The Washington critic., 1890-02-11
INCREASE WAGES.

E0tt0r Crjttc; In reply to your editorial
in Yesterdays issue have to state that do
not "wish the Government to intensity its
cruelty in order that people still more
miserable than the present employees may
find chance TO work" Neither am ]
'against reform in the treatment Of the
present employees of the Government" But
! do deny that any real or adequate benefit
to those who now suffer can ever be accom-
plished on the lines on which THE CRITIC
is working, for the reason, as stated, that II
those places are made more attractive those
who now suffer will be forced out by others
who have influence. Thisis a fact that The
CRITIC has been careful not to dispute.
The only real remedy I'm this case is TO make
II possible for those people to find equally
remunerative employment elsewhere. Then
the officials will have to treat the employees
right or else their work will go undone.
My argument does not justify slavery. |
recognize the existence to-day OF slavery
more intense, more disastrous, more terrible
than chattel slavery ever was, and the state
Of affairs described In the mailbag repair
shop shows one aspect of 1t. Would those
people remain there if they were not held
by chains stronger than those Of steel?
This slavery | would abolish. Is THE
CRITIC really content to work only to
secure better treatment for some slaves, but
willing that slavery shall continue if the
slaves are well-treated?
The ultimate effect of all efforts to re-
lieye those who are the worst sufferers is
merely to shift the burden to others who
are out of sight, or otherwise confirm the
evil. This is true of all forms of charity
Help poor person and you tend to de-
velop beggar. Start a woodward and you
throw Others out of employment. Build
improved dwellings for the poor and they
will be filled by economical people who are
looking for cheaper rents. Start a soup
house and those who work hard for low
wages will stop working. Educate some and
those best educated will have more ability
to walk over the shoulders of those below
them. Raise the general standard of in
telligence and wages will not increase, but
the monopolsts will get more. Exceptional
manual training will give superior advan-
tages to its possessors that will help them
to keep others down; but if all become
tADtllb at HOllit lOlIl OI Quiet VI DTOuuC-
tion wages will be stationary, or fall, while
profits of the monopolists will be greater.
There is but one remedy, and that is to
increase wages (nct some wages, but all
wages TO the point Of Independence. Wages
are low because laborers are cut off from
opportunities to produce wealth. All
wealth is taken from land, and the fence
that bars them out of these opportunities is
the price of land. The essential thing to
do then is to break up the land monopoly
This cannot be done by restrictive legIsla-
tion. For reasons obvious to one who will
think it out, tax on the value of land can
not be shifted by the owner. That is, he
cannot increase the price or rent Of his land
by reason of the tax thereon; but, on the
contrary, the effect of an Increased tax is
to reduce the price. If the whole of ground
rent Cor rental value) were taken in tax
alton the selling price would be reduced to
naught and the rent would be reduced from
its present speculative altitude TO point
which would reflect the actual difference in
value over the poorest land in use. Just in
proportion, then, as the burdens of taxation
on the value Of land were increased would
it become more easily accessible to the
point of absorbing the full rental value, it
would not be necessary to give any price in
order to secure land necessary for produc-
ton, and all labor would then have access
to land. AS laborer with small capital
could then enter upon the production of
wealth, from which he is now fenced out be-
cause of the lack of sufficient capital, an
immense impetus would be given to pro-
duction and demand for labor would set
in, stopping competition among laborers,
AS laborers succeeded in securing employ
ment, and labor become scarce, creating
competition among employers for laborers,
and thus wages would finally reach point
where the laborer would get all his labor
produced, leaving to the capitalist only
proper interest and the landlord economic
rent. c. B. HEMINGWAY.