What's What in America

by Eugene V. Brewster

ADVERTISING.

Most advertising is wasted energy. One of its purposes is to take trade from another and bring it to itself,—a snare set by A to attract B's customers. It creates nothing, and is only useful as a means of communication or notification, and it imposes an unnecessarily heavy burden upon the human family. While it does give employment, it is not much more useful employment than the hiring of men to shovel dirt into the river and then hiring them to shovel it out again. If employment is all we seek, why not tear down the public buildings and then hire men to build them up again? (The question of employment for labor will be dealt with elsewhere.)

This illustration is not intended to discourage advertising, for advertising has its uses, and under present conditions is almost synonymous with success. But suppose, for example, there were 100 telephone companies in New York instead of one. The competition would be bitter. Prices would come down to the lowest competitive margin. But, as prices and profits came down, so would wages. The rivalry would encourage dishonesty, hatred and envy, and result in various impositions, such as compelling every subscriber to have several 'phones.

Each company would have the expense of maintaining a separate plant, with its small army of employees, and wires strung over the city like a mosquito netting, and each would be spending large sums in advertising which would finally be paid by the consumers.

Now, contrast this unorganized confusion with the present single system with its one small advertising bill to pay, one system of wires, one set of canvassers and other employees, one engine room, one president, etc. Has not the burden of the world's work been lightened and lessened by this combination and organization?

THE WORLD'S WORK.

Given a population of 80,000,000 of which say 20,000,000 are working people, and given a certain amount of work required to provide the 80,000,000 people with food, clothes, shelter and the numerous minor conveniences,—how many hours a day must these 20,000,000 working-people labor to produce what we now produce, under the old unorganized system of individual enterprise? If there were 100 telephone companies in New York instead of one, here at once we require about ten times as many men in this single industry as are now required, and these hundreds of thousands of men required to operate the 100 telephone companies must be taken away from other industries. And so on, throughout all the trades, professions, factories and industries.

If the average day's work is now ten hours, and all those who want to work are now employed, and only one-half of the industries are now organized into Trusts, what would be the result if all the other industries were organized into Trusts? First, there would not be so much work to do, owing to the great saving and economy of combination as before explained; and second, several hundred thousand workers who are now employed would be thrown out of employment. Here we arrive at an apparent obstacle. One of two things must be done; either the great unemployed must leave the country, or be supported in idleness, or die of starvation, or, the hours of work must be reduced! If 20,000,000 can do the required work, working ten hours a day, with half the industries unorganized, and if organization (Trusts) would throw say 5,000,000 out of employment, then we must reduce the hours of daily work so as to give the 5,000,000 employment!

If the hours were reduced to say six, the remaining 15,000,000 could not do all the work in that time, and the 5,000,000 unemployed must be called in to help. A demand for the labor of the 5,000,000 would at once be created. Everybody would then be employed. Every industry would be organized. Useless work and wasted energy would be eliminated. Everybody would have shorter hours of work. The uneducated would have more time to study and develop. The arts would then be generously patronized. Paupers would disappear. Wealth would multiply. Ignorance and drunkenness would have received their death-blow, because their father—Poverty—would have been destroyed. But hold,—other difficulties present themselves: Who would compel the organized industries (Trusts) to reduce the hours of work? What would prevent them charging exorbitant prices? Who or what would prevent the captains of industry filling their own pockets and keeping the great profits to themselves? Who or what would prevent the rich from growing richer, and the poor poorer?