Alfred de Musset - "The Confession of a Child of The Century"

Richard Wagner (translated by Edward Dannreuther) - "On Conducting (Ueber das Dirigiren):"

Hector Malot - "Conscience, v4"

Voltaire - "Jeannot et Colin"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: Problems of Conduct

D >> Durant Drake >> Problems of Conduct




(2) Men generally are willing to bind themselves by law to higher codes
than they will live up to if not bound. In their reflective moments,
when they are deciding how to vote, temptations are less insistent
and ideals stronger than when they are confronting concrete situations.
To vote for a law which will restrain others, and incidentally one's
self, comes easier than to make a purely personal sacrifice that leaves
general practice unaltered. To realize that this is true, we need but
look at the remarkable ethical gains made now year by year through
laws voted for by many of the very men whose practice had hitherto
been upon a lower moral level. Very many evils that once seemed fastened
upon society have been thus legislated out of existence.[Footnote:
For a vivid picture of earlier industrial conditions which would not
now be tolerated, see Charles Reade's Put Yourself in His Place.] And
if the industrial situation still seems wretched, it is because, in
our swift advance, new evils are arising about as fast as older evils
are eradicated. The law necessarily lags behind the spread of abuses,
so that "there will probably always be a running duel between anti-social
action and legislation designed to check it. Novel methods of
corruption will constantly require novel methods of correction . .
But this constant development of the law should make corrupt
practices increasingly difficult for the less gifted rascals who must
always constitute the great majority of would-be offenders." [Footnote:
R. C. Brooks, Corruption in American Politics and Life, p. 99.] The
law can never, of course, cover the whole field of human conduct; it
represents, in Stevenson's phrase," that modicum of morality which
can be squeezed out of the rock of mankind." Unnecessary extension
of the law is cumbersome, expensive, and provocative of impatience
and rebellion. Moreover, there is always some minimum of danger of
injustice in attempting legal constraint; the law itself, as approved
by the majority, may be unfair, or its application to the concrete
case may be unfair. The individualists are right in feeling that men
must be left alone, wherever the possible results are not too dangerous.
But no hard-and-fast line can be drawn between activities that must
be left free and those which must be regulated. Such apparently personal
matters as the use of opium or alcohol must be checked because the
general happiness is, in the end, greatly and obviously enhanced by
such restraint. But there will always be, beyond the law, a wide field
for the satisfaction of personal tastes and the practice of generosity.
There is no double standard; if an act is legally right and morally
wrong, that simply means that it lies beyond the boundaries of the
limited field which the law covers. The extension of that field is
a matter of practical expediency in each type of situation; beyond
that field, but working to the same ends, the forces of education and
public opinion are alone available. [Footnote: For a discussion of
this point, see F. Paulsen, System of Ethics, book III, chap. IX, sec.
9. International Journal of Ethics, vol. 18, p. 18.] Should existing
laws always be obeyed? Year by year we are extending our network of
laws over human conduct; more and more pertinent becomes the them?
and the further question, Are there times when the law may be rightly
disobeyed? We shall discuss the second question first. It is obvious
that our whole social structure rests upon the willingness of the
people to obey the law. The watchword of republics should be, not
"liberty," but "obedience"; their gravest danger now is not tyranny,
but anarchy. We must individually submit with patience and good temper
to the decisions of the majority, even if we disapprove those
decisions. We must abide by the rules of the game until we can get
the rules changed. And all changes must be effected according to the
rules agreed upon for effecting changes. This law-abiding spirit is
the great triumph of democracy; only so long as it exists can popular
government stand. Though it be slower and exacting of greater effort
and skill, evolution, not revolution, is the method of permanent
progress. We must, then, band together against any groups that, in
their impatience of reform or opposition to the common will, cast aside
the restraints of law. However dearly we may long for woman's suffrage,
we must sternly repress those excited suffragettes who would gain this
end by defiance of law and destruction of property; even if they further
their particular cause by their violence-which is highly doubtful-they
do it at the expense of something still more precious, the preservation
of the law-abiding spirit. Other organizations will not be slow to
profit by the lesson of their success; and we shall have Heaven knows
how many causes seeking to attain their ends by destructiveness and
resistance. Similarly, the more serious and menacing rebellion of labor
against law must be firmly controlled; much as we may sympathize with
their grievances, we cannot countenance the attempt to remedy them
by violence. The Industrial Workers of the World, with action, [Footnote:
Cf, in a pamphlet issued by them: "The I.W.W. will get the results
sought with the least expenditure of time and energy. The tactics used
are determined solely by the power of the organization to make good
in their use". The question of 'right' and 'wrong' does not concern
us. In short, the I.W.W. advocates the use of militant 'direct action'
tactics to the full extent of our power to make them." (Quoted in
Atlantic Monthly, vol. 109, p. 703.)] have made themselves enemies
of society. The advocates of "sabotage," the "reds" in the socialist
camp, the preachers of practical anarchism, must be treated as among
the most dangerous of criminals. On the other hand, the spread of the
spirit of lawlessness among the lower classes should serve to warn
the upper classes that present social conditions will not much longer
be endured.[Footnote: Cf. Ettor (quoted in Outlook, vol. 101, p. 340):
"They tell us to get what we want by the ballot. They want us to play
the game according to the established rules. But the rules were made
by the capitalists. THEY have laid down the laws of the game. THEY
hold the pick of the cards. We never can win by political methods.
The right of suffrage is the greatest hoax of history. Direct action
is the only way."] There is a great deal of idealism among the advocates
of violence;[Footnote: Cf, for example, Giovannitti's poem, The Cage,
in the Atlantic Monthly, June, 1913.] there is a great deal of sympathy
on the part of the public with lawless strikers, with the I.W.W. gangs
that have recently invaded city churches, with all those under-dogs
who are now determining to have a share in the good things of life.
Unless the employing and governing classes meet their demands halfway,
gunpowder and dynamite pretty surely lie ahead. Will the spirit of
lawlessness spread? Ought we to slacken our process of lawmaking lest
we make the yoke too hard to bear? As a matter of fact, it is through
more laws, better laws, and a better mechanism for punishing infraction
of laws, that we can hope to check lawlessness. Lynching-as we noted
in chapter XXV-have been the product of inadequate legislation and
judicial procedure; as our laws against the worst crimes become
sharper, our police forces more efficient, and our court trials quicker
and less hampered by technicalities, they decrease in number. As
education on the liquor question spreads, violations of prohibition
laws become fewer. The kind of lawlessness that is on the increase
is that which exists as a protest against and a means of remedying
evils that the laws have not yet properly dealt with. Give us by law
an industrial code that will minimize the exploitation of the weak
by the strong, bringing a good measure of security and comfort to all,
and such outrages as those of the McNamara brothers will cease, or
at worst will be merely sporadic and generally condemned. Allow present
conditions to drift on without sharp legal guidance, and such outrages
will certainly become more and more numerous. The alternative that
confronts the modern world is plainly evolution by law or revolution
by violence. Individualism: J. S. Mill, On Liberty. H. Spencer,
Principles of Ethics, part iv, chaps, XXV-XXIX; Social Statics; and
many other writings. J. H. Levy, The Outcome of Individualism. Various
publications of the British Personal Rights Association. W.
Donisthorpe, Individualism. W. Fite, Individualism, lect. IV. Legal
control: Florence Kelley, Some Ethical Gains through Legislation. Jane
Addams, Newer Ideals of Peace. E. A. Ross, Social Control, chap. XXXI.
D. S. Ritchie, Principles of State Interference. J. W. Jenks,
Government Action for Social Welfare. A. V. Dicey, Law and Opinion.
J. Seth, Study of Ethical Principles, pp. 297-331. H. C. Potter, Relation
of the Individual to the Industrial Situation, chap. VI. W. J. Brown,
Underlying Principles of Modern Legislation. Journal of Philosophy,
Psychology, and Scientific Methods, vol. 10, p. 113. A. T. Hadley,
Freedom and Responsibility. J. W. Garner, Introduction to Political
Science, chaps, IX, X. Edmond Kelly, Evolution and Effort. Lawlessness:
Atlantic Monthly, vol. 109, p. 441. Outlook, vol. 98, p. 12; vol. 99,
p. 901; vol. 100, p. 359. J. G. Brooks, American Syndicalism.




CHAPTER XXIX


EQUALITY AND PRIVILEGE

All men, our Declaration of Independence tells us, are created free
and equal-that is, with a right to freedom and equality. They are
not actually equal in natural gifts, but they ought, so far as possible,
to be made equal in opportunity; equality is not a fact, but an ideal.
And as an ideal it comes sometimes into conflict with its twin ideal
of liberty; the freedom of the stronger must be curtailed when it robs
the weaker of their fair share of happiness; but, on the other hand,
a dead level of equality must not be sought at the sacrifice of the
potentialities for the general good that lie in the free play of
individuality. The various projects for securing a greater equality
among men must be scrutinized with an eye to their total effects
upon human happiness.

What flagrant forms of inequality exist in our society?

Equality is a modern ideal; in former times it was generally assumed
that men inevitably belong to classes or castes; that some must have
luxury and others poverty, some must rule and others obey. Plato, in
constructing his ideal state, retains the walls between the small
governing class, the warriors, and the mass of artisans, who are of
no particular account but to get the work done. Castiglione, in his
Book of the Courtier, declares that "there are many men who,
although they are rational creatures, have only such share of
reason as to recognize it, but not to possess or profit by it. These,
therefore, are naturally slaves, and it is better and more profitable
for them to obey than to command."

But the invention of the printing press brought ideas to the masses,
the invention of gunpowder brought them power; the colonization of
new continents leveled old distinctions of rank; the development of
manufacture and commerce brought fortune and power to men of
humble origin. The forces thus set in motion have resulted in our
day in the general acceptance of political democracy witness in
contemporary affairs the inception of the Portuguese Republic,
the Chinese Republic, the abolition of the veto-power of the British
House of Lords-and are creating a widespread belief in industrial
democracy. So complete is our American acquiescence in the
principle of equality in the abstract that it is difficult for us to
realize the burning passions that underlay such familiar words
as Don Quixote's, "Know, Sancho, that one man is no more
than another unless he does more than another"; or Burns's
"A man's a man for a' that"; or Tennyson's " 'Tis only noble
to be good."

Yet, for all our abstract belief in equality, we have not become equal
in opportunity, and in some ways are actually becoming less so. Land,
for example, which was once to be had for the taking, is steadily
rising in price, and is now, in most parts of the country, getting
beyond the reach of the poor. Foreign observers agree that there is
no other existing nation so plutocratic as our own; and wealth here
is probably though the matter is in doubt becoming more and more
concentrated. [Footnote: For a recent and cautious discussion of this
point see F. W. Taussig, Principles of Economics, chap. 54, sec. 3.
There is really no accurate information available to settle the
question whether wealth is becoming more or less concentrated.
Certainly the number of the rich has rapidly increased, and very many
of the poor have risen into the class of the well to do. Wages and
the scale of living of the poor have risen, but not in proportion to
the total increase in wealth. The rich seem to be not only getting
richer, but getting a larger SHARE of the national wealth.] It is
estimated that one per cent of the inhabitants of our country now own
more property than the remaining ninety-nine per cent.

The natural resources of the country have been to a considerable extent
such natural monopolies as railways, telegraph and telephone service,
gas and electric lighting, are controlled by, and largely in the
interests of, a small owning class. The Astors have become enormously
rich because one of their progenitors bought for an inconsiderable
sum farm land on Manhattan Island which is now worth so many dollars
a square foot. Others have made gigantic fortunes out of the country's
forests, its coal deposits, its copper, its waterpower, its oil. A
certain upper stratum of society is freed from the necessity of work,
can exercise vast power over the lives of the poor, and use its great
accumulations for personal luxury or at its caprice, in defiance of
the general welfare. Such congestion of wealth involves poverty on
the part of masses of the less fortunate. With no capital, the poor
man cannot compete in the industrial game; he has no money to invest,
no reserve to fall back upon; he must accept employers' terms or starve.
He cannot pause to educate himself, to get the skill and knowledge
that might enable him to work up the ladder. His power in politics
is overshadowed by that of the great corporations with their funds
and their control of legal skill. He cannot afford expert medical care,
or proper hygienic conditions of life; he is lucky if he can get a
measure of justice in the courts. To call such a situation one of
equality is irony. It is certain that, far as we are yet from final
solution of the problems of production, we are still farther from a
solution of the problems of the distribution of wealth. "A new and
fair division of the goods and rights of this world should be," De
Tocqueville long ago declared, "the main object of all who conduct
human affairs." What methods of equalizing opportunity are possible?

Three plans for a fairer distribution of wealth have been proposed.
According to one, the profits from industry would be divided among
the population on a basis of their NEEDS. This is, however, clearly
impracticable; every one, would discover unlimited needs, and no one
would be fit to make the apportionment. The second scheme is that all
men should be paid alike for equal hours of work, or, rather, in
proportion to the disagreeableness of the work, the amount of
SACRIFICE made. This scheme is that usually advocated by Socialists.
The objection to it is that equal pay for every man would take away the
chief stimulus to initiative, skill, energy, efficiency; it would take
the zest and excitement out of the game of life, make living too
monotonous; there must be rewards for the ambitious youth, prizes to
be won. The third plan proportions reward to efficiency. And on the
whole, as men are constituted, it seems desirable to reward men
financially according to their efficiency, so far as that can be
measured.[Footnote: F. W. Taussig, Principles of Economics, chap. 64,
sec. 3.] This does not mean to leave things as they are. For at present
the shrewd, if also fortunate, are rewarded out of all proportion to
their efficiency; and many who are not efficient at all, who even do
no work at all that is socially useful, are among the wealthiest.
Moreover, efficiency itself is only partly due to the individual's
will and effort; it is due to the physique and gifts and fortune he
has inherited, the education and environment that have molded him,
the social situation in which he finds himself, the willingness of
others to cooperate with him, and his good luck in early ventures.
It seems unfair that to him that hath so much, so much more should
be given. Or at least it seems fair that he that hath less should be
given more favorable opportunity. It is not enough, as Professor Giddings
says, to reward every man according to his performance; we must find
a way to enable every man to achieve his potential performance. The
plan of proportioning rewards to efficiency must be modified by mercy
for the weak-minded and weak-bodied. It must be supplemented by earnest
efforts to provide health, education, and favorable environment for
all, and, by the limitation of the right of inheritance, that all may
have, so far as possible, approximately equal opportunity. It must
beware of judging efficiency by immediate and obvious results, must
encourage inventions that ripen slowly, genius that stumbles and blunders
before succeeding, work that contributes to others' results and makes
no showing for itself. It must involve a restriction of the right to
unearned incomes. To put these necessary corollaries to the efficiency-\
reward plan into concrete form:

(1) The handicap of ignorance must be removed by providing free
education for all, to the point of enabling every one to develop
efficiency in some vocation. Scholarships for the needy, the
prohibition of child labor, and a high enough wage scale for adults
to permit the youth of all classes to complete their education, are
indispensable.

(2) The handicap of ill-health must be, so far as possible, removed
by state support of mothers-so that children need not inherit a weakened
constitution from overtired mothers, or suffer from want of care in
infancy; by free medical aid to all; by strict legislation for sanitary
housing, pure food, etc; by the provision of public parks and
playgrounds.

(3) The possibility of exorbitant profits from industry (profits out
of proportion to the actual contribution of the individual in skillful
work, mental or manual) must be abolished, by one of the plans
discussed in chapter XXVII.

(4) There must be abolition or sharp limitation of unearned incomes
i.e., incomes for which a return to society in service has not been
made by the getter. This is the step that is clearest of all
theoretically, but the worst sticking point in practice. If we could
persuade men that they should not reap where they have not sown,
the gravest inequities of our present order would disappear. The
sources of unearned incomes are, first, the "unearned increment"
in land values; secondly, the "unearned increment" in the value of
natural resources; thirdly, all interest on investment; fourthly, all
wealth inherited or obtained by legacy or gift.

(a) Land in the heart of New York or London sells at fifteen million
dollars or so an acre. The land value of Manhattan Island alone,
the central part of New York City, is in the neighborhood of
$3,500,000,000, and rapidly increasing. A few generations ago it was
all bought from the Indians for $24. It is estimated that the "unearned
increment" of land values in Berlin during fifty years has been between
$500,000,000 and $750,000,000. What is true so strikingly in the case
of these great cities is true, in lesser degree, of all cities and
towns and villages that have grown in population. The total increase
in land values in America since the days of the pioneers equals, of
course, the present value of its land, since it was acquired by our
forefathers without payment, or with only a nominal fee to the Indians.
Almost all of this enormous increase in wealth has gone into the
pockets of the fortunate individuals who got possession; very little
into the public treasury. Our cities have remained terribly poor,
always in debt, obliged to pass by many needed improvements and to
impose heavy taxes on their citizens. Yet all this wealth (not counting
improvements made by the possessor upon his land) has been socially
created. Others have moved into the neighborhood, factories have been
built near by, roads and railways and sewers and water systems and
lighting-systems and police protection, and a hundred other things,
have made the individual's land more and more salable. If our fathers
had been wise enough to divert a large percentage of this increase
in value into the public coffers, no one would have been wronged, but
many private fortunes would today be smaller, and the entire population
could have been free from taxation from the beginning, with plenty
of money for all needed public works, including many that we can now
only dream about.

It is easy to see what could have been done; to determine what should
now be done is far more difficult. To try to regain for the public
the unearned increments of past years would be an injustice to those
who have purchased lands recently, at the increased prices, and even,
perhaps, to those who have benefited by the increasing values, since
they have regarded the increase as theirs and adjusted their
expenditures to this added income. The best that could be done would
be to take an inventory of all land values now, and provide for a
recurrent reappraisal; then to take all, or a large percentage, of
the increased value from now on. It would, indeed, be dangerous to
attempt to take it all, on account of the extreme difficulty of drawing
the line between earned and unearned increments; even the most
painstaking and impartial decisions would be sometimes unjust. But
to take half or two thirds of what should be deemed "unearned" would
be practicable. Several modern States now take from ten to fifty per
cent; and the percentage taken will doubtless increase. The objections
to such a course are twofold. In the first place, it is pointed out
that if the unearned increment of value is appropriated by the State,
the State should recoup landowners for all undeserved decrements of
value; it is not fair to take away the possibility of gain and leave
the possibility of loss. So long, however, as our population grows,
the State could afford to make good the comparatively few cases of
decreased value and yet get a big income. The other objection is that
the hope of winning the increased land values has been a great and
needed incentive to the development of the country, and a legitimate
compensation for the hardships of pioneering. But while this is true
of the earlier days, it applies less and less to present conditions,
and is hardly at all applicable to the profits made in city lands.
On the whole, there seems little objection to the appropriation by
the State henceforth of the unearned increments of land value. But
the days of enormous increments are passing, and land will presently
reach a comparatively stable value. So that this method of preventing
inflated fortunes must be counted, on the whole except for new and
rapidly growing communities a lost opportunity. [Footnote: H. J.
Davenport, State and Local Taxation, pp. 294-303. F. C. Howe, European
Cities at Work, pp. 189-207. Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 22,
p. 83; vol. 25, p. 682; vol. 27, p. 539. Political Science Quarterly,
vol. 27, p. 586. National Municipal Review, vol. 3, p. 354. F. W.
Taussig, Principles of Economics, chap. 44, sec. 5.]

(b) What is true of land is true of the natural resources of the
country-coal, minerals, oil, gas, waterpower, forests. These were
seized, with a small payment or none, by the early comers, and sold
later at a great advance, or worked for an increasing profit by the
owner. Here, again, if the nation had maintained an inventory of these
values and appropriated to itself all or a percentage of the increase
in value (which results from the increasing public need of the
resources and the limited supply, together with the increase in
facilities for transportation, etc, rather than from the owner's labor
or skill), many of our present gross inequalities in wealth would have
been forestalled, and the community would be far richer in its common
wealth. Add to the realization of this fact the sight of the reckless
waste by private owners of such resources as can be wasted, and the
present conservation movement is fully explained. The best that can
now be done is to retain under government ownership such natural
resources as have not yet passed into private hands, and to appropriate
further increases in value of those that are privately owned. [Footnote:
C. R. Van Hise, Concentration and Control, pp. 154-66. Outlook, vol.
85, p. 426; vol. 86, p. 716; vol. 93, p. 770; vol. 95, p. 21.]