The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-05-14
TRUE REMEDY FOR The EVIL

IAN omen letter to the chief OF the ou-
reau OF labor statistics, by Lyman
George OF Boston)
Mr.. Carroll D. Wright
s,r. your lecture OF March Ia, before
the citizens OF Boston. on HIne Relations
OF Inventions to Labor" having peen
lauded as mastery exposition OF the
problem OF our age, ! am compeieu "
candor to point out few considerations
YOU overlooked, as my heart is strongly
in sympathy with the suiferings ana s'ius
giles OF the laborer. and the question 10
fraught with momentous seriousness.
You saw: "Civilization must see to IL
that labor is better rewarded, put you
offer no remedy. You say every step Vi
advance ia over the graves OF sufferers
over buried ambitions and lost oppof
tunities. The permanent good enects Oh
inventions do not prevent the temporary
displacement of laborers-enforeea luie
ness--you say, and then you MAINTAIN 'nA'
the expansive force of inventions OFFSETS
the displacing force In opening up ne"
trades and occupations for those dis
placed. II 1t were an offset. there wou'a
be no enforced idleness. This is not the
question the laborer asks you TO solve'
The fact that 100 threads OF cotton are
as easily spun as one before--or that 600
men today can make as many plows as
2l45 formerly did-or the speed OF the
heel -shavers of Lynn is well known 10
us. can not see that YOU touch the real
question.
1t seems to me to be this: How can we
stimulate the consumption OF the excess
OF production OF every substance needed
for material welfare? How shall the pro-
ducer's right TO enjoy an ever increasing
share OF the fruits OF his labor be re-
stored to him? Clearly, the keeping the
effective demand OF every substance equal
TO the actual demand will do it. This pri-
mary perception OF the human reason Is
generally overlooked in discussions OF the
great law or supply and demand no
mater what a man wants, 1t is how
much he can buy that influences the mar
ket. Man is never satished---nor can we
quarrel with this restless discomfort, for
II
any rate of wage, and he will strive for
more
Is it not clear then, that, theoretically,
We can not satisfy the actual demand Of
our home market, even though we double
our productions many times? Why, then,
have we heard the cry of oyerproduction?
1t is the lack OF effective demand-or
money demand. There must always be
this scarcity II We get no new issues of
tfrg+h of
and this causes the existing money units
TO enhance in market value, which Is
shown by the commodity price declining.
~
Improved machinery lowers labor value,
but not the market value of products. Let
us see how cost of production" is affect
ed-for The Relation of Invention to La
Dor" was your stext, Let us clearly de-
fine the three terms, worth, labor value
and market value, for ! find you often
contradict yourself. You assert that the
division of labor has grown finer and finer
as machinery has grown more and more
essential TO the production of goods. The
consequence is that trades are hardly
essential new" and later you add: 1.-THE
greatest want today Is for men to know
some technical trade, to keep them out
OF penal institutions.
Pronounclng the ethics of a question to
be more important than a scientific solu-
ton, you turn from the dark picture OF
the displaced laborer, and plead for the
life of the machine: Let us not call 1t
labor displaclng but rather labor assisting
machinery" and then you assert the
monstrous fallacy 1T assists In gripping
the purchasing power of the community"
How in the name of Hargrayes and Ark
wright can improved machinery cripple a
community, II, as you say later it leads
to a better and greater and more
equal diffusion of wealth and all that
wealth means"
But your latter statement Is not true.
II 1t were, we should rightly expect to
see wealth much more equally distributed
today, when machinery exists in abun-
dance, than 1t was years ago, while it Is
an acknowledged fact that the reverse is
true.
But to return to the definitions of worth,
labor value and market value. The worth
of commodity is its power OF satisfying
human desires; the labor value of a COM
modify is the effort of labor In creating
that commodity. Neither of these is
measurable, but fluctuations in them may
~ h~'SS4'NN' tsVWs IldLhtl Ndlu6 is the
ratio of exchange between a commodity
and the dollar, and of these three terms.
Inc latter is the only measurable one.
Worth is not measurable in units, and
huctuates only as. by changing of the at
tributes OF the commodity, 1t satisfies
more or less the demands of human be-
ings; labor value, also not measurable
may, however, fuctuate, as when. by i'm
proved machinery, less labor will create
the same amount of wealth. But, market
value being a ratio, may ductuate when
eVer any change is made In either numer-
ator or denominator That we have had
many such changes you we'll know; that
we nave more than quadrupled our pro-
ouctlon and more than doubled our pop
ulation since 1865, and yet with such in
ereasing demands for money, the supply
mas not Increased, Do you not know II
should increase with production to keep
prices stable? No commodity was aver
crippled by stable prices Thirty-eight
ana cne-half cents for print cloths offers
larger opportunities to increase their pur-
ehssins power than 2 cents: and vet YOU
nave witnessed in thirty odd years a de-
cine OF "a per cent In the market value
Oh our cotton goods. without protesting
AGAINST such frlghtful contraction of
'ne aenominator Of our market values.