The Lafayette advertiser. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], La.) 1865-19??, 1908-09-01

linen the price WOuiQ Iall, anu tuc
poor people would have plenty of po-
tatoes at a lower price, and the farm
ers would not get enough for their po-
tatoes o pay for the fertilizer, labor
and freight.
"And that is about the way it goes
in u helter-skelter. haphazard, still
unciyilized system of production and
distribution.
If the mar who produces is happy
and gets a good price, the man who
consumes is unhappy, because he has
to pay a high price and not have as
much as he needs.
1--WE should advise Messrs. Solo,
man and Bog to leave alone the par
ticular political economy with which
they have been ~puzzling their minds.
Let them try to look at things for
themselves, from the primitive COM
nonsense point of view. Political
economy, especially as discussed by
modern writer's, is largely a patch
work of guessing, theorizing and fool
ishness.
"SOme of the men at whom the po-
%litical economists laugh most heartily
such men as Ruskin and Henry
George-really have publ he'd sug-
gestive, valuable ideas on political
economy, often unconsciously bor-
rOwed. of course.
eve advise our two readers to try
to form their ideas on these ques-
tions and o to puzzle their minds
with guees sings IN political economy,
very obscure at best.
"Just remember that the earth is q
great big round farm given to human
beings. They IN to develop. grow
and become civilized on that big farm
by developing the farm, and helping
and developing each other.
"Men at first were all enemies,
fighting each other, not only with
knives. bows and arrows, but also
with the cunning of the merchant and
trader. The man who sold anything
to another always tried to cheat and
get the better of the bargain. That is
about the situation still. The idea OF
q man is to get all he can from his
neighbor and give the neighbor as
little ss possible. Gradually we are
working out of that, but we are not
out of it by any means yet.
1.-THE benefit of one class means too
often the misfortune of another. If
the man who builds . house gets very
big pay, then the man who lives in
the house must pay bigger rent, and
forever.
"If the farmer gets q good price
for his crops, the w~orkingman, whose
wages perhaps have not been increas-
ed, finds it harder to feed his children.
And SO it goes.
until very recently everything was
helter-skelter, savage competition
Every man was against his neighbor,
trying to get labor as cheap as he
could and to sell the products of labor
as dearly as he could.
ut was simply q game of cutthroat.
1.-THE much hated trusts are doing
good in this world because they, in
their own corrupt way. are bringing
us out OF that cutthrost stage. They
are as uncivilized as anybody, and
meaner, and extoltionate, for
they do their work of extortion on .
bigger scale. But at least they are
killing competition. They are uniting
men in great bodies to work together.
They are managing industries so as
to prevent eventually the sudden
panlcs, the over production. the great
crises.
s'They have at least carried the
world on from stupid competition to
intelligent. selfish cooperation and
organization.
sThey will teach human beings the
power Of organization. Then the
world, ell the men On it, will organ
lie for their own benefit, and then we
shall have real organization based on
emulation.
Strange - it may seem. all of the
people will eventually have all they
M ~.