch o f industry . N o te again M r. A squ ith ’s w ord “ prescribes.”

B u t the result in the U n ited States m ay possibly be quite o ther­wise. T h e great capitalist corporations o f the U nited States differ as widely from those o f the U nited K ingdom as do the laws and the trade- and labor-unions o f the tw o countries. In E ngland , as I have said, the great capitalist is, and feels h im self to be, effec­tively under contro l. T h e trade-un ions, if in ferior in strength

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on a fight to a finish, are in a position to offer him stubborn resistance. T h e law is unquestionably his m aster. A nd public opinion, no t altogether on either side in the conflict, passes w ith great rapidity , and w ith irresistible force, into opposition to any serious a ttack on the cu rren t S tandard o f L ife. T h e A m erican capitalist corporation is, and feels itse lf to be, in a very different position. A m erican philanthropy has never been stirred by the sensational evils in co tton and coal w hich brought about the E nglish factory and m ining laws. Legal regulation o f the con­ditions o f labor, w here it exists at all, has been, and continues to be, an alien elem ent in the A m erican system , doubtfully consti­tu tional and hesitatingly enforced. T h e indispensable adm inis­tra tive organization for any real enforcem ent o f standard condi­tions is nearly everyw here lacking. N o r does public opinion wish it o therw ise. T h ro u g h o u t the whole cen tu ry , and right dow n to our ow n day, it has been possible to retain the com placent assur­ance, no t too obviously contrad icted by fact, th a t the native-born A m erican , o f A nglo-Saxon or T e u to n ic descent, was always able to rise to a position o f com m and, and to earn a relatively good living. T h e re is no evidence th a t the concen tra tion o f industry in great capitalist corporations, or the vast accum ulation o f w ealth in the hands o f a sm all class, has yet had any in jurious effect on wages o r on the o ther conditions o f em ploym ent. O n the con tra ry , the re is som e reason to th in k tha t so far, a t any rate, as forem en and skilled w orkers are concerned , the change in industrial organization m ay be to the ir pecuniary advantage. In the com paratively few sections o f labor in w hich the w orkm en’s organizations have any real streng th ,— these being usually the higher grades, w ith som e approach to a m onopoly o f skill or high technique,— it m ay well suit the capitalist corporations to buy off opposition by increased w ages, w hich could no t, in any case, m ake an appreciable difference in th e to ta l cost o f produc­tion . Public opinion, m oreover, keenly interested in the great­est possible developm ent o f the national industry , and strongly prejudiced against the in te rference o f “ labor-un ions,” will con­tinue to operate against any effective strike. T h u s , the rulers o f

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the great capitalist corporations are, w ith in the industrial sphere, really able to do w hat they like w ith the ir ow n. W h e n all the em ployers in a single industry from C alifornia to M aine com bine in to a single corporation , this leviathan is, indeed, perhaps the m ost perfect exam ple o f freedom th a t the world has ever seen. In the em ploym ent o f labor, especially o f a low grade, such a g ian t corporation m ay im pose very nearly w hatever conditions it chooses. I ts pow er o f “ disciplining ” any recalc itran t hand , or even a w hole com m unity , is terribly po ten t. I t can shut dow n here and build up there , w ithout let or h indrance. I t can m ain­ta in w hatever b ru talizing or deteriorating conditions o f labor that it th inks profitable to its e lf ; it can disregard w ith im punity all p recautions against disease or a c c id e n t; it can exact w hatever degree o f speed at w ork it p leases; it can , in short, dispose o f the lives o f its m yriads o f w orkers exactly as it does o f those o f its horses. T h e w orkers m ay “ k ick ” ; there m ay be labor-unions and s tr ik e s ; bu t against such industrial om nipotence the w eap­ons o f the w age-earners are as arrow s against ironclads. T h is will be all the m ore certain ly the case because it will suit the lev iathan , as a m atter o f convenience, to com e to term s w ith the sm all m inority o f skilled and w ell-paid w orkm en , w ho m ight have stiffened the rest. T h is is the condition o f m onopolist au tocracy into w hich every great industry in the U nited States seem s fated to pass, and to pass w ith great rapidity. A few thousands o f m illionaire capitalist “ k ings,” un iting the m eans o f a few h u n ­dreds o f thousands o f passive stockholders, and served by per­haps an equal num ber o f w ell-salaried m anagers, forem en, inventors, designers, chem ists, engineers, and skilled m echanics, w ill absolutely contro l an arm y o f ten or fifteen m illions o f p rac­tically property-less w age-laborers, largely Slavonic, L a tin , or N egro in race.

N o w I do no t predict, as a leading A m erican econom ist is said to have done, tha t this freedom in autocracy w ill, w ith in tw enty-five years, produce an E m pero r o f A m erica. B ut it is n o t difficult to see th a t, unless the U nited States learns a new lesson from the advent o f the T ru s t , it is p reparing for itse lf a

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tw en tie th cen tury such as W ash in g to n would have shuddered to th ink of. F rom the purely “ business” point o f view , even w hen reinforced by all the scientific econom ics o f the college professor, there seem s no th ing to stop the trium phan t progress o f this cap­italist autocracy. T h e great capitalists have no doubt though t this ou t, and are confident o f their fu ture profits. B ut w hat A m erican capitalists always seem to undervalue is the influence exercised upon the ir profits by wide political m ovem ents. H ow little the P ierpont M organs and R ockefellers o f the tim e though t about the A bolitionists ! Y e t the outcom e o f the abolitionist agi­ta tion upset a great m any capitalist schem es. E ven the B ryan presidential cam paign o f 1896 cost the capitalists m any millions in dim inished trade, slackened o u tp u t, and diverted energy. A nd so, the outsider ventures to predict, the advent o f the T ru s t w ill lead to quite unforeseen hindrances to industrial develop­m en t and quite unexpected deductions from capitalist profits, arising from the kind o f civilization w hich it will produce and the political reactions w hich it will set up. L e t us, therefore, exam ine m ore closely w hat A m erica has to fear from the rule o f the T ru s ts .

N o tice , to begin w ith , th a t the advent o f the T ru s t alm ost necessarily im plies an im provem ent in industrial organization , m easured, tha t is to say, by the dim inution o f the cost o f pro­duction . Ju s t as it was a gain to the com m unity , from this point o f view, for the m yriad small m asters to be m erged in the relatively few capitalist em ployers, so it is a fu rther gain to m erge these capitalist em ployers into great T ru s ts o r C orporations. T h e S tandard O il C om pany and the U nited States Steel C orporation represen t, in fact, an im provem ent in industrial technique. So far as the ir organizations prevail, the w orld’s w ork is done w ith less labor, less fric tion , less w aste, than it was under the arrange­m ents w hich they have superseded. T h e re m ay be o ther disad­vantages, ju s t as there w ere o ther disadvantages w hen the hand- loom w as superseded by the pow er-loom . B ut w e m ust no t let the draw backs obscure the elem ent o f real progress. T h e rule o f the great capitalist corporations secures the best possible o rganization o f the w ork o f the w orld.

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B ut will the public be allowed to get the benefit o f this indus­trial im provem ent ? Is it no t to be expected tha t the T ru s ts will put up prices against the consum er, and so levy a tax upon the w orld com pared w ith w hich th e exactions o f governm ent sink into insignificance ? T h is danger seems to m e exaggerated, and com ­paratively un im portan t. I t m ust be rem em bered tha t any thing like absolute m onopoly o f production in the staple needs o f the mass o f the people is un k n o w n , and practically im possible. T h e main products o f the w orld are produced in too m any different coun tries, under too m any different industrial system s, standing at too varying grades o f civilization, for any absolute com bina­tion into a single hand. A T ru s t m ay, indeed, easily com e to dom inate a single m arket. T h e rem edy for any oppressive raising o f prices is, th en , to abolish the custom s tariff, and to call in the foreign producer. T h e m onopolist T ru s t , even in countries th a t freely open the ir ports to foreign products, can no doubt m ake large profits. B ut its profits will represent chiefly the econom ies in production brought about by its ow n form ation. T h e con­sum er will not have to pay m ore than the consum er o f the sam e article in countries n o t subject to the T ru s t , except by the am ount o f the freight, and probably, as w e shall see, no t even by so m uch as tha t. H ence we m ay expect the increasing dom inance o f the T ru s t to m ake for the abolition o f protective duties. I t is, indeed, no t the consum er, as consum er, w ho need particularly fear the T ru s ts .

T h e com peten t, “ pushful,” native-born A m erican will get on all right under this capitalist autocracy. H e w ill, indeed, have to give up the chance o f becom ing his ow n m aster, and , p rac­tically , th a t o f “ m aking a pile.” B ut w hat will be virtually the civil service o f industry , the great salaried hierarchy o f th e T ru s ts , w ill offer a safer and, on the average, a better paid career for industrial ta len t, than the old chances o f the m arket. Every m an o f skill and energy, com petence and “ go,” will be w anted in the gigantic organization o f the new industry . B rains will be a t a prem ium . F rom the skilled m echanic right up to the h igh­est engineering genius, from the com peten t forem an up to the

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brightest railroad organ izer, from the m erely practiced chem ist up to the heaven-born inven to r or designer,— all will find, no t m erely em ploym ent, but scope for the ir w hole ta len t, no t m erely rem un­eration , but salaries such as the w orld has seldom seen. A nd inserving the ir em ployers, they will be at least as directly servingthe com m unity as they are at present.

I t is w hen w e com e to the great mass o f w age-earners,— the ten or fifteen m illions o f day-laborers and ordinary artisans,— th a t we see the really grave consequences o f industrial autocracy. T h e se m en, w ith the ir wives and fam ilies, m ust necessarily con­stitu te the great bulk o f the population , the “ com m on lum p o f m en .” I t is in the ir lives tha t the civilization o f a nation co n ­sists, and it is by the ir condition th a t it w ill be judged. A nd , though the great ones never believe it, it is upon th e s ta tus, the cu ltu re , the upw ard progress o f these ordinary m en tha t the prosperity o f the na tion , and even the profits o f the capitalists, u ltim ately depend. W h a t is likely to be the S tandard o f L ife o f the ordinary laborer or artisan under the great industrial co r­porations o f the U n ited S tates?

N o w one th ing is definitely proved, bo th by econom ic science and business experience. I f the wages o f com m on labor are left to “ supply and dem and,” and are not in terfered w ith by factory law or effective trade-un ion ism , we shall w itness no im provem ent in the present conditions o f life o f the Pennsylvania m iner, the C hicago sw eat-shop hand , the day-laborer on the railroad, o r the girl seam stresses sew ing for dear life in N ew Y o rk tenem ent garrets. O n the con trary , we shall see these conditions o f life generalized over the w hole range o f com m on labor, m ale or female. W e shall find wages everyw here forced dow n, for the ordinary , com m on, skilled w orker, to the ir “ natu ra l level,” — th a t is, to the barest subsistence o f the hum an anim al from day to day. W ith th is sta te o f th ings w ill necessarily go th e corres­ponding life, such as w e see it already in the P ittsburg or C hicago slum . I t is, how ever, needless to am plify the picture. T o w hat aw ful depths o f m isery and dem oralization , brutality and degradation, hum anity can , under “ perfect freedom ,”

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descend, we are scarcely yet in a position to say. Is th is to be the contribu tion to econom ics in the tw en tie th cen tu ry , o f th e country o f Jefferson and W ash in g to n ?

F o rtunate ly for the w orld, the U n ited States is n o t likely to m ake this experim ent. T h e m illions o f com m on laborers, how ­ever poor and degraded they m ay be, o r m ay becom e, are yet citizens and voters,— are, m oreover, the inherito rs, even if o f alien race, o f glorious traditions o f m anhood and freedom . T h a t uncontro lled personal pow er w hich several centuries o f struggle have displaced from the th rone , the castle, and the altar, is no t likely to be allow ed to rule in the farm , the factory , and the m ine. A s yet, the A m erican citizen still believes h im self to be free, and sees n o t the industrial subjection in to w hich he is rap ­idly passing. B ut it is not to be supposed th a t he will w itness unm oved the successive failures o f trade-unions and strikes, the general reductions in wages w hich will m ark the first spell o f bad trade, the m anifold dism issals and “ shu ttings dow n,” the progressive degradation o f his class. H e will take up every w ild dream and every mad panacea. H e will be tricked and o u t­voted again and again. B ut, if so, the result will be a “ class w ar ” m ore terrib le than any the w orld has seen, and one in w hich , though the u ltim ate victory w ill be w ith the com m on people, A m erican civilization m ay go back several generations.

Y e t A m erica ought to avoid th is catastrophe. T h e experi­m en t has already been tried, and the rem edy is know n. I f the people o f the U n ited States will bu t do th a t m ost difficult o f all th ings,— learn by the experience o f o ther nations,— they m ay get ou t o f the T ru s ts all th e advantages w hich these offer, w ithout suffering the terrible calam ity in w hich they unw itting ly th reaten to overw helm A m erican civilization. T h e rem edy lies in w hat we in E ng land are beginning to call the “ Policy o f the N ational M in im u m .” W e m ust give up the idea o f individual freedom o f com petition , w hich the com binations o f capital have proved to be illusory, and take up, instead, the higher freedom o f collective life. W e m ust get back as a com m unity w hat we have lost as individuals.

T h e Policy o f the N ational M inim um translates itse lf in to

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four m ain branches o f legislative and executive activity . T h e re will have to be a national m inim um o f w ages. T h e T ru s ts , or the o ther em ployers, will be under no legal obligation to em ploy any person w hatsoever. B ut if they do em ploy him or her, it will be a condition o f every con trac t, no t to be waived or ignored, tha t its te rm s shall no t be such as will im pair the effi­ciency o f the citizen o r dim inish the vitality o f the race. T o engage labor at wages insufficient to repair the w aste o f tissue caused by th e em ploym ent is dem onstrably to in jure the com ­m unity as a w hole, and will be prosecuted as such in the crim inal courts. T h o se w hose labor is no t w orth the national m in im um , — the aged, the crippled, and the b lin d ; the m entally or m orally d e fic ien t; the epileptic ; and the chronically feckless and feeble­m inded,— will be m aintained by the com m unity . O f all the w ays o f m ain ta in ing those unable to earn a full livelihood, by far the m ost costly and in jurious is to allow them to com pete in the labor m arket, and thus to drag dow n by the ir very infirm ity those w ho are w hole. T h e re are still people, o f course, w ho sim ply canno t im agine how a legal m inim um w age could possibly be enforced, ju s t as the re w ere, sixty years ago, econom ists w ho dem onstrated the im possibility o f factory laws. As a m atte r o f fact, the legal m inim um wage can be seen in force today both in V ictoria and in N ew Z ealand .

T h e re will be a national m inim um o f leisure and recreation secured by law to every citizen . I t will be an im plied condition o f every co n trac t o f em ploym ent, rigidly enforced by law , tha t it shall leave untouched sixteen hours out o f each tw en ty -fo u r for needful sleep, recreation , exercise o f m ind or body, and the duties o f citizensh ip and family life. A ny attem pt by m an or w om an to sell for wages any part o f the sixteen sacred hours will be blam ed as v irtual em bezzlem ent, since this part o f the tw en ty -fo u r hours day m ust be regarded as necessarily reserved for the purpose o f m aintain ing unim paired the efficiency o f the race. A ny em ployer purchasing them , or allow ing them to be spent in his mill o r m ine, will be prosecuted and punished, as i f he had incited to em bezzlem en t o r had received stolen goods.

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T h e re will be a national m in im um o f san ita tion , enforced no t m erely on real estate ow ners or occup iers, bu t also on local gov­ern ing authorities. T h e nation will find it preposterous th a t any city , m erely out o f stupidity or incapacity or parsim ony should foster disease, or bring up its quota o f citizens in a condition o f im paired v itality . T h e pow er o f the com m unity as a w hole, w ill, som ehow or o ther, be brought to bear upon every backw ard d istric t, com pelling it to lay on pure w ater, to im prove its drainage, and to take such action , even by m unicipal building if need be, th a t no fam ily in the land shall have less than “ th ree room s and a scul­lery ,” as the m inim um required for health and decency. A long w ith this m ust go the adequate provision o f m edical attendance , skilled nursing, and hospital accom m odation for the sick. W ith in a generation o f the adoption o f such a policy, the death rate and sickness experience show s a reduction o f one th ird o f w hat is at present endured as if it w ere the decree o f P rovidence.

T h e re will be a national m inim um o f education ,— not m erely in the provision o f schools, b u t in genuinely com pulsory a ttend­ance at them . Besides schools and colleges o f every grade, there will have to be an adequate “ scholarship ladder,” securing m ain­tenance as well as free tu ition for every scholar proving him self or herself fitted for anyth ing beyond com m on schooling. A nd this provision will be enforced by the national pow er upon local school authorities as well as upon parents and em ployers. W h a t right has any part o f the com m unity to allow any part o f its quota o f citizens to be reared in ignorance or to suffer even one potential genius to be lost to the com m unity ?

I t is my deliberate opinion tha t only by the enforcem ent o f som e such national m inim um o f subsistence, leisure, sanitation , and education w ill the U n ited States escape degeneration and decay. W h e re life is abandoned to unfettered com petition , w hat is know n as “ G resham ’s L a w ” applies,— the bad drives out the good. T o prevent this evil resu lt, is, as A m erica will discover in the tw en tie th cen tu ry , the m ain function o f governm ent. T o enforce the national m inim um w ill, m oreover, not in terfere w ith th e profits o f the exceptional m an , while it will enorm ously

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increase the prosperity o f the com m unity . N o r does it abolish com petition . W h a t it does is to transfer the com petitive p res­sure from the actual m eans o f subsistence o f the masses (w hereit w orks little bu t harm ), to the in te llect o f every one w ho has any , in the degree tha t he has it (w here it sharpens the w its).

T h is rem edy for the dangers o f the T ru s ts — the policy o f the national m inim um — involves, it will be seen, a g reat extension o f governm ent activ ity , a great advance in the efficiency o f both legislative and executive m achinery , and no little change in con­stitu tional form s. A ll th is will be difficult enough. M oreover, the consum er, as consum er, rem ains unpro tected . I t m ay, th e re­fore, well be easier, in one industry after ano ther, to take over the T ru s t into d irect public ow nership , as one nation or ano ther has already done in the case o f railroads, telegraphs, telephones,ocean cables, steam boat lines, w ater, gas, electric and hydraulicplants, and w hat no t. O n e way or ano ther the people m ust col­lectively contro l the industry by w hich they live, or bo th freedom and civilization will disappear.

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