The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-08-09
The Law Of Wages Again.
EDITOR REPRESENTATIVE

EDITOR REPRESENTATIVES:
TROY, O., July IA, '93.
Will you allow me space to reply |
TO your generous and pointed COM
ment upon my brief note as to the
law Of wages? / think / do not un-
derestimate the evils of commodity
Like many of the other
parts of the social machine it is just
so much dead weight; but it seems
to me that improvement of the
of exchange, other con-
ditions remaining the same, would
afford only temporary relief to a
comparatively small number of peo-
pie. To the toiling masses the kind
of money makes but little difference;
they get bare living at best. Fiat
or gold, single or double standard
starvation is always at their elbows.
The development of steam and cleo
tricity and the labor saving devices
which have so marvelously increased
the power of productions have not
improved social conditions, the rich
have grown richer and the poor have
grown poorer; wealth the giant and
poverty the ogre, hunt side by side.
Money is an aid to production.
Better money like better engines in
creases productive power. But the
facts remains that out of the total
volume of production, labor and cap
ital get a constantly decreasing
share. The owners of land values
are the gamers The prime factors
of production are labor, capital and
land. The share of one cannot be
increased without decreasing the
share of the others. If wages and
interest are reduced, rent is that
much richer 1t is beyond dispute
that as population and improvement
rise, rent rises In the great cities
wages and interest are low, rent is
high.
In the thinly settled portions of
the West, there is no rent but high
wages and interest always prevail.
Borrowing your form of illustration,
suppose the city of St. Paul Ito pos
ses every requisite for supplying it's
wants without intercourse with the
outside world'' and that the owners
of the gas, water and transporta ton
franchises would surrender their
privileges to the people, making
heat, light, water and transporta-
tion free to all, and that ways and
means were provided whereby money
would be abundant and of the very
best. What boom you would have!
Half the people of the United
States would want to live in St.
Paul, real estate would rise leaps
and bounds. and rent would mount
with giant strides-safe and abund-
ant money, like free heat, light, and
power would be one of the attrac.
tions of St. Paul and therefore one
of the factors in increasing rent.
| Landlords would absorb all the
profits of the city's good fortune.
1t therefore seems to me that the
settlement Of the money question is
futile unless accompanied by a set.
Element of the land question.
| Monopoly of the medium of ex.
change often causes diaster to many
and inconvenience to all, but if one
man got control of all the money the
trouble would be but temporary
The people would meet the emer
gency as they did during the civil
war, and production and distribu-
tion would go on as before. But sup
pose a few enterprising individuals
bought up the whole planet and sud
denly served us all with notice to
quit, or carted their little world of
to some other system, and left us
only the atmosphere? We would
find the difficulty permanent and
serious, if forced to choose between
no money or no ground we would try
to struggle along without either OF
the precious metals, about which
there is just now such hue and cry
In my judgement the above fairly
illustrates the relative and impor
lance Of the money and the lane
question. One is the root and the
other only one of the branches of the
Upas tree.
It can be chopped down very easily
with the Single Tax.
A. f. BROOMHALL.
The statement in Mr.. BrOOmhall's
former letter to which exception was