New-York tribune., 1912-02-25
acob Gould Schurnan Puts Socialism Under the Microscope

J tributiOn OF these commoditieS. lHoSe
functions Of production and distribution
are now performed by millions OF indi-
viduals who while pursuing their own
! interests az the same time serve and
benefit the community. Yet 10 satisfy
tho demands Of n revolutionary theory
socialists would take out OF the hands ~
our present owners-farmers. msnu-
facturers and others-the multifsrioIs
sources OF this wealth and intrust to m
unskilled government al Washington the
ma nagement Of vast all-embrocinE
network Of national business Of infinite
variety. of a value immessurable and
practically unimaginsble and Of range.
extent and compleyity calculated to sat-
isfy all the needs of 1O0.00O.O00 Ameri-
can consumers.
A PARALYSIS or PRODUCTION.
Even If the socialistic reorganization
OF society were practicable, on economic
grounds it must be pronounced unde-
sirable. What people want is not merely
equal incomes but good sized incomes.
Marshall tells US that in Great Britain.
although during the last generation the
| average money income of the people has
more than doubled and the price of
almost all important commodities except
animal food and house room has fallen
by one-half or even further, it is never
theless fact that even now II wealth
were distributed equally the total pro-
! duction Of the country would only suf-
fee TO provide necessaries and the moro
urgent comforts for the people. Some
artisans families, he says, earn about
6 200. or $1,000 a year, and would gain
nothing by an equal distribution of
wealth. American economists consider
$1,000 a year liberal estimate of the
average income Of families in the United
States. While those figures would rep
resent gain for many wage earners.
they would fail TO realize the pictures
which socialists have painted OF the
wealth, prosperity and happiness Of So
cialistic communities.
From an economic point Of view,
therefore, socialism df for the time
being we overlook the fact of its i'm
practicabllity) must stand or fall ac-
cording TO the effect which the system
has on the productive powers of the
nation To start with, the socialists
propose TO transfer all land and capital
to the ownership of the state. Confisca-
ton would be a great wrong TO present
owLcrs, and therefore some form of
purchase or compensation has been quite
generally suggested. For a generation
or so after the system came into opera
tion the state would. we may assume.
pay annuities to the former owners OF
land and capital During this period the
productive industries OF the country
would be saddled with charge which
may not unfairly be compared with the
aggregate interest which under our pres
ent competitive system of industry is
paid to the owners Of capital for the use
Of their funds in production. But even
after this debt had been extinguished the
productive industries OF the socalistic
state would almost certainly yield less
TO the community than these industries
DO wher competitively managed under
our present system. This proposition
can be demonstrated in way conclusive
TO intelligent and disinterested thinkers.
FACTORS or PRODUCTION.
What are the factors which make ou-
Industries productive? They are the
labor OF the wage earners. the initiating
and directing genius of managers, ma
chinery and other capital goods OF tho
most modern type and Of the most ample
variety and thorough efficiency, and.
lastly. inventions by which the processes
and instruments Of production are being
constantly improved, along with continu-
Gus Investigations and discoveries In SCI
ence which those inventions are forever
applying to industry.
These are the most important factors
making for the productiveness Of modern
industry. But nearly all these factors
are rendered efficient by the spur OF
private interest, by the inducements OF
gain or fortune The highest work OF
man-moral. intellectual, artistic-is
least affected by these self-regarding
considerations; the preacher OF right
eousness. the good physician, the gen.
uine teacher, the creative artist, the In
spired scientific investigator, are little
influenced by the compensations they re-
ceive from society, provided only there
Is sufficient for a modest livelihood.
SLOW GROWTH OF ALTRuIsM.
But on the lower plane OF human AZ
tivity grosser motives dominate. Coarser
labors must be purchased by coarser re-
wards. OF course. the human race II
improving. and will improve, and the
spirit of altruism gradually but slowly
gains more power in human affairs.
But at any date which may be named
within a century or moro for the in
auguration of the socialistic state human
nature will be pretty much what it is
to-day. And It is Emerson who says
of men that they are all as lazy as
they dare TO be. Under the socialists
regime. therefore, the laboring men (ths
wage earners, as they are now called
being assured OF a fair income and a
fair day cannot be expected to work as
hard as they do under the present COM
petitive system in which the wages they
receive bear a relation TO the quality and
productiveness of the labor which they
perform.
Similarly the captains Of industry.
whom emulation and competition and
the prospect Of personal gain incite &c
the highest pitch Of energy and the ut
most reach of genius, will be without
these motives for the exertion of their