The Case Against Socialism.—The advocates of socialism, in their arguments, frequently assume something which they have not been able to prove. |Are the poor growing poorer?| They proclaim that the rich are growing richer and the poor are growing poorer, that the middle class is being crushed out, and that soon there will be only two groups, the very rich and the very poor. It is true that wealth is increasing and that there are more rich men today than ever before in the history of the world; but it is also true that the middle class is more numerous and the worker much better off than at any previous time. The standard of living among American wage-earners today is higher than it was among well-to-do people a hundred years ago. The average worker is better housed, better clothed, better fed, and has more of the comforts of life than the employer of a century ago.
The chief argument against socialism.
But apart from this the crucial question concerns the way in which production would be maintained and how the earnings would be distributed under a socialist system. Today the main incentive to work is the expectation of reward. Most men work because they expect to be paid for it. Cut down their pay and they will usually stop work and try to persuade other people from working. There are exceptions to the rule, of course; but when men and women work hard and try to do their best it is because they hope to get promoted, to get their wages raised, to secure an easier job at higher pay.[[310]] Socialism would abolish this exact relation between skill and wages. Everyone would work at whatever task he was best fitted to perform and would be given enough to live on comfortably. Or, as the socialists put it, everyone would produce according to his ability and be paid according to his needs.
Some practical questions.
This, however, begs some very important questions of a practical nature. Who would determine the work that you or I should do? Who would determine that you must labor in the coal mines while I go abroad, as a foreign ambassador? Who will determine your needs and mine, so that we may be rewarded accordingly?
Socialism and compulsion.
The answer is that authorities would have to be established with power to settle these things and to apply compulsion where necessary. We would have industrial autocracy. Men and women would have no complete freedom to choose their own occupations. The socialists say that if the existing wage system were abolished everyone would do his best to increase production in order to make the new plan a success; but where socialistic experiments have been tried the contrary is true; the workers do less and produce less. Let us remember, also, the increased danger of corruption which would come if the authorities were given so great an increase in power. The whole resources of the country would be placed in the control of an official class; the entire labor-force of the nation would be put at their disposal. The socialist answers that if officials proved arbitrary or corrupt the people would turn them out of office. Does our experience with other forms of government warrant any such expectation?
Socialism and human nature.
Two methods of getting work done have been tried by the world at one time or another. In ancient and mediæval times most of the work was done by slaves. The slave got no wages; he did his work because he was compelled to do it. In modern times, since slavery and serfdom no longer exist among civilized people, most of the work is done by free men who do it because they expect to be paid for doing it. And since there are differences in the abilities of different men, some get more pay than others, even though the opportunities be the same for all. If the capable worker were not paid more than the less competent, he would not exert himself to do his best. To get the best out of any free man he must be given the hope of a reward in proportion to his efficiency, and for the great majority of people this means a reward in dollars and cents. That is human nature.
Can human nature be changed?