What's What in America

by Eugene V. Brewster

One day a philosopher mysteriously made his appearance; and after touring the island, he asked all of the inhabitants to meet him in an open field. When the appointed day came, the entire adult population was there, and the philosopher spoke as follows:

"You have a fine country here, and fine people. You are industrious and simple. Each little village is independent of the other villages, for each can provide itself with everything its people actually need. You never ask favors from your neighboring villages. Each village has its own corn field, its own carpenters, woods, cows, sheep, horses and stores. But I find that you have no music, no books, no art, no places of amusement and very little ingenuity. You all work from morn till night and you have no time for these things. It is a constant, ceaseless struggle for all of you to keep body and soul together. Each of you men and women is an isolated unit. Each village is an isolated unit. You are all isolated from the great commercial countries far beyond the seas. Now, in travelling through your island, I found that one village had a coal mine and all the people there used coal for fuel, while all the other villages have to hew great trees, chop them up, and burn wood, in order to get heat. In one village I found oil wells and the people there burn oil, while all the other villages have to use bullrush torches. In one village I found the soil of clay, so that the people made their houses of bricks, while the other villages have to use blocks of wood, or logs. In another village I found iron ore and their people have sharp tools, while other villages have to use sharpened stones. And so on, for I found each village has some peculiar and natural advantage over the other. Now, my friends, why do you keep these God-given advantages to yourselves? You villagers who have coal know that there is enough for all the island, and so with you who have the iron, bricks, or cotton, or fruits, or silks, or furs. Why don't you exchange what you make or raise for the products of your neighbors? The whole island must have so many hats, so many shoes, and so many houses, and if you divide your labors and freely exchange your products with one another, you will find that you will all have more comforts, and you won't have so long to work each day. And when you have more leisure, you will begin to invent, and plan, and enjoy yourselves, and write books, and visit one another to exchange ideas. The gross amount that all you people produce each year is really very, very small. If you should co-operate, you could create many times as many commodities as you now produce."

The philosopher disappeared. The people talked about it for weeks thereafter, and they finally began to adopt his plan. They built railroads, and they freely exchanged products with one another. Money then came into use. With money one could do almost anything. It represented bread and butter. Every man tried to get all he could,—not only to provide against future wants, but that he might outshine his neighbors. There was gradually a great division of labor on the island, and a great saving in work. The people no longer worked fifteen hours a day. They did not have to. Men who had strong arms moved to the village where they were doing something which required strength. Men who had thick skulls moved to the cotton fields to work under a hot sun. Men who had sharp eyes moved to the manufacturing village. Men with executiveness became foremen, and superintendents, and presidents. And so every village gradually became adjusted to the changed plans. Every man sought that village or field best adapted to his physique or abilities. Every man and every village finally became a specialist. In the coal village they did nothing else but mine and transport coal. In the oil village they only produced and shipped oil. In one village they had several swift streams running through to the coast, and this village was in the middle of the isle and not far from the iron and cotton villages. It became the manufacturing village. This village was divided into many different districts, and was very large. In one section, the Manchester-like climate and misty atmosphere, and nearness to the cotton fields, made it a natural cotton manufacturing center. Another section was adapted for making steel and iron goods. And so on.

As time wore on, every industry on the island, localized, and every man became specialized. Inventions and machinery multiplied. But every new labor-saving machine saved labor, of course, and produced better goods than hand labor. So every new machine took a job away from several workmen. There was much complaint about this but new inventions kept coming. There were now twenty different hat factories in the manufacturing village, each trying to undersell the other. One day they combined and built a large addition on the largest factory building. Then they moved most of the other hat factory machinery in, and destroyed the old buildings and the machinery they did not want. They also discharged nineteen engineers, nineteen foremen, fifty bookkeepers, two hundred drivers and packers and many other men, because they no longer needed them. These poor discharged workmen did not know what to do, for they had spent their lives at that business and knew no other. First, there was a great hue and cry raised by all the little villages, for they all felt sorry for the poor discharged workmen.

But soon, this big partnership concern began to sell the same hats for far less than formerly, and they told the people that they could afford to because they did not have so many men to pay, so much rent, so much advertising, and were running things more economically. Other big partnerships were formed all over the island, and after a while, so great was the economy of combination that many men could not get any work to do. Every big partnership soon took in all the little concerns on the island, or else it drove them out of business by competition.

Some men became discouraged and began to drink rum, and others even began to cheat and steal.

One day, some of the big partnerships had a banquet, and they talked things over and they said: "We're making money and getting rich, but we could do it faster if we did not have to pay so much wages. Let us raise prices and cut wages down." This they did, and finally the workingmen got together into a partnership of their own. They organized, and they all said they must have just so much wages or they would not work at all. This forced the big partnership people to pay better wages for a while, but the two partnerships, employer and employee, were always quarrelling. One day a very serious thing happened in the coal village. The workmen refused to work because they thought they were not getting enough wages. They stopped mining coal, and, while they were idle, all other workmen on the island sent them money and provisions out of sympathy. It was dead winter and people began to suffer and some of the factories had to shut down. Even the railroads could not run their engines. But the people made such an uproar that the coal owners finally surrendered a little, reluctantly, and again the mines were operated.

Not long after this, a similar disturbance took place in the cotton fields, and for a long while the whole island suffered for want of the hundreds of things which cotton goes to make, even to shoe strings and lampwicks.

For several years these outbreaks in the different villages were very frequent. First it was a cry of, "no oil;" then, "no milk;" then, "no iron;" then "no meat." Finally, as a last straw on the back of the already exhausted camel, all the railroads formed a partnership, and they too became tied up, and ceased operation. Without them, the people could scarcely get anything to eat, or drink, or wear, or burn, and famine threatened the island; because, every village had become devoted to only one thing, and it could not do or produce anything else. Each had learned to depend upon the other villages for every other article. Then there was a great public uprising. Meetings were held everywhere. Many people said that the trouble was because people formed partnerships. Others answered by saying that that was not the cause, for even if there were no partnerships, still one village would continue to have all the coal, another all the oil, and another all the cotton, on the island. There were no tariffs, no land monopoly, no special privileges, no government favoritism, no railroad discrimination, and no taxes, so those whose fathers had heard of such things in other countries could not advance such arguments. Nature had given certain villages a natural monopoly of certain industries. Nature had also given certain men a natural monopoly over certain trades and pursuits by making them apt and proficient therein. Therefore, Nature was the criminal, and she alone was to be blamed. But what were the forlorn islanders to do about it?

One fine day, when everything was in a turmoil of discontent and perplexity, the philosopher again made his appearance upon the island. Many thought him a Divine being sent from heaven to succor and advise them; and so, when he had called them all together, he addressed them thus: