The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1912-08-31
FORMER. premier o.; I.
i. RUSSIA ON h |. / (
Attempts t to- Riddl 8 Philosophy
S:.of Karl Marx, Analyses
Some Theories 5

F Count sergius Witte. former pre-!
prepared ST lectures on. international
law and political economy, among
which was deep study Of Karl Marx
and the tenets. Of Socialism. He wrote:,
Those things which require human
labor to get only, have an exchange
value What can be obtained without
the use Of energy has no price. !, But
when labor is spent on an article it
may or may not give a profit to. the
employer. Only if the demand for
that class Of goods is large enough
will there be profit. Hence, ex-.
change value depends on the law Of
supply and demand. .,'~
/ But the. MARKHAM theory overem-.
phasfzes labor. He says that the ex-
change value of products is deter
mined, exclusively by labor. Labor is
the source of value OF commodities.
Given quantities of human labor are
crystallized into products and labor
determines the exchange value of a
product Commodities that, contain
the same: amount of labor haze the
same valne: A workman spends part
OF the; day to earn his own keep and
the rest Of the days products goes to
:the employer. These are MARKHAM
ideas. -:
According to Marx, only living HUI
man labor has value, while the: dead
product of labor, capital, has mo
value. Money and machinery give
their services free. All labor >dSs On;
one plane. says Marx, whether skilled
or unskilled. %-'~. ~'.:'s>
Returns Vary.
"Yet one iron mine may give, d:
large return and the other a small
return for the same amount Of labor.
One factory produces much moro
With given number of men than
another in the same class. Land in
one country will produce much more
wheat than in another. It depends
on, the richness Of land and OF the
mines and on the skilled management
behind; the factory. There is no av-
erage form Of labor. 1t varies in the
same industry and is different in diff
ferent9 Industries. =:
Labor in raising oranges, in OBJ
tanning furs, in producing lumber, in
digging diamonds, is different. from
labor in a factory. The factory labor
can definitely be measured on a pro-
duct which would not exist without
labor. .4~t.> -,
Labor on Some Basis.
Marx says labor is all on the same
basis. Skilled labor is only simple Ia
Dor intensified. Now the price Of Ia
Dor is determined by the labor mar
ket. His form is the production Of a
laborer for day and this cannot be
determined in modern specialized la
Dor. The quantity of product of each
.laborer would vary If it could be
measured accurately The poor mine
would yield, less per man than: the
rich mine. =. The: poor soil would
yield less than, the rich soil. The
we'll managed factory would yield
more than the poorly managed one.
Capital tries to reduce the num-
Der Of workingmen. One machine
now makes as much calico as 400
men formerly made. In the days OF
Adam Smith one man produced 3d.
900 needles a week. Now one woman
| with machines makes 100000
needles week.. Not the living la
Dor power of Marx alone makes this
yield in products, but the machines
! are the largest factor. '-
/ Contradicted BY Facts. =.
''Marxian ideas are fatty contra
dicted every day in actual life!
! "Now the state has stepped In and
| acts as umpire between labor and
employer. This equilibrium of pub
lie and private interest, maintained
and protected by the state bylaws
and by workingmen's, organizations
in which private interests are not
absorbed by public interests, seems to
present the best method for the solu-
ton Of the labor problem and the
best means Of protecting the work.
'ingmen."
=