Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-07-12
BOOK REVIEWS.

G. P Putnam's Sons San Francisco: A. L.
l. Bancroft & Co.
This volume by Mr.. Mallock, concerning
whose position in letters and political sci
ence there is no need to enlarge, is devoted
to Mr. Georges Progress and Poverty" to
Socialism in England and to the Statistics
| of Agitation. That which most concerns
! American readers is the first of the subdivi-
sions We could have wished that Mr.
Mallock had been more temperate in
treating the fallacies of Mr.. George
That he has shown the illogical con
| illusions of that erratic and brill
| liant genius, and the impracticablenesS
of his theories, is unquestioned, but Mr.
Mallock has not responded to George with
| the dignity that critic of his great ability
should maintain. His contempt for the
Georgian theories is too apparent, though
justified, and his Impotence with his alb
surd doctrines is too evident, though pro-
vOked. Mr.. George is, we believe, wrong
in his conclusions and impracticable in his
remedy for evils arraigned but he is a
i trenchant writer, a man that can give
| blows as well as take them, quick to find
the point of weakness between the plates
of an opponents armor, and so subtle
and plausible, and SO skillful in
playing upon the sympathies, that
he has commanded an audience not meas
ured by the limits of one nationality we
might say, dangerous hearing has been
accorded him. Now, Mr. Mallock has the
best of Mr. George, and has refuted his per-
nicious doctrines, bat he has not done so
with the elaboration the opponent de-
served However, no one can peruse this vol
ume and not realize that George has here
critic worthy his steel The best students
of political science will be convinced that
this chieftain has the better of the battle,
too AID that George cannot successfully
reply 20 the review. fthere were no other
illustration in the work than that of the
Pitcairn Islanders the repuIse of George
would be complete. George says:
The globe may be surveyed, and history nav
be reviewed in vain for any instance OF a con
siderable country in which want can be fairly
attributed to an increasing population.
Mallock, quick to see his opportunity,
points out that George qualities his state
ment by the word considerable. But to be
fair, Mallock gives Georges foot-note ex-
PLANTATION
say considerable country, because there may
be small islands such as Pitcairn Island cut off
from communication with the rest of the world
and consequently from the exchanges which
are necessary to the improved modes of produc-
ton resoHed to as population becomes dense
which may seem to offer examples in point. A
moments reflection, however, will show that
these exceptional cases are not in point.
Now, says Mallock, that is just what they
are. The simile is not that of an excep-
tional case. If he has driven Nautilus ont
of Europe and America the philosopher
has found one refuge
In Piteairn's Island as Nj George admits.
Mr.. George is wrong and Mr. Nautilus is right.
Now, what is the reason of this? The reason |
says Mr.. George, is that the island is " cut off
from communication with the rest of the world"
Plainly, however, he cannot mean this state
ment absolutely. Pitcairns Island is not in the
moon. 1t is washed by terrestrial sea. Ships
have touched at it, and ships do touch it. All,
then, that Mr.. George can possibly mean is not
that II Is cut OIL from communication with the |
rest of the world but that it cannot commune |
cate with it without certain effort and diff |
Guilty. But Pitcairn's Island is not peculiar to
other country, and the difference between it and
them Is one of degree only.
Mr.. MallOck'S book as a whole is a time |
ly defense against the pernicious teaching
that is going abroad and which Mr. George
and like writers foster, whether intention |
ally Or not, that the true policy is the d. |
vide policy. and that as Mr. Mallock |
puts it, identifies politics in the minds of
the poorer classes with some wholesale |
seizure, in their behalf, on the property, |
or on part of the property, Of the rich; to |
represent the accomplishment of such |
seizure, as the main task incumbent on a j
really popular government and to madden |
the people with a conviction that until
the seizure is made, they will be suffering
chronic wrong.
Mallock maintains that wages have the |
relation to capital that the orthodox econo-
mists assert. George, in demonstrating the
doctrine that wages are drawn from CAPT
tai, admits that wages are fixed by the
ratio between two quantities number
of laborers and the amount of capital de-
when he comes to the work of humiliation !
Mallock points out that George adroitly |
skips over, wholly omits, the first of the
quantities, and that for the ratio bctVcsn tie
tao he substitutes the amount Of the second. |
and even from that he has taken It's most |
essential qualification. He tits at some
thing no one ever affirmed no one ever
said that the rate of wages in country
was determined by the amount of capital |
in that country, but by the ratio between
the amount of capital seeking Investment
and the number of laborers seeking
employment. Mallock quotes NJ de
Laveieye's calm refutation' of Georges
fallacy on this subject, which we
are unwillingly compelled TO omit here
As to Georges rent theories, Mallock
shows that they are founded on an abso-
lutte ignorance of the facts of statistical
history. Mallock admits that, just as there
so also there may be in the letting
of land, But though private ownership of
land may produce such a result sometimes
the result is accidental, and in no way
necessary and the only question before us
is not, must it take place always? but does
it take place, as a fact in times and coun-
tries we are dealing with? Is it
a fact that in England and America
the landholders, as production increases,
pocket all the increase, and that all the
rest of the community, SO far as wealth
goes, remain stationary? Do merchants,
and bankers starve, and do
alone make fortunes?
Mallocl shows that Georges theories
have already been tested and have failed,
except to bring misery upon the people
We cannot pursue the view of the work