New-York tribune., 1890-01-17
ATKINSON'S NEW BOOK.
HARMONY OF ECONOMIC AND MORAL LAWS

HARMONY OF ECONOMlC AMI MOhAh Hn"'
THE INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS OF THE NAIlo4 ~
Consumption Limited, Production Unlimited . IS ~
Edward Atkinson. New York and London. t. T.
Putnam's Sons $50. ovo. PIP 39o
Mr. Atkinson has heretofore made contributions
of much value TO economic knowleuee' anu ''ii'
volume must be reckoned more valuablc than any
previous work from his pen. 1t Is indeeu open 10
the same criticisms which his previous work has
justified There is much repetition OF iacts'
tables. and even of illustrative statements and
felicties of phrase, which is apt to weary reaueI
Careful rewriting and condensation OF separate
articles would render work far more helpful TO
Mr.. Atkinson's reputation, and more effective with
the public There is a sad want of logical cOnsecu-
tivcness and order There are some cases OF mac
curacy. though fewer than in any previous work
nv the author The writer who can deal with
world of economic and financial information with
ont some error Of statement or inference has yet
TO be born. On the whole, this work merits high
praise, not merely because it contributes more
largely 10 the sum of economic knowledge than
previous works by Mr.. Atkinson, but especially
because it is throughout Of a broader and higher
one
The ruling idea Of this work is to exhibit the
ESSENTIAL harmony Of the industrial and the
moral laws of the universe. beneicent
Creator, who has clothed the entire material
world with beauty, and wonderfully formed
it to minister to human happiness and whose
moral laws are the very perfection of guidance
for the race toward its highest possibilities OF
development and happiness, cannot be conceived
TO have subjected commerce and industry 10
laws which tend to degrade or brutalize the
race, or to lessen its enjoyment of life. Reason
ing thus. Mr. Atkinson endeavOrs to show the
aud
lie maintains that the laws which do in fact
govern the production and distribution OF wealth.
the relations between labor and capital, and the
reward or accumulation of both. are essentially
those which must promote the highest happiness
and wcl-being of mankind. II is a noble aim.
The work undcrta ken is much needed ana eN-
ceedingly timely and while Mr. Atkinson modestly
claims no more than to have taken some steps
in the right direction, and his errors OF theory
have led him into some departures from his own
high purpose. lie has nevertheless rendered ser
vice of real value, and produced work which Will
live
In previous publications repeated and ampliticd
here Mr. Atkinson has set forth with great power
the immense benefits which capital has conferred
upon mankind by improving the means of trans
portation When he teaches that railroad develop
ment and the cheapening of freighls have CON
ferred upon producers and consumers IN this
country benefits which, measured in money, would
amount in a very few years TO more than the
entire cost of the railroads and their equipment,
he is quite within the truth. 1t would he even
more scientifically true to say that the Nation,
with it's present population, productive power,
and well-being for the millions, would have been
utterly impossible without that railroad develop
mont and cheapening of transportation. MI
Atkinson might have added that capital takes,
as its entire reward for its service, only about
fortieth part of the annual production, and yet
if only the reduction in average rail rates since
1860 be reckoned, the value Of the service TO
the people at l cent per ton per mile on 7O,0pO-
OOO. 900 ton miles has been over 500 100000 in
single year. In comparison with the cost OF
wagon TRANSFORMATION, were that possible, the
saving has been twenty times as great. In other
words, il would have cost the entire annual
product Of the United States TO pay for the
transportation actually performed in lsss by
railroads alone, and for that service the capital
employed now takes less than fortleth as lts
remuneration.
In the articles republished in this volume Mr.
Atkinson exhibits the service rendered by capital
in other respects also, and particularly in manu-
features and in cheapening processes of production
The value of this service he does not attempt TO
measure in the gross But # it be roughly reclI-
pned that the productiveness per hand has been
increased only third within the past thirty years
that service alone has added more than 4,000
millions TO the production in 1889. Mr.. Atkin-
son gives host of valuable facts and comparisons
which place in strong light the benefit conferred
by cheapening of productive processes. He
demonstrates also. that all capital works under
law of gradually diminishing profits, from which
Il follows that labors share Of an increasing
product is steadily and necessarily increasing.
But for a half-disqualifyng mental blindness,
which makes him unable to see that protection
mas enormously increased the application of cap-
tai TO industries, and thus has contributed beyond
calculation to the increase of production and also
TO the increase in the share obtained by labor,
Mr.. Atllinson's work on this point would have
been far more valuable
The authors reasonings about the tariff may he
dismissed with brief scrutiny of his most labored
argument. Comparing the selling prices Of iron,
Scotch pig in Great Britain and Anthracite NO. l
in Pennsylvania, lie claims that the entire differ
ence, SIS SO per gross ton, measures the increased
cost of 70,000000 tons of iron 10 the people by
reason Of protection. Then lie adds 81 per ton
for the difference 25,000,O0O tons Of
steel, and reckons the entire cost of protection on
iron at $50 600, 900 yearly. His latest figures are
for 1887, but he assumes like difference for 1893
and 1889, though figures showing different state
of facts were easily accessible. But with perfectly
naive unconscousness that lie is destroying MS
elaborate argument, spun through many pages he
remarks: IL is evident that any sudden increase
If demand on Great Britain would be followed by
rapid advance both in the price and the
cost of British iron and steel" Then
the low British quotations caused
by the withdrawal of American demand a
result of protection. Any that the
price which this country would have 10 pay, il
dependent upon Great Britain, is not determined
by the British price depressed by the with
drawal of American demand. But Mr.. Atdn
sons confession is not convincing American