Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-24
SAYS WE NEED COMPETITION,
BUT SHOULD CONTROL 1T

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 21.-[Editor
Herald: Your correspondent who
signs himself "Dr. Smith" in The Her
aid of yesterday claims to have solu-
ton for the labor question. Now, the
labor problems of the twentieth CEN
tury are about as complicated as any
thing human can we'll be; and any
proposal to settle the labor question
made off-hand in a short paragraph or
two must be viewed with suspicion. 1t
is readily admitted that neither DR..
Smith nor any one else could present a
very convincing argument on So mo-
mentous a subject in so summary a
manner. The letter referred to, how
ever suggests a few comments and
raises a few queries which may be OF
interest to your readers, and may per-
haps evoke a somewhat more extended
statement of his position by Dr.
Smith.
1 should say that the proposed rem
edy, to extend the Combine" idea to
all Americans, is too simple and is
made to prove too much. There Is, to
be sure, a growing solidarity among
the classes of society, the social con-
seriousness is being awakened as never
before; but just as largescale produc-
ton does not fit all industries and con-
solidation does not apply to all pro-
bring all industrial classes-that is, all
the population-under the principle Of
the corporation will result in failure.
Such a proposal seems chimerical and
purely academic, although an elucida-
tion of the actual steps required may
possibly render it more concrete
Make it to their self-interest to be
fair and square and men will be, ="
saVors strongly of unreality. Let us
a.
by the motive of self-interest. Under
DR.. Smiths system they are given the
same motive: but, presto, change! the
same men, with the same motive, have,
by the adoption of a simple device,
found a cure for all their industrial
ills. The sWeatshop is abolished, the
boycott and the strike are relegated to
the past, child labor votes itself down
and out, labor laws become superflu
Gus, everybody has employment. crops
or no crops each man loves his neigh
bot as hmself-not because of any
promptings of altruism, mind you, but
because such love is for his own selfish
interests!
If DR.. Smiths plan were feasible,
would it be advisable? 1t involves the
elimination of competition, which is
called the underlying cause of the
labor troubles" Most of US believe that
history teaches with great clearness
that human progress has been condi-
toned hitherto upon competition, some
form of conflict; and we see no indica-
ton that we are outgrowing the fund
amental principle. Competition, like
the current of a mighty river, should
be kept under salutary restraints and
not allowed to overflow the banks; but
to stop the current itself is to stop the
onfow of human progress. Gross and
irrational forms of competition pass
away. but the clash of human atoms
the intellectual and spiritual refine
ments Of contlict-Will remain indis
pensabe.
The labor problem changes with the
changing conditions of dynamic So
ciety; complete solution for today
would not suffice for tomorrow. The
totality Of mans life must ever be
considered, and not so-called indus
trial phrases alone. I fear that the
proposal of DIR. Smith is too much like
a cure-all. which, in the first place, is
impractcable, and, in the second place
if feasible would be ineffective.
r. D. H.