Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1891-02-06
Prof. Sumner and Human Commo aitie..
From n " Standard

From \. Y. Standard
Prof w. q. Sumner is writing for tho
Independent as 20 the Significance of
the demand for men," Referring to an
idea often expressed in ono form or an
other, that it is n shame men are sub
ject to supply and demand. Prof. Sum-
ner says that as we want to know tho
facts about man and the world in which
he lives just as they are, it is 'irreva
lent and idle to talk about what is con-
sonant with, or what is hostile to, mans
notions of his own dignity" and warns
his readers that sit will be found that
men are subject to supply and demand.
This Is not true. and Prof. Summers
mistake is due to his neglect of his own
postulate that i've want to know the
facts about man, and the world in which
he lives, just as they are, without re-
gard to any thing else whatsoever"
One of the facts about man and tho
world in which he lives is that tho
means supplied him by natural
laws whereby he may provide for
his natural wants are taken away
from him by human law. He
can not provide for his wants as an
animal without land. and he can not
provide for his wants as n civilized man
without land in civilized locations. II
the right to land bo taken from men in
general and vested in some men, the law
of supply and demand will operate just
as Prof. Sumner says it will. Tho need
for workers on the part of land owners
or of men who can buy rights of access
to land will regulate the demand, and
the number of landless mon whose me-
cessities force them to offer their
labor for sale will constitute the supply.
But if this is what Prof. Sumner means
when he says men are subject to supply
and demand, his phrase is grossly mis-
leading, He should have written: 'Men
are subject to supply and demand when
land is monopolized. But to say that
would be to hint to al to whom the idea
that man is a commodity is repugnant
that tho artificial monopoly Of land
should be abolished
1t is true that black men are subject to
slavery when and where human laws re-
duce them to servitude; but it is not
true that black men are subject to slav-
cry, in any such sense as that slavery is a
natural condition of black mon. So it is
true that men are subject to supply and
olized but it is not true that men arc
subject to supply and demand in any
such sense as that this is a natural con-
dition or with any such implication as
that even attempts to remove them from
the operation of the law of supply and
demand must be in contravention OF
natural law. If we found, as Prof. Sum-
ner does, that men are subject to supply
and demand, it would be, indeed, in
that connection, irrelevant and idle to
talk about what's consonant with or hos
tile to n mans notions of his own digni.
ty;" but when VIC find that man is sub.
ject to supply and demand because hui
man laws of land tenure and trade de-
prive him OF what is as essential to his
existence as his lungs or his brains, it is
not irrelevant or idle to talk about what
is consonant with or hostile to his no
tions of his own dignity. His notions Of
his own dignity-his notions of his owr
natural rights-are pertinent and usefu
in the highest degree when he considers
the question of changing the human
laws that made him subject to supply
and demand.