Workmen's advocate., 1890-12-13
LITERARY NOTES.

Robert E, O'CalIahan, Esq, a member . of the New York bar, issues unIer the above title an inter, sting little pamph- let, The pamphlet is evidently the re. suit of much thinking, though of little preparatory study-.a defect tEat does not tend to improve the quality of the thought.
 Mr. 0 Callahan recognizes the rXi5- tcncc of danger from corporate accumu lations of wealth; he also perccives the ill effects ot such accumuIations upon the WorkinEmeu, whos" wages, he shows, are constantly lowered with view to increase the interest of tine stock holders, and thirdly, he realizes the fact thal, aa things are, "Sl00 in the hands of man without another dollar are not "at par with $I0O in the ha'ds of a Vanderbilt" All these are impor. tant admissions, They denote the writer to occupy, so far as those three points go, common grouHd with aCien tine, L c, Socialist political economy; and they are significant in so ar also as they are symptoms of thought indppcn dent from some of the Contemporane0us capitalist cant.
 The simple scheme offered by Mr. OCalahan is legal tnacDments that shall provide for th' purchase, at par, of stock; for conlcmporaneous filing of a state ment of the interest expected; and last. ly, for power to any applicant for stock, willing tO take smaller, to substitute one demanding larger interest The scheme also provides for public inspec, tion of the books, etc. The question is: Would the desired result be attained? Beginning with the last of the de siderata mentioned above. would $1O0 in the hands of man without another l dollar indeed be on par with $l00 in | the hands of Vanderbilt? To simplify the Investigation, let it be granted at | this stage, that the law could be faith fully enforced. A walk from the Fulton Market up the Bowery furnishes object lessons that will throw valuable light | upon the question. The apple-woman at the street corners must make, and does make a profit Gnterest, in the sense used by Mr. O'CalIahan at a rate in, | finitely larger than the grocer from whom she may have purchased her stores; it is a necessity of the case; her sales are necessarily limited; the basis on which her profits are predirated be- ing small the rate of profit must be pro- pOrtionately large. The grocery man. above her, makes profits, upon the same 1 principle. smaller than does the apple woman, but larger than the wholesale dealer, from whom he gets his supply; finally, the wholesale dealer makes profits at a still lower rate than the grocery man. The principle is the same with all. Since each is competing for living, each will underbd the other this undertaking goes on tacitly all through the ScaIe-and the margln each has, the showroom he enjoys, deter, mines, speaking generally, the rate of profits he will be willing to accept. Now then, that margin is largest with the wholesale dealer because his stock i'll trade is lrgest; it is proport0nally less with the grocery man because he carries a smaller stock; and finally it is still smaller with the apple woman be cause her stock is smallest. He who has 1000 900 apples 10 sell can afford smaller profits on each than he who has only 100 apples for s,le. This ls a self evident proposition. To return to the two men: one with $I00 and not another dollar, and one with $10O, 0O0 000 The latter can afford to be satisfied with a fraction of 1 per cent interest, that would still leave him fine revenue; tC the former, how ever, fraction of per cent. interest, even double or triple the rate, would be as good as nothing. Ht invests for revenue; if a certain revenue is tritling, he will look around for some. thing better. That mans fate is sad in deed, we need not follow him further Are S100 in his hands as good as $ll0 ir the hands of Vanderbilt? Clearly not
 In fact. he will realize, whichever way he may turn, that-under the compe utiye system-the man with smaI capital Is at a decided disadvantage against one with large capital; and that when the disparity is between ont hundred solitary dollars and an equal ereH c smaller amount, but backed by {