The Portland daily press., 1894-03-14

the Wilson bill, marks the advent OF
sound economic discussion into the
United States Congress. 1t is the first
serious attempt to discuss the tariff
question in the national legislature on
truly scientific as well as democratic
basis. The proposition that; the prlncl-
plesof economic protection issto preserve
the conditions and opportunities of a
higher civilization against the drag
down influence of a lower CIVILIZATION is
the true economic application OF the
evolution principle the survival OF the
fittest,n social superiority always
being the test Of fitness. The
criterion of superiority IS
the wages and social life of the laboring
classes This was the key note of Mr..
Reeds great speech, and it was this
which at once gave newness and depth
and breadth and power and the ring OF
true leadership to his remarks, and it is
this which will make his speech land
mark in the history Of economic states
manship.
Besidesssrecognizing the important fact
that the success of industrial enterprise
now depends not merely upon proouc-
ton, but primarily and permanently
upon the consumption of wealth by the
masses, Mr. Reed sees that wages are de-
termined, not by the relation OF supply
and demand, but by the social standard
of living in the community, and conse-
! quently everything which tends, even
| remotely, to impair the standard OF Nv
| ing, or restrict the social wants ana oe-
| sires of wage earners, tends TO lower
wages, and thereby destroy the very
| foundation upon which the whole sbfuct-
| ure of capitalistic enterprise rests.
| "This question of wages" says ME-.
| Reed. sis to me the vital question. 10
| insure our growth in civilization ana
| wealth, we must not only have wages as
high as they are now, but constantly
and steadily increasing. Cloud ap-
plause from the Republican slde.) NO
applause, / notice, from the Democratic
side. This desire of mine for constantly
increasing wages does not have it's origin
in love for the individual, but in love OF
the whole nation in that enlightened
selfshness which requires that your fate
and mine Mr.. Speaker, and the rate OF
your descendants and mine, are SO
wrapped up in the fate OF all otners'
that whatever contributes to their pro-
gress gives to us all nobler future and
a higher hope / do not wish to use the
word contribute as adequate to de-
scribe the influence of wages on human
progress; that would be to bellttle the
subject. In my judgment. upon wages
a nd the consequent distribution or con-
sumable wealth, are based all the hopes
of the future, and all the possible in
craase of orr civilization. The
| increase will never come from the out
| side, will never be the gift OF the en-
ployer: it must come from the improve
ment of the man himself. Can you get
| a carpenter or bricklayer to work Tor
twenty-five cents day? He did II IN
England in 1725. Today in the UnlIed
States it is poor place where. ne can
not get ten times that sum. why does
he have to nave ten times as much?
Because the carpenter of today could
no more live as did the carpenter OF
1925 than he could live in cave and
hunt snakes for food. The difference
in wages means difference in living
and the 3. so is as much of necessity
today as the twenty-five cents was d
hundred and fifty years ago.
Herein lies the essence OF the new
| economic gospel; gospel whose corner
stone is the democratic basis of in
dustry. The idea that the standard OF
| living and wages of the masses constl-.
| tute the chief market for the products OF
|
change in the point of view of economic
discussion and public policy. 1t in
! wolves the discarding OF the now ex-
| ploded notion that wages and prices are
| governed by supply and demand, and
! the substitution of the cost-of-produc-
ton principle which inductive econo-
! mics now recognizes, viz, that wages
/ ever tend to equal the cost of supplying
1 the social necessities or established stand
| ard of living of the wage receivers; and
| that those wages constitute the great
| purchasing force in modern society upon
| which the great capitals and most pro-
ductive methods chiefly depend. In
i short, that the success of capltallstIc en-
| terprise and national development, and
| all that this implies in the growth of
| modern society, primarily depends upon
| the expansion of the social life and daily
| income of the wage classes.
| This is the foundation of an essentially
| new school of economics and national
| policy: a school that is distinctly Ameri-
| can. 1t is American because it is the
outcome of American industrial condl-
tions. Not merely that it is applicable
| to the local conditions of the United
] States, but because America occupies an
| advanced position in social development
as repI esented in the national interde-
pendence of diversified industries and So
| cial solidarity. This. doctrine Will be to
! the statesmen Oh Uno UWeuIlebH Ccuouly
| what the teachings of Adam Smith have
been to the nineteenth. "The Wealth OF
| Nations" was herald of middle class
economics. It's whole conception OF IN
| dustrial relations was from middle
| class point of view. He represented the
manufacturing and mercantile inter
| ests, as distinguished from those OF the
landed aristocracy. The laborlng Class
i consumption had not yet become an ap-
probable, factor in the market Tor the
productions of this manufacturing class.
| Laborers were regarded as mere ,produc-
tive force to be used as much and to be
paid as little as possible in in. order II, t, to
| supply middle class demands cheaply.
This led to the pursuit of middle class
markets, and, as the factory system de-
yeloped. made foreign markets indispen-
sable to English industrial success.
Thus foreign markets and free trade be-
came an economic necessity to English
middle class economic policy.
| America represents the next step in
economic evolution. Our declaration OF
political Independence was issued the
same year as was Adam Smiths Wealth
| of Nations; hence our national birth
and industrial development have been
under the regime of the factory system.
English policy. dictated by the necessity
l.x1,. l. Frta Il