The New York herald., 1922-09-24

Penty. The Macmillan Company.
THE SOCIAL TREND. BY Edward A Ross
The Century Company.
SOCIALISM AND CHARACTER By Henry
Sturt E p. Dutton & Co.
TN Erewhon, that almost inhumanly ra-
tional Utopia of Samuel Butler, they
had disposed once and for all Of one of
the major social problems; they had COM
pletely done away with machinery. Not a
piece OF It was allowed in the country,
save one or two that reposed harmlessly
under glass in museums, mementos OF the
final struggle of man to save himself from
the slavery OF mechanism.
1t Is curious paradox Of modern times
that what was expected to Hberate the
( race has In many ways bound it; that labor
saving inventions have frequently meant
harder and more monotonous labor; that
the era of industrialism, which Herbert
Spencer thought would gradually make
var impossible. has produced the greatest
and most destructive of all wars.
Doubts of the complete goodness of ma
chine production are not new. They came
almost with the coming OF the machine as
II is known to-day. Carlyle in Past and
Present" thundered Indignantly against a
system under which Lancashire factory
workers faced observation-disclosures they
had produced too many shirtsl Morris
prophesied that machine Industry might
mean the decay OF art. Mary shelley, in
story that has become byword, drama
tized its possibilities for evil
The too great manufacture of useful
goods that troubled Carlyle was called
overproduction. The new processes turned
out supply faster than the market called
for It Consequently factories shut down
and workers went without employment
1t is the fear of such an eventuality to-day
that causes trades unions. and manufac-
turers as well, to restrict their output
They are afraid to work too well.
This quantity production made possible
by the machine is cited by Mr.. Penty as
evidence Of the peril that lies in the un-
restricted use of mechanical devices. II
there is a single fact that mainly accounts
for the present plight Of the world it is
this: In the fifteen years before the war
Germany quadrupled her output of goods.
She had four times as much to sell. She
demanded markets. She challenged Eng
land on the seas. She challenged France
= Africa She challenged both in the
Near East. She feverishly built Bagdad
railways and 6eetS-with a result that is
only too tragicaIly obvious With thor
oughness unequaled by any other nation.
Germany went in for machine production.
The result was overproduetion. q race for
colonies and markets. war.
As Mr. Penty sees It, there Is no branch
Of art that is not threatened by mechanical
production. The great cultures OF the
past were organieally part OF a mans
everyday work. They came TO a man ar
his work and formed in his mind a temper
that responded to the higher forms OF
culture" fBut when the twenty men maxi
ing pin. eulogized by Adam Smith. is N
ideal in industrial art. then minute and
deadening subdivision OF labor takes place.
Soon few single workmen make anything:
they make only parts OF things. This they
do over and over until whatever artistic
instincts they have are atrophied
Mr.. Penty's remedy is return to the
medieval system OF craft guilds. where
creative work was personal and quality
counted more than quantity. This he