The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-03-24

posed that he had expressly excluded
all questions except those relating to
material good" But the editors of
this magazine, after expressly exclud-
ing all else but questions of material
good" tell us calmly that they mean
to mercilessly expose the fallacies that
have been teaching that wealth is only
material good" We betake us to
the refuge that was always open to
poor Joe: It's all a muddle, sir; l
eve knOw'd nothink."
These learned editors, Messrs. George
Gunton and Starr Hoyt Nichols, tell
us that the doctrine of Ricardo and
Mill, that demand and supply control
the law of prices, is only an ''ancient
saw" We suppose it must be so. For
these gentlemen have said it is so. But
how the price of any valuable thing
can be low when that valuable thing
is scarce, that is, when the supply Of
that thing is less than the demand for
it, OF how the price of any valuable
thing a be high when the supply of
it is greater than the demand for it,
we are unable to see But then we
are not the editors of the Social Econ
Onlist, and we have conscientious
scruples about calling certain things
ancient saws
We had innOcently supposed that
the law of supply and demand, as
enunciated and applied by Ricardo and
Mill, operated to control prices by
embracing within itself all the acct
dents and incidents connected with the
movements of exchange. For illus
tration, a large supply of wheat in the
United States will not lower the price
of breadstuffs in England until it shall
have been 50 distributed as to reach
and meet the demand for it in Eng
land. We supposed that neither Ri
cardo nor Mill had ever taught that
supply could, by any means, work a
general lowering of prices i'll any other
way than by securing for itself the
power which comes to it from general
distribution. But we may be mis-
taken.
The editors of the Social Economist
tell us that all kinds of charity are
hurtful to the recipients of them, eX-
cepting only those charities that are
''self-supporting;" and they explain a
self-supporting charity to be II that
pays a profit upon the investment in it.
This doctrine is pretty hard upon the
colleges and universities of the world
They educate young men and yOupg
women by the thousand at a clear Joss
every year. To supply the loss upon
such education large sums are provided
by charitable people for the endOw-
ment of these institutions. Now, we
are told that all charities, not self
supporting, entail an injury upon those
who take the benefit of them. We
had supposed that there was a personal
element in the majority of charities
that redeemed them and prevented
them from being hurtful to the bene-
ficiaries of them. But now comes the
Social Economist to tell us that the
twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew's
Gospel is a hurtful ~utterance upon the
subject of charity. An association of
kindly-hearted men cannot give of
their means to feed the hungry and
clOthe the naked without doing them
harm, unless they can make chart
table investment pay them a profit.
Again we flee into poor Joe's open
refuge.
The Social Economist tells us also
that better economic conditions r to
be brought about by shortening the
time people are to work, so that unem-
plOyed people can get employment at
remunerative wages. OF course the
owners of mills and factories will give
as much money for eight hours work
per day as they will give for ten hours
work per day; and then the idle per
sons who come in and get work in
consequence of the shortening of
the time of work, will get the
same wages, and they will want
to spend their wages for the articles
the masters 7 having manu-
featured, and this will create a market
for goods, and the golden age of the
laborer's dream will come, and all
men and some women will be happy,
as they should be. This is truly a re-
markable plan. We do not see why
this shortening of the working day
might not be carried on down until
every working man could earn his full
days wages before breakfast of a
morning and have all the balance of
the day to devote to learned and ele-
CANT leisure. 1t seems to us that the