FOOTNOTES:
[1] The most notable exponents of this view were: Von Maurer, "Einleitung zur Geschichte der Mark," 1854; Viollet, "Bibliotheque de l'école des chartres," 1872; Maine, "Village Communities in the East and the West," 1872; and De Laveleye, "De la propriété et ses formes primitives," 1874, of which an English translation appeared in 1878 under the title, "Primitive Property."
[2] Chief among these writers are: Fustel de Coulanges in an article in "Revue des Questions Historiques," April, 1889; translated by Margaret Ashley, and published with an introductory chapter by W. J. Ashley under the title, "The Origin of Property in Land," 1891; G. Von Below, "Beilage zur Allgemeine Zeitung: Das kurze Leben einer vielgenannten Theorie," 1903; F. Seebohm, "The Village Community," 1883. Cf. Whittaker, "Ownership, Tenure, and Taxation of Land," 1914, ch. ii; Cathrein, "Das Privatgrundeigenthum und seine Gegner," 1909; and Pesch, "Lehrbuch der Nationaloekonomie," I, 183-188.
[3] Quoted in Whittaker, op. cit., pp. 27, 28.
[4] Idem, p. 29.
[5] Cf. P. W. Joyce, "A Social History of Ancient Ireland," 1903; and Letourneau, "Property: Its Origin and Development," 1896.
[6] Whittaker, op. cit., pp. 30, 31.
[7] Leviticus xxv, 23-28.
[8] "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific," p. 45; Chicago, 1900.
[9] "A summary of the Principles of Socialism," p. 23; London, 1899.
[10] "Socialism: A Reply to the Pope's Encyclical," p. 4; London, 1899.
[11] "Progress and Poverty," book vii, ch. i.
[12] "La Propriété Privée," par L. Garriguet, I, 62; Paris, 1903.
[13] Cf. Ardant, "Papes et Paysans," pp. 41, sq.
[14] "Social Statics," chap, ix; 1850. Spencer's retractation, in a later edition of this work, of his earlier views on the right of property in land does not affect the truth of the description quoted in the passage above.
[15] "Progress and Poverty," loc. cit.
[16] "Open Letter to Pope Leo XIII," page 25 of Vierth's edition.
[17] "Progress and Poverty," loc. cit.
[18] "Progress and Poverty," loc. cit.
[19] "Open Letter to Pope Leo XIII," loc. cit.
[20] Whittaker, op. cit., p. 32.
[21] "Open Letter," loc. cit.
[22] "Progress and Poverty," book vii, ch. i.
[23] Cf. chapter entitled "Compensation" in "A Perplexed Philosopher."
[24] Cf. "Principles of Political Economy," 1891, p. 130.
[25] "Progress and Poverty."
[26] "Progress and Poverty," book vii, ch. iii.
[27] Cf. Chapter xi.
[28] Ensor, "Modern Socialism," p. xxxi, N. Y., 1904.
[29] Idem, pp. 213-216.
[30] Cited by Spargo, "The Substance of Socialism," p. 88, N. Y., 1909.
[31] Idem, p. 90.
[32] "Progress and Poverty," book viii, ch. ii.
[33] Cf. Walker, "Land and Its Rent"; and Seligman, "Essays in Taxation."
[34] The marriage rights of criminals, degenerates, and other socially dangerous persons, are passed over here as not pertinent to the present discussion. For the same reason nothing is said of the perfectly valid social argument in favour of the individual right of marriage.
[35] Cf. Vermeersch, "Quaestiones de Justitia," no. 204.
[36] The argument in the text is obviously empirical, drawn from consequences. There is, however, a putatively intrinsic or metaphysical argument which is sometimes urged against the justice of the Single Tax system. It runs thus: since the fruits of a thing belong to the owner of the thing, "res fructificat domino," rent, which is the economically imputed fruit of land, necessarily and as a matter of natural right should go to the owner of the land. As will be shown later, the formula at the basis of this contention is not a metaphysical principle at all, but a conclusion from experience. Like every other formula or principle of property rights, it must find its ultimate basis in human welfare.
[37] Liberatore, "Principles of Political Economy," pp. 130, 134.
[38] Cf. Vermeersch, op. cit., no. 210; Ryan, "Alleged Socialism of the Church Fathers."
[39] "In IV Sent.," d. 15, q. 2, n. 5; and "Reportata parisiensia," d. 15, q. 4, n. 7-12.
[40] "De Justitia et Jure," tr. 2, d. 18 and 20.
[41] "De Justitia et Jure," c. 5, n. 3.
[42] "De Legibus," l. 2, c. 14, n. 13 and 16.
[43] "In Summa," 1ma 2ae, d. 157, n. 17.
[44] "De Justitia et Jure," d. 4, a. 1.
[45] "Summa Theologica," 2a 2ae, q. 57, a. 2 and 3.
[46] "De Justitia et Jure," d. 6, s. 1, n. 6.
[47] The assumption that perfect competition is even roughly approximated in relation to men who operate their own land, and that they generally obtain an adequate return for their labour in addition to the sum that they might have obtained through hiring out their land, may appear rather violent in view of the estimate that the average farmer in the United States gets only $402 annually in payment for the labour of himself and family. See article on "The Farmer's Income" in the American Economic Review, March, 1916. However, this income is mostly in the form of food, fuel, and shelter, which would cost very much more in the city; consequently it is probably equivalent to an urban income of $600. Its value is still further enhanced by the farmer's independent position, and by his expectation of profiting by the future increase of land values. Hence it would seem that the rent and interest allowance of $322 might fairly be regarded as a surplus in excess of the necessary payment for labour.
[48] Chapter xxii.
[49] "Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Petroleum Industry," Part I, p. 8.
[50] P. 138.
[51] Cf. Ely, "Monopolies and Trusts," pp. 59, sq.
[52] P. 133.
[53] Pp. 68, 69.
[54] "Final Report of the U. S. Industrial Commission," p. 463; Bliss, "New Encyclopedia of Social Reform," pp. 245, 770; Van Hise, "Concentration and Control," pp. 32, 33.
[55] Idem, pp. 46, 47; cf. "Final Report of Industrial Commission," pp. 463-465.
[56] "Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Steel Industry," Part I, p. 60.
[57] Cf. Hobson, "The Industrial System," pp. 192-197.
[58] Pp. 15, 16, 29-31.
[59] Cf. "Progress and Poverty," books III and IV.
[60] Cf. Walker, "Land and Its Rent," pp. 168-182, Boston, 1883.
[61] Page 158.
[62] Page 160.
[63] Page 158; footnote.
[64] "Privilege and Democracy," p. 307.
[65] Page 160.
[66] Op. cit., pages 160, 158.
[67] Professor Nearing in "The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science," March, 1915.
[68] Thirteenth Census, Bulletin on "Farms and Farm Property," page 1.
[69] The Public, Nov. 26, 1915. For an account of increases in the principal European cities, see Camille-Husymans, "La plus-value immobilière dans les communes belges"; Gand, 1909.
[70] "Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Lumber Industry," Part I, pp. 214-216.
[71] King, op. cit., p. 158.
[72] Thirteenth Census, Vol. I, p. 1295.
[73] Hobson, "The Evolution of Modern Capitalism," p. 4; London, 1907.
[74] Harper's Monthly Magazine, Jan., 1910.
[75] Watkins, "The Growth of Large Fortunes," p. 75; N. Y., 1907.
[76] Idem, p. 93.
[77] Youngman, "The Economic Causes of Great Fortunes," p. 45; N. Y., 1909.
[78] Howe, op. cit., pp. 125, 126.
[79] Cf. Commons, "The Distribution of Wealth," pp. 252, 257; N. Y., 1893.
[80] "Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Steel Industry," Part I, p. 314.
[81] "Summary of Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Lumber Industry," pp. 3-8.
[82] From articles in "The Single Tax Review," vol. 9, nos. 5, 6.
[83] "In a growing city, an advantageous site will command a price more than in proportion to its present rent, because it is expected that the rent will increase still further as the years go on." Taussig, "Principles of Economics," II, 98; N. Y., 1911.
[84] "Summary of Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Timber Industry in the United States," p. 3.
[85] "Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on Water Power Development in the United States," pp. 193-195.
[86] Idem, pp. 4, 5.
[87] "Abstract of the Thirteenth Census," p. 552.
[88] Cf. Marsh, "Land Value Taxation in American Cities," p. 95.
[89] Municipal purchase and ownership of land have been advocated by such a conservative authority as the Rev. Heinrich Pesch, S.J. "Lehrbuch der Nationaloekonomie," I, 203.
[90] As we shall see in a later chapter, the confiscation and injustice would be smaller if the State should simultaneously abolish interest. In any case, the decline in land value resulting from complete confiscation of rent should be made up to the private owner by public compensation.
[91] "Principles of Political Economy," book V, ch. 2, sect. v.
[92] "Progressive Taxation in Theory and Practice," 1908, p. 130.
[93] Cf. Taussig, "Principles of Economics," II, 516: Seligman, "The Shifting and Incidence of Taxation," p. 223.
[94] The "discrimination" objection is put in a somewhat different form by the Rev. Sydney F. Smith, S.J., in an article in The Month, Sept., 1909, entitled "The Theory of Unearned Increment." His argument is in substance that if the people of a city can claim the increases in land values which their presence and activity have occasioned, the purchasers of food, clothes, books, or concert tickets are equally justified in claiming that, "having added to the value of the shops and music halls, they had acquired a co-proprietary right in the increased value of the owners' stock, and the owners' premises." While this argument is specifically directed against those who maintain that the "social production" of values confers a right thereto, it affects to some extent our thesis that there is a vast difference between value-increases in land and in other goods. Father Smith seems to confuse the origination of value with the increase of value. The presence of consumers is an obvious prerequisite to the existence of any value at all in any kind of goods, but labour and financial outlay on the part of the producers of the goods are an equally indispensable prerequisite. The reason why the value is appropriated by the latter rather than the former is that this is clearly the only rational method of distribution. What we are concerned with here, however, is not this initial or cost-of-production-value of artificial goods, but the increases in value above this level which are brought about by external and social influences. Theoretically, the State could as reasonably take these as the increases in the value of land; practically, such a performance is out of the question, for the simple reason that such increases are spasmodic and exceptional. If Father Smith thinks that "food or clothes, or books, or concert tickets" regularly advance above the cost-of-production-value, he is simply mistaken. Since these and other artificial goods bring to their owners as a rule no socially occasioned increments of value, they and their owners are in quite a different situation from land and the owners of land.
[95] Cf. Seligman, "Progressive Taxation in Theory and Practice," part II, chs. ii and iii; also the classic refutation of the "benefit" theory by John Stuart Mill in "Principles of Political Economy," book V, ch. ii, sec. 2. The traditional Catholic teaching on the subject is compactly stated by Cardinal de Lugo in "De Justitia et Jure," disp. 36; cf. Devas, "Political Economy," p. 594, 2d ed.
[96] Cf. Fallon, "Les Plus-Values et l'Impot," pp. 455, sq.; Paris, 1914; Fillebrown, "A Single Tax Handbook for 1913"; Boston, 1912; Marsh, "Taxation of Land Values in American Cities," pp. 90-92; New York, 1911; "The Quarterly Journal of Economics," vols. 22, 24, 25; "The Single Tax Review," March-April, 1912; "Stimmen aus Maria-Laach," Oct., 1907.
[97] See the references in the second last paragraph.
[98] The most comprehensive and reliable account of the special land taxes in Canada is contained in the report prepared for the Committee on Taxation of the City of New York, by Robert Murray Haig, Ph.D., entitled, "The Exemption of Improvements from Taxation in Canada and the United States"; New York, 1915. See also Fallon, op. cit., pp. 452-455.
[99] Cf. Fallon, op. cit., pp. 443-452.
[100] "The Wealth and Income of the People of the United States," pp. 158, 143.
[101] "Abstract of Bulletins on Wealth, Debt, and Taxation," p. 16; U. S. Census, 1913.
[102] Idem, p. 15.
[103] Idem, p. 16; and Bulletin of the Census on "Estimated Valuation of National Wealth," p. 15.
[104] "Special Report of the Twelfth Census on Wealth, Debt, and Taxation," pp. 12, 13.
[105] Haig, "Probable Effects of Exemption of Improvements....", p. 23.
[106] Cf. Seligman, "The Shifting and Incidence of Taxation," pp. 187, 245, 272, and all of part II; N. Y., 1899; Taussig, "Principles of Economics," II, 518-549, and chs. 67-69.
[107] Cf. Fallon, op. cit., pp. 442, sq.
[108] Cf. Vermeersch, "Quaestiones de Justitia," pp. 94-126; Seligman, "Progressive Taxation in Theory and Practice," pp. 210, 211; Mill, "Principles of Political Economy," book V, ch. ii, sec. 3.
[109] "Summary of Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Lumber Industry in the United States," p. 8.
[110] Probably the most concrete and satisfactory discussion of the increment tax and the project to transfer improvement taxes to land, is that presented in the "Final Report of the Committee on Taxation of the City of New York"; 1916. It contains brief, though complete, statements of all phases of the subject, together with concise arguments on both sides, majority and minority recommendations, a great variety of dissenting individual opinions, and considerable testimony by experts, authorities, and other interested persons.
[111] "Final Report of the Industrial Commission," pp. 410, 411.
[112] "Report of the Industrial Commission," vol. IX, p. 380.
[113] "Publication No. 32 of the Railroad Commission of Wisconsin," pp. 165, 166.
[114] Cf. Engels, "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific," pp. 45, 46; and Hillquit-Ryan, "Socialism: Promise or Menace," 103, 104, 143-145.
[115] Cf. Hillquit-Ryan, op. cit., pp. 75, 76.
[116] "Capital," pp. 1-9.
[117] Op. cit., p. 117; Humboldt Edition.
[118] Skelton, "Socialism: A Critical Analysis," pp. 121, 122.
[119] Cf. Skelton, loc. cit.
[120] The exaggerated claims made on behalf of social productivity in the matter of land values have been examined in a previous chapter. Similar exaggerations with regard to capital will be considered in chapter xii.
[121] Wilhelm Liebknecht, cited in Hillquit's "Socialism in Theory and Practice," p. 107.
[122] "Das Erfurter Program," cited by Skelton, op. cit., p. 178.
[123] Cf. Skelton, op. cit., ch. vii; Bernstein, "Evolutionary Socialism," pp. 1-94; Simkhovitch, "Marxism vs. Socialism," passim; Walling, "Progressivism and After," passim; Hillquit-Ryan, op. cit., ch. iv.
[124] "Income," p. 152.
[125] "The Wealth and Income of the People of the United States," p. 132.
[126] Cf. Hillquit-Ryan, op. cit., pp. 107, 136.
[127] Cf. Hillquit-Ryan, op. cit., pp. 73-77; Skelton, op. cit, p. 183; Walling, "Socialism as It Is," p. 429.
[128] Cf. King, op. cit., pp. 224-226.
[129] Cf. Kautsky, "The Social Revolution," pp. 166, 167; Hillquit-Ryan, op. cit., p. 72.
[130] Hillquit-Ryan, op. cit., p. 80; cf. Spargo, "Socialism," pp. 225-227.
[131] "Socialism: A Critical Analysis," p. 219.
[132] Cf. "The Panama Gateway," by Joseph Bucklin Bishop, p. 263.
[133] Hohoff, "Die Bedeutung der Marxschen Kapitalkritik"; Paderborn, 1908.
[134] Pp. 64-67, 88, 89, 96.
[135] Cf. Van Roey, "De Justo Auctario ex Contractu Crediti"; and Ashley, "English Economic History."
[136] Encyclical, "Vix Pervenit," 1745.
[137] Cf. St. Thomas, "Summa Theologica," 2a 2ae, q. 78, a. 2 et 3.
[138] "Secunda Secondae," q. 77, a. 1, in corp.
[139] "Theologia Moralis," I, no. 1050.
[140] "What is Capital?" p. 27.
[141] "Political Economy," p. 507.
[142] "Growth of Capital," p. 152.
[143] Cf. Gonner, "Interest and Saving," p. 73; Cassel, "The Nature and Necessity of Interest," ch. iv.
[144] New York, 1907.
[145] "Principles of Economics," II, 42.
[146] Cf. Hobson, "The Economics of Distribution," pp. 259-265.
[147] Cf. Fisher, "Elementary Principles of Economics," pp. 396, 397. However, he does not discuss in this passage the possibility of suppressing interest on productive capital by a direct method.
[148] Cf. Lehmkuhl, "Theologia Moralis," I, nos. 917, 965, 1035.
[149] Vol. 3, pp. 617-629; 2d ed.
[150] Ballerini-Palmieri, loc. cit.; cf. Van Roey, op. cit., pp. 73-75.
[151] Cf. American Economic Review, March, 1916; p. 46.
[152] "Contra Gentiles," lib. 3, c. 123.
[153] Professor Scott Nearing estimates the annual income derived from the ownership of property in the United States; that is, land and all forms of capital, at from six to nine billion dollars. Professor W. I. King gives the combined shares of the national income received by the landowners and the capitalists at more than six and three-quarter billions in 1910. According to the Census Bulletin on the "Estimated Valuation of National Wealth," the capital goods of the country were in 1912 approximately $175,000,000,000.00. At four per cent. this would mean an annual income of seven billion dollars. The lowest of the three estimates, six billion dollars, is equivalent to more than sixty dollars a year for every man, woman, and child in the United States. If that sum were equally distributed among the whole population, it would mean an increase of between forty and sixty per cent. in the income of the majority of workingmen's families! Nor do present tendencies hold out any hope of an automatic reduction of the interest-burden in the future. In the opinion of Professor Scott Nearing, "the present economic tendencies will greatly increase the amount of property income paid with each passing decade." "Income," p. 199; New York, 1915. See especially ch. vii. According to Professor Taussig, "the absolute amount of income going to this [the capitalist] class tends to increase, and its share of the total income tends also to increase; whereas for the labourers, though their total income may increase, their share of income of society as a whole tends to decline." "Principles of Economics," II, 205.
[154] "Lehrbuch der Nationaloekonomie," III, 517.
[155] Fay, "Co-operation at Home and Abroad," p. 340.
[156] Schloss, "Methods of Industrial Remuneration," pp. 353, 354.
[157] Cf., however, Mr. A. R. Orage's work, "National Guilds," London, 1914.
[158] Op. cit., p. 341.
[159] "Copartnership and Profit-Sharing," p. 235.
[160] "The Wealth and Income of the People of the United States," 158, 160.
[161] Idem, p. 218.
[162] A very suggestive discussion of the psychology, the general principles, and the practical limitations of distributive justice, will be found in an article by Gustav Schmoller, entitled, "The Idea of Justice in Political Economy." It is No. 113 in the Publications of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
[163] Cf. pp. 212, 213 of Castelein's "Philosophia Moralis et Socialis."
[164] Cf. Hobson, "The Industrial System," chapter on "Ability."
[165] Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Petroleum Industry, II, 40, 41.
[166] Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Tobacco Industry, II, 26-34.
[167] Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Steel Industry, I, 51. According to F. J. McRae, the expert accountant for the Stanley congressional investigating committee, this concern secured 40 per cent. on the cost of its property.
[168] Hearings Before the Interstate Commerce Committee, U. S. Senate, Part XVI, pages 1146-1166.
[169] The Journal of Political Economy, April, 1912, p. 366.
[170] "Concentration and Control," p. 20.
[171] Page 621.
[172] The Journal of Political Economy, April, 1912, p. 363.
[173] Report on the Petroleum Industry, II, 74.
[174] Report on the Tobacco Industry, II, 27.
[175] Cf. Van Hise, op. cit., pp. 140, 149, 153, 159.
[176] Final Report of the Industrial Commission, pp. 660-662.
[177] Report on the Petroleum Industry, I, 328-332.
[178] Cf. Lehmkuhl, "Theologia Moralis," I, No. 974.
[179] It may be of interest to recall the mediæval attitude toward monopolistic exactions, as summarily stated by St. Antoninus, who was archbishop of Florence in the first half of the fifteenth century: "When monopolist merchants agree together to preserve a fixed price, so as to secure an unlimited profit, they are guilty of sinful trading." He maintained that they should not sell above the market price, and should be prevented from so doing by law. See his "Summa Theologica," III, 8, 3, iv, and II, 1, 16, ii. Present day moral theologians lay down the same doctrine, and in addition condemn the characteristic monopolistic methods as unjust. See Tanquerey, "De Justitia," nos. 776, 777; Lehmkuhl, "Theologia Moralis," vol. I, no. 1119.
[180] Clark, "The Problem of Monopoly," p. 35.
[181] Final Report, p. 361.
[182] Report on the Petroleum Industry, pp. 22, 23.
[183] "Papers and Proceedings," pp. 158-194.
[184] Op. cit., pp. 20, 251.
[185] Op. cit., pp. 254-265.
[186] Cf. Ripley, "Trusts, Pools, and Corporations," pp. 207-210.
[187] See Report of the Interstate Commerce Commission on these transactions.
[188] Taussig, "Principles of Economics," II, 385, 386.
[189] Final Report, p. 414.
[190] Final Report of the Industrial Commission, p. 413.
[191] Report on the Steel Industry, p. 38.
[192] Idem, p. 39.
[193] Chicago Record-Herald, July 29, 1912.
[194] Op. cit., p. 28.
[195] Cf. Van Hise, op. cit., pp. 29, 142, 149.
[196] Op. cit., II, 387, 388.
[197] "Final Report," p. 32.
[198] "Progressive Taxation," pp. 210, 211; cf. Vermeersch, "Quaestiones de Justitia," pp. 94-126.
[199] "The Gospel of Wealth," pp. 11, 12.
[200] Cf. Dr. T. S. Adams in "Papers and Proceedings of the 27th Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association," pp. 234, sq.
[201] "Summa Theologica," 2a. 2ae., q. 66, a. 3.
[202] "Patrologia Graeca," vol. 31, cols. 275, 278.
[203] "Patrologia Latina," vol. 37, col. 1922.
[204] "Patrologia Latina," vol. 14, col. 747.
[205] "Patrologia Latina," vol. 77, col. 87. These and several other extracts of like tenor may be found in Ryan's "Alleged Socialism of the Church Fathers," ch. i; St. Louis, 1913.
[206] Op. cit., 2a. 2ae., q. 66, a. 7.
[207] Encyclical, "On the Condition of Labour," May 15, 1891.
[208] Encyclical, "On Socialism, Communism, Nihilism," Dec. 28, 1878.
[209] Op. cit., 2a. 2ae., q. 32, a. 1.
[210] Idem, q. 66, a. 7.
[211] A comprehensive, though brief, discussion of this question and numerous references are contained in Bouquillon, "De Virtutibus Theologicis," pp. 332-348. When Pope Leo XIII declared that the rich are obliged to distribute "out of" their superfluity, he did not mean that they are free to give only a portion thereof. The particle "de" in his statement, "officium est de eo quod superat gratificari indigentibus," is not correctly translated by "some." It means rather "out of," "from," or "with"; so that the affluent are commanded to devote their superfluous goods indefinitely to the relief of the needy. In the Encyclical, "Quot Apostolici Muneris," he used the expression, "gravissimo divites urget praecepto ut quod superest pauperibus tribuant," which clearly declares the duty of distributing all.
[212] "The Wealth and Income of the People of the United States," pp. 224-226.
[213] Page 47.
[214] The Chicago Daily Tribune, July 17, 1915.
[215] Article on "Political Economy and Ethics," in Palgrave's Dictionary of Political Economy.
[216] "Property and Contract," II, 603.
[217] Cf. "L'Idée du Juste Salaire," by Léon Polier, ch. iii. Paris; 1903.
[218] Polier, op. cit., pp. 33, sq.; Ryan, "A Living Wage," pp. 26, sq.
[219] "Ethica," lib. 5, tr. 2, cap. 5.
[220] "Comment. ad Eth.," XXI, 172.
[221] Cf. Polier, op. cit., pp. 66-75; Ryan, op. cit, pp. 93, 94.
[222] Cf. Polier, op. cit., pp. 92-95.
[223] "Cours d'Économie Sociale," pp. 598, sq.
[224] Polier, op. cit., pp. 219-359; Menger, "The Right to the Whole Produce of Labour"; English Translation. London; 1899.
[225] "Enquiry Concerning Political Justice."
[226] "On the Effects of Civilisation on the People of European States."
[227] "An Inquiry Into the Principles of the Distribution of Wealth Most Conducive to Human Happiness."
[228] Menger, op. cit., p. 56.
[229] Op. cit., p. 51.
[230] Cf. Menger, op. cit., pp. 62-73.
[231] "Qu' est-ce que la propriété ou recherches sur la principe du droit et du gouvernment." 1840.
[232] "Zur Erkentniss unserer staatswirthschaftlichen Zustande," 1842.
[233] "Das Kapital," 1867.
[234] Cf. Polier, op. cit., pp. 352, sq.
[235] Cf. especially chap. xxi, "The Theory of Economic Causation."
[236] "Proceedings," pp. 23-54.
[237] "Proceedings of the 22d Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association," pp. 160, 161.
[238] Op. cit., p. 8.
[239] "Essays in Social Justice"; especially ch. vii.
[240] Op. cit., pp. 187, 188.
[241] Op. cit., p. 201.
[242] Cf. Skelton, "Socialism: A Critical Analysis," p. 202; Menger, "The Right to the Whole Produce of Labour," pp. 8, sq.
[243] All the questions treated in this chapter are discussed at much greater length in the author's work, "A Living Wage"; Macmillan; 1906.
[244] See chapters xii and xiii.
[245] While the statement in the text applies to all labourers of less than average ability, it obviously is applicable only to individual cases among those who are up to the average. These are the workers at the "margin" of the labour force in an establishment, those who could be discharged without causing the industry to shut down. If an employer would rather go out of business than pay a living wage to all his necessary labourers of average ability, he is morally free to do so; but he may not employ them at less than living wages in order to obtain interest on his capital.
[246] One of the best statements of the evil social results of low wages will be found in Webb's "Industrial Democracy," vol. II, pp. 749-766.
[247] See reports of these commissions in Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and California.
[248] "A Living Wage," p. 150.
[249] See Bulletins of the Federal Bureau of Labour Statistics on "Retail Prices"; and Nearing, "Reducing the Cost of Living."
[250] "Summary of the Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United States," pp. 383, 384. The best intensive study of family cost of living is that published in the volume edited by Robert C. Chapin, "The Standard of Living Among Workingmen's Families in New York City"; 1909. It led to the conclusion that anything less than eight hundred dollars was insufficient for the yearly maintenance of a husband and wife and three small children in Manhattan.
[251] See articles by Hammond in the American Economic Review, June, 1913, and in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, July, 1913; and page 62 of the Appendix to the third volume of the Report of the New York State Factory Investigating Commission.
[252] See the replies of the London Board of Trade to the N. Y. Factory Investigating Commission, on pages 77, 78 of the volume cited above; and especially the two monographs by R. H. Tawney, "The Establishment of Minimum Rates in the Chain-Making Industry," and "The Establishment of Minimum Rates in the Tailoring Industry." London; 1914 and 1915.
[253] "First Biennial Report of the Industrial Welfare Commission of Washington," pp. 13, 15.
[254] "Effect of Minimum Wage Determinations in Oregon." Bulletin No. 176 of United States Bureau of Labour Statistics.
[255] From a paper read before the National Convention of the Association of Government Labour Officials, Nashville, Tenn., June 9, 1914.
[256] See Bulletins of Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission.
[257] See the excellent and varied series of papers on the subject in Orth's "The Relation of Government to Property and Industry," pp. 103-178. Ginn & Company; 1915.
[258] The arguments for and against the constitutionality of a legal minimum wage are adequately presented in the briefs, respectively, of Louis D. Brandeis and Rome G. Brown, in the cases of Stettler vs. O'Hara and Simpson vs. O'Hara. The former is published by the National Consumers' League, New York, and the latter by the Review Publishing Company, Minneapolis.
[259] "Minimum Rates in the Tailoring Industry," p. 161.
[260] One of the best statements of the economic aspect of the minimum wage is that by Sidney Webb, in the Journal of Political Economy, Dec., 1912. Probably the most varied and comprehensive general discussion is the symposium in the Survey, Feb. 6, 1915. See especially the excellent presentation in Commons and Andrews' "Principles of Labour Legislation," pp. 167-200.
[261] See pages 303, 304 of "A Living Wage"; Macmillan, 1906.
[262] O'Grady, "A Legal Minimum Wage"; Washington, 1915.
[263] "Final Report," pp. 101, 255, 364.
[264] The Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1916. A somewhat less unfavourable criticism is contained in the paper by Professor John Bates Clark in the Atlantic Monthly, September, 1913.
[265] Page 436.
[266] "The Wealth and Income of the People of the United States," p. 129.
[267] Page 437.
[268] "Final Report," p. 802. Washington, 1902.
[269] See article by Professor Commons in "The New Encyclopedia of Social Reform," p. 1233.
[270] The Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1916, p. 502.
[271] "Problems of Poverty," p. 227. London, 1891.
[272] "Minimum Rates in the Tailoring Industry," p. 96.
Transcriber's Note:
Obvious typographical errors were corrected.
Hyphenation inconsistency between "co-partnership" as used by the author, and "Copartnership" as in the title of a quoted reference, was retained as in the original.
A few out-of-order index entries were relocated.
Advertisements: "THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York" appeared at the bottom of each ad page in the original. This has been reduced to one occurrence after the final ad.