The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1914-07-11

H. H. Hardinge Says Causes Are
Economic; Not Policital;
Explanation Simple.

S5s. In, thu, fact Of the colossal and un-
paralleled productive powers Of the
twentieth century civilization, local
causes cannot explain tho CONNER
cial depression. Nor can the silly ex-
PLANTATION that "the democrats are in
power again. clear the situation. 1t
will only ,befog it. :: H. t=s.-
The causes Of hard times are eco
nonnic; they are not political. HARD
times is an economic" phenomenon.
q The explanation is simple. Good
times are dependent upon the pur-
chasing power Of the masses. It all
depends upon that, and real states
manship would concern itself with
increasing the purchasing power Of
the great mass OF the people to the
highest possible point; but the econo-
mic forces at work In the world today,
tend to reduce the purchasing power
of the masses to constantly lower
level. The trade unions arc tho only
agency In society today that offer any
resistance to this tendency. At best
trade unions are weak, Apheneral.
In no large way are they competent
to operate against economic forces
which are at once invisible, i1nperson-
al, institutional. Intangible, subter-
rannean, automatic and irresistible.
There are only thr4e factors In the
production Of wealth. and. three only
in distribution, and the whole pro-
plena is involved in distrihution.. Dis
trihutton is wrong, that 10 why times
are hard.
These three factors are labor, cap
ital and land. They produce every
thing and they get everything. La
Dor gets wages, capital gets interest;
land gets rent. Wages, interest and
rent get 100 per cent. OF everything
produced, be 1t little or much.
Wages 80 to labor tor work done
in the past. Interest" goes to capital
tor the use Of stored up work, also
done in the past. ALI real capital is
| stored UP Labor, Land is not capital,
although 1T is capitalized and yields
! rent. Rent" goes to privilege, to le-
! gal monopoly, which does nothing,
Wages (which measures and repre-
SCENTS tho purchasing power Of the
nultitude) tends steadily downward
Hence the need for unlons. If wage.
tended upward, there would be nc
l
( tai, tends steadily. lower, as capita.
becomes more abundant. Rents tends
STEADILY higher. as land gets scarcel
and ever higher in price. There 1,
nothing 50 Irresistible. as a teadenc!
and no tendency can be COPIED will
until understood,
Land is a fixed quantity. Labor Il
not and capital is not. Both can b.
and are steadily reproduced; lant
cannot be. There Is no more land her.
than when Columbus discovered thi
country, but there are 100,000,t0(
more people, $4,000. 100000 NOR,
capital and about $50, 200. 900, 00l
worth of land monopoly. Rent ha
got ahead of business. =:
/, About twe-thirds Of DIR so-calle,
| national wealth is not wealth at all
but is tribute levying power capital
lied into unthinkabie sums and own
ed by fraction. OF the population
Land values can be Infinitely inflated
Labor cannot be inflated at all, nei
ther can capital. Monopoly alon
can be inflated, overcapitalized. wa
tered. There is no speculation in Ia
Dor, nor yet in capital, but there is 1
land.
The only way to make bushes
good and keep it good is to revers
the present tendency-that is, t
raise wages and lower rent. Thi
would take the increased wages on
of the fund which creates most q
our millionaires. Speculation in Ian
must be destroyed.
It is utterly impossible to have
prosperous people and at the sam
time pay rent on $s0,00o,O0O,00
worth of monopoly. Our productiv
forces are not great enough, and W
cannot increase production fae
enough to get ahead OF monopoly, pc
cause inflated land values are cap
able Of indefinite and infinite expan
sion. It can always get ahead an
keep ahead of business.
Monopoly produces nothing. It
entitled to nothing, and under q san
civilization 1t would get nothing
while today it gets tho lions shar
Of everything. The revenues Of mon
opoly should be taken to sustain gov
ernment and taxes upon bushes
should be abolished.
ILLINOIS CENTRAL