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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est filmd d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 4 6 32X r r1(=](=](=lG ^ FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY. ST. JOHN N. B. PRESENTED j] -L xrvw V^ ^iAjXy^ o| tiuL Lob. U> ^-UojdUoc>a^ CUxy 5 Accessionii+^stj / Class H^^ This book is not to be kept out ^ longer than Fifteen days. II II l i — I ' i r=iir=i f=ii I (==!] "Pfillida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas regurnQoe turres." lP>oorbou6C anb ip>alace. A F»lea for a Better Distribution of Wealth A 4 8- 5~5 Bi CONTENTS. Introduction. .•, •', Chap. I. From Feudalism to Democracy, Chap. 2. Wealth and Wages in Great Britain, Chap. 3. Wealth in the United States, Chap. 4. Wages in the United States. Chap. 5. Combines and Monopolies, Chap. 6. Checks upon Concentration of Wealth, Chap. 7. Progressive Taxation, Conclusion, .. Opinions and Statements Worth Remembering, 7 II '»5 •9 23 29 35 43 45 t d tl o b s INTRODUCTION. "These struggling tides of life that seem In wayward aimless course to tend, Are eddies of the mighty stream, That rollw to its appointed end." This was the thougfht of William CuUen Bryant, as he looked upon the various currents of human life that whirled and swung- in the early days of the United States from 1815 to 1866. His poetic heart saw in all the throes and agonies of the young- Republic, only the one sacred stream of life, hastening to its home of immortality. I am not able to speak as the poet, nor to lift the veil ot the prophet, but I do wish to stand as a helper, looking at "these tides of life," to see if we can not find some way, develop some plan, by which the masses of humanity, now struggling on the stairway of existence, will b6 able in the future, to gel a more equal share of earth's comforts and joys than they have had in the past. Cruel are the words of Herbert Spencer, when he says "the shoulder- ing aside the weak by the strong, which leaves so many in shallows and miseries, is the decree ot a large far-seeing benevolence. To step in be- tween weakness and its consequences, suspends the process of weeding out those of lower developrnent." It is possible that when the last analysis is made, we will find Herbert Spencer seated on the pyramid ot hecatombs, in which lie those of "lower development.' This la>y of the "devil take the hindmost" cannot last forever in this country and although we may never realize a government by love, still our aim must be to approach that ideal. Because one man has strength, pistol and sword, is no reason why he should compel his neighbor to relinquish his lai.d and cattle. Likewise, because a man has ability and cunning to use the weaker ability of his fellows is no reason why government should aid him to do so. It should be the wise policy of government to make it extremely diffi- cult tor men to become millionaires, and yet comparatively easy for all men to have a comfortable home and enough income to insure .hem against penury in their old age. Wealth exists only by dint of labor and the savings of labor. The more of these savings appropriated by the capitalist, leaves the less for the wage earner. VI INFRCDUCTION. It may be that the time is near at hand when the owner ot inherited millions will be ashamed of his unearned wealth. Certain it is that the time is now come, when poorhouses stand as a stijJi'ma upon Christian civilization and when the palace is not an unmixed blessing". Are the Josiah Bounderbys, with their loud voices and iron wills, to rule always ? I think not. In th** ranks of the rich nobles and wealthy commoners of Britain, we see now and again a splendid character who feels the injustice of the wealth distribution and who really tries to remedy it. Britain has always been in the van-guard of reform and Canada must not be slow to follow. We write of what we see. Life in the sixteenth century had its coarse comforts with its military splendor and revellings. Shakespear saw the evil of intemperance and gave us Cassio, apostrophizing the lurking devil that lay in the gleam of the wine cup. Tom Hood in our later times saw the greater evil of poverty and gave us the Song of the Shirt. I have written this pamphlet with the hope of showing- that a fairer distribution of wealth can be effected by a system of progressive or gradu- ated taxation. But I will be content if the reading of these pag^es will so stir the "rarity of christian charity," that we will erase from the statute book the law that permits the taxation of small incomes. Graduated taxation as outlined in chapter six is a long step toward a more equitable distribution and will be a sure check upon the larger accumulation of wealth. For statistics on wages I am indebted to Prof. Thorold Rc^jers' work, entitled " Six Centuries of Work and Wages," and I have also gained valuable information from Dr. Chas. Spahr's book, entitled " Distributicn of Wealth in the United States." W. FR.ANK HATH E WAY. St. John, N. B., February, 1900. A PLEA FOR A MORE EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH. : CHAPTER I. FROM FEUDALISM TO DEMOCRACY. And man, whose he.wen erected face The smiles of hue adorn, Man's inhumanity to man Makes countless thousands mourn. If I'm desi^'ned yon lordling^'s slave By nature's law desij^ned, Why was an independent wish K'er planted in my mind ? If not, why am I subject to His cruelty or scorn. Or why has man the will and pewer To make his fellow mourn? — BlRNS. From the year 479 when the city of the Caesars fell itito the hands of the savage Goth, up to the present century, there appear to have been three distinct social periods. The first ending- at the last of the 12th century, the second terininating with the Revolution of 1793, and the third still existing in our present day. The rule of the monk and the priest was paramount in the first great period, beginning with the influence of Gregory the Great, in 600, reaching- a high altitude in the eleventh century in the power attained by the energy and courage of Gregory Seventh, and culminating in the spiritual supremacy oi the Church, when Urban the Second in 1095, f'-t the town of Clermont, stirred his hearers to enthusiasm as he appealed for aid to rescue the Holy City from the hand of sacrilege. * "God wills it" cried his impassioned audience, and thousands rushed forxvard to take upon themselves the cross of the Crusade. The second social period from 1200 to the close of the eighteenth cen- tury showed the rapid development of the feudal system, the increasing- power of the noblemen, and finally rn some countries the almost absolute power of the King. The fires of the Inquisition that sealed the fate of so 8 FROM FEUDALISM TO DEMOCRACY, many in the southern part of France in the thirteenth ceijtury stirred to activity the thoughi of the British people. The Lollard movement in England, of which John Wyckliffe was the precursor was soon followed by the Hussite movement throughout Bohemia in 1400 to 1450. These paved the way for the severance of those relations between Church and State, which took place under Luther and the Reformation. Gradually, however, the extreme feudal laws, that of the Corvee, jambage, dime and many others nearly as bad, together with the absolute povv'er of the sovereign, made the people of Europe t jstive. As early as 1358 ^he Jacquerie in F" ranee, turned upon the nobles in an endeavor to free themselves from feudal exactions, and with a murder- ous strength, in a few weeks, repaid with most terrible revenge the oppressions of hundreds of years. A "freemasonry of rhymes" rang throughout England in the fourteenth century, calling in quaint terms for the people to rise. "Jack Miller asketh help to turn his mill arigfht, He hath g'roimded small, small, But the King's son of Heaven, Shall pay for all. " A hundred thousand Kentish men with Watt Tyler at their head in 1381, marched upon London to protest against the heavy poll tax, which jnade the poor.;st contribute as large a sum as the wealthiest. Later on, in 1525, the peasants throughout Germany, rose in revolt against their feudal lords, and were only crushed after a bitter vvar. All these struggles of the people against the crushing power of the nobles, showed that the people were growing, and that the time was rapidly drawing near when the whole teudal system would be rent asunder by the strong arm of democracy III 1476 the little country of Switzerland at the battle of Granson, where she beat back the bannered knights and chevaliers of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, laid the foundation of those principles ot liberty, which for a long time were the envy of other states in Europe. From her serfdom to Austria, brave Switzerland had sprung into a republic, and the daring spirit of the hardy mountaineer r^apidly spread to the people of France, Germany arid England. Cromwell and his Parlia- ment sent Charles the First' to the scaffold in 164^, but the pendulum swung too far. The extreme rule of the Roundheads and their condemnation of the ordinary pleasures of life made it easy for the people to iccept again . tirred to was the oughout of those ;her and at of the with the lobles in murder- ".ge the Lirteenth head in ic, which n revolt r of the ; rapidly r by the >ranson irles the y, which ^ into a pread to Parlia- mdiilum n of the )t ag-ain FROM FEUDALISM TO DEMOCRACY. 9 the thraldom of the Stuarts. Wearied at last, however, with the dissolute court of Charles the Second, the people and the nobles of Eng- land in 1688 made James the Second fly the country and, with William of Orange, welcomed a free Parliament and a free State. At last in 1710 in the union of Scotland and England, the British people found their supremacy, which has lasted ever since. In the last half of the eighteenth century, came the struggle between the people and the aristocracy in France. Louis the Sixteenth, and Marie Antoinette, wlu in 1774 yjan^f an 1 in their prime, heard the joyous shout ot a glad people, in 1792 expiated on the scaffold, near the garden of the Tuileries, the sins ot their Bourbon ancestors. The great feudal system that had held the people in chains, the long serfdom of centuries, that had made them believe their Kings and Queens to be divine, all these were broken into fragments, and the French people in their savage joy, steeped themselves in the blood of their oppressors. The shattered hulk of feudalism struck its flag and sank in those revolutionary seas of 1649, 1688 and 1792, never to rise again. At this time in the last half of the eighteenth century, a new force was come to the world, and was to create the third period, which I have mentioned. James Watt, watching his mother's tea kettle, saw in the steam rising therefrom, the power that was soon to make England great. Arkwright and Hargreaves by their inventive aids to cotton spinning, laid the founda- tion of a giant industry. England stood in the centre, dominating Europe, and, by the concessions of the treaty ot 1763, controlled in the East the valuable trade of India, and became a mother to that great nation of the west, which afterwards added to her expanding commerce. The people of France in the beginning of the nineteenth century had virtually freed themselves of feudalism and monarchy, and democracy was triumphant. Aristocracy walked in wooden shoes, and it was often known to don the " bonnet rouge " and also to appear proud to be called "Citizen Philip Egalit^," instead of the " Duc'd' Orleans. Over the prostrate bodies of the nobles, democracy reared its head and aimed at riches. The inventions of the eighteenth century made this easy, and out of the middle class sprang hosts of people, who rapidly con- trolled great wealth. The era of prosperity that came especially to Great Britain in 1750 to 1800, due to inventions and to the monopolies thereby created,, and also due to the ever increasing trade with India and America, laid the founda- tion of that plutocracy, which the people now find much harder to contend 10 FROM FEUDALISM TO DEiMOCRACY. ag-ainst, than was the aristocracy of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen> tunes. Thus was the third social period inaug-urated, wliere wealth became the god, before which the worid trembled, and the servile crooked the knee. This is the period, the influence of which has spread here to America, and may ri<,'-htly be called the "Century of the Almig-hty Dollar." " There is an instinctive sense that tiie whole constitution of projjerty, on its pres- ent tenures, is injurious, and its influence on persons deteriorating- and degrading ; that truly, the only interest for the consideration of the Slate, is persons,— that the hig-hest end of government is the culture of men," Emerson. CHAPTER II. WEALTH AND WAGES IN GREAT BRITAIN. " The Poor House," said old Betty Hijfden, " Kill me sooner than take me there. Throw the pretty ciiild under cart horses' feet lul a loaded wagon, sooner than take him there. Come to us and find us all a-dying, and set a lig^ht to 'is all where we lie, sooner than move a corpse of us there ! " — ("harles Dickens. In the consideration of the social forces, which contribute to make the State grow and expand, we would not in speaking of Canada or the United States, think of the three divisions, the nobles, the clergy, and the people for that would savour of Eighteenth Century feudalism and not of Nine- teenth Century democracy. In order that our Country shall grow to its highest development, the social forces should have that poise and finely settled adjustment, which nould benr fairly in due proportion on each force, so that the whole in harmony (vould make the well balanced State. What are the social forces in Canada and the United States ? First. — Pre-eminently, the Laborer, who gives us the products of the farm, the forest, the sea, the mines and the factory, all the results of toil. From these and these alone has sprung^ all the vast wealth now con- centrated in millions in the great cities of this continent. Second. — The Trader. The merchant who thinks out the processes of barter and exchange, and makes it eisy for people in Dublin, Liverpool and (ilasg-ow to eat the bread made tr^m wheat grown on the prairies of the West. Third. — The Capitalists, who are the bankers for the nation, who have saved their profits on labor's production, and now stand ready to in- vest their millions wherever it is most sure, in railway, teleg^raph, steam- ship or other stocks. , Fourth. — The professions, — lawyers, clergymen, doctors, soldiers, etc., who are the outcome of the first and second classes, namely Labor and Trade, which two classes combined, make the state and the city, and from the wealth made by them we are able to pay for the skilled labor of the physician and other professions. These are the four classes that go to make our democratic State. Are they in Canada so neatly poised and adjusted as to make a harmonious whole, or does capital press too heavily on labor ? In this last we are 12 WEALTH AND WAGES IN GREAT BRITAIN. touching the sub-structure of the State edifice. There lies in one of the old galleries in Germany a picture painted over 200 years ago. The rude and rough painting shows not the touch of a master hand, but it well illustrates the thought of the people. On his knees, the immense muscles of his thighs showing the strain, with his broad back bent over and the hands flat on the ground, is a giant German laborer, and on his back is seen the trader, the merchant ; and on his back, again, is seen the lawyer, the doctor, the soldier ; and on theirs is the bishop, the priest ; and on theirs again, topping the pyramid, of which the base is the broad shoulders of the laborer, stands the king. Carrying out the idea of this old picture, we will consider Class 2, 3 and 4, all under the head of capital, and Class I. under that of labor ; and now let us look at the condition cf British capital and labor, and after that, compare the same with conditions in the United States, and then we can answer the problem, as stated above, Does capital press too heavily on labor ? The wealth of the United Kingdom in 1800 was ;£^ 1,800, 000, 000; 1840, ;£,'4,ooo, 000,000 ; i860, ;£j"6,ooo,ooo,ooo ; 1883, ;£^8, 720,000,000. Thus the total wealth of the United Kingdom in 1^*83 was five times greater than it was in 1800. The it, come of the United Kingdotn for 1883 was ;£l^ 1, 265, 000, 000, divided as follows: 4,62q,ooo families of working classes, ;^^447,ooo,ooo — ;£'96 12s. to each family; 2,046,000 families of gentry, middlemen, professions, etc., ;^'8t8,ooo,ooo — ;^^40o to each family. Over four and a half million families had ;£i!^96 12s. a year, whereas two millions families had ;^^400 a year. Prof. Thorold Rogers says: "In no period of England was the con- dition of manual labor worse than from 1782 to 1821, during which period traders, capitalists and manufacturers, accumulated fortunes rapidly, and rent of farm land doubled.' Yhis "misery" is the result, Spencer would say, of a "large, far- seeing benevolence," and philanthropy should not interfere. There were, however, in the early part of this century those who saw the chasm broad- ening between the rich and the poor, and wfto heard in the low tones of discontent the possibilities of a time when capital might try to hide its head before the rush of a combined labor movement. Thackeray exposed, with his iTiild satire, the foibles of those who lived in the palace. Dickens, the immortal novelist, disclosed in Oliver Twist the horrors of the poor ■ouse. The stolidity of the British public was made to think, and the .tish workman to-day thanks God for the deep tenderness of Dickens, who, in his "Tale of Two Cities" and in " Oliver Twist," laid bate the WEALTH AND WAGES IN GREAT BRITAIN. 13 one of the The rude ait it well ;e muscles jr and the ick is seen iwyer, the on theirs loulders of Class 2, 3 that of and labor, ted States, ipital press )o, coo, coo; 20,000,000. five times )m for 1883 of working- families of 2ach family. vhereas two as the con- /hich period rapidly, and •large, far- There were, Kism broad- ow tones of to hide its ray exposed, Dickens, of the poor ink, and the of Dickens, aid baic the wrongs and miseries of two great nations. The gulf between the indigence of labor and the luxury of capital was so vast, and the Sheffield and Man- chester disturbances in 1867 had been so significant, that parliament itself came to the aid of labor. The laws against trade unions were repealed, and labor was left free to get a rightful share of its products. Society may advance in wealth, but at the same time wages may be relatively low, causing- general misery and discontent. Prof. Thorold Rogers says: "Relatively, the working man of to-day is not so well off as he was in the Fifteenth Century, when the population of Great Britain was not one-tenth what it is now (in i<'^94). The steam that rose from James Watt's tea kettle took the gig-antic forms of 5,003 and io,ooo ton steamers, that now ply the ocean under Britain's flag, but it did not give to the stoker and the deck-hand anything like his proportion of pay, as compared with the wealth it gave to the great capitalists. The spinning jenny and cotton mule, that now with three hands, per- form the work done in 1760 by 2,000 hands, sent their product to Europe, Asia and Africa. Wealth poured into the coffers of Manchester, Liverpool, Birming- ham, and other great cities, but the daily wages of the cotton spinner of the nineteenth century are no larger relatively than when he tended the hand loom 150 years ago. Records show that in 1450 at Oxford, masons got four shillings a week. The cost of living then was only one-twelfth what it is today. Compare the prices of 1450 which follow, with those of today. Wheat was 5s. lod. per quarter of 480 lbs., or say 18 cents a bushel; beef 4s. Id. per cwt., or 90 cents per 100 lbs.- pork 5s. or $1.10 per 100 lbs; fowls 1^'^d. each; pigeons 4d. a dozen; cheese Vi of id. per lb. or not quite I cent per lb.; butter '^d. a lb.; eggs 5 ^d. for 120, about one cent per dozen ; firewood is. lo'j^d. a load; shirting 6d. a yard. Thus the mason of 1877 should receive 48s. per week, viz. twelve times the 4s. got in 1450, whereas in 1877, masons in Great Britain only got 7s. a day, or 42s. a week. Rents are much higher now than in the fifteenth century, which more than equals the low prices for clothing. Charles Booth in 1891 in his Labor Report says that "30 per cent, of London families receive only ;^54 a year." The V/ages Report of 1886 in Great Britain, states that " the average wage of skilled trades is 25s. to 32s. weekly," say $7.00 to $8.00. Mr. Dudley Baxter averages them in 1868 at 28s. to 35s. weekly, say $7.00 to $8.50. I !i 14 WEALTH AND WAGES IN GREAT BRITAIN. We wiU leave Great Britain with its one thousand years of monarchy, its conservative dread cf chang-e, its ai*>horrence of 1793, when the awful democracy of Marat, Robespierre aad Danton sent a chill to the heart of British workmen, and kept back by 50 years the Repeal of the laws ag-ainst Trade Unions. We will leave the old world and see what the free and enlij^htened United States did for the wage earners of that country. "It is not to die or even to die of hunger that makes a man wretched. But it is to live miserable, we know not why, to work sore and yet gain nothing-." — (.".\RLVLE. •' Adequate livelihood is the one sure foundation of that honest independence which is not only one of the greatest of virtues, but the fruitful mother of virtues, — of courage, tenacity, endurance, self-reliance, thrift, cheerfulness, hope." — John Maccinn. c f 'J-'X CHAPTER III. and enliyfhtened stched. But it is to WEALTH IN THE UNITED STATES. Gold! Gold! Ciold! Gold! Hoarded, bartered, boiij^ht and sold, .Stolen, borrowed, squandered, doled, Price of many a crime untold, Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! -Thos. Hood. The memory of 1776 and the strugtfle of a brave people for indepen- lence comes over us as we read the Declaration: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created iequal, with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any government becomes destructive of these [■ights it is the right ot the people to alter or to abolish it and institute a lew government, laying its foundations on such principles and organizing [ts powers in such form as may seem most likely to effect their safety and lappiness. " By the light of this liberty torch, we will examine into the distribution )f wealth in the United States and see if that nation has recognized the fact so clearly shown in the old German picture, namely, that labor is the source of all wealth, and therefore it should have at least enough per [centage of the value of its finished product to provide decent and comfort- lable living to those who toil. Is wealth more evenly distributed in the United States than in Great i Britain? Do monopolies thrive in the cities of the United States, and does [wealth easily concentrate there in the hands of a few? Is labor better paid there relatively to the cost of living? Let us ► investigate, and endeavor to get an answer to these questions. The New York Tribune a few years ago published a list of millionaires, [in all 4,047 persons in the United States, who owned fifteen billions of [wealth, or an average of three and three-quarter millions each. The New York City Census of 1890 reports that only 6 1-3 per cent, [of the population owned the dwellings where they lived. Thus 94 per cent, of that city's population, say 1,400,000 lived in rented houses. Evidently fl 16 WEALTH IN THE UNITED STATES. 125,000, $ 33.000,000,000, $ 264,000 each 1.375.000, 23,000,000,000, 16,000 '• 5,500,000, 8,200,000,000, 1,500 " 5,500,000, 800,000,000, 150 " here is a landlordism equal to that of Ireland, and not the result of a thousand years, but only the inheritance of the last seventy-five years. The wealth of the United States in 1890 was estimated at sixty-five* billions of dollars, divided as follows : — Value Estate. No. Families. Total Wealth. Average Wealth. $50,000 and up, $5,000 to $50,000, S500 to $5,000, Below $500, Twelve and'a half million families $65,000,000,000. Thus we see that nearly half the families in the United States are propertyless, owning only an average of $150 each. One per cent, of the families, namely 125,000 own thirty-three billions, more than half the wealth of the country. And this is the result of the Declaration of Independence, and all the 4th of July orations, and all the fire works by sea and land, and still there rises no Dickens to pull down these rich palaces of marble and stone, nor to efface these poor houses where in New York cit}' two and three families live in the same room, and where even the blade of grass cannot push its inspiring green, so foul and dark and narrow are the yards used in common by forty or fifty families. God's sunlight cannot enter there, so Hell's hate is nourished and grows, and the five and a half million families, with their $150 look up, or is it down, on the 125,000 families with their $264,000 each. The chasm widens and deepens, and it does not require much prescience to say that some day that chasm will be filled with the groans and death cries of mortal combat. Common sense and tenderness must avert this calamity, and develop some way by which the forces that labor, and the forces that aid labor and use its product, can run closer together, making a stronger, better state with more equality of gain to those who strive and toil. Another official statement in 1893 made the total wealth about $62,000,000,000. Ninety-one per cent, of population had $17,000,000,000. Thus 54,600,000 people had $310 each. Nine per cent, of the population owned $45,000,000,000, or 5,400,000 people had $8,300 each. Of these $45,000,000,000, 18,000 persons owned $12,000,000,000, or $670,000 each. If J esult of a years. sixty-five* : Wealth. ooo each, ooo •' 500 " '50 '• States are e billions, md all the still there stone, nor ;e families Jt push its n common so Hell's lilies, with with their lire much he groans id develop labor and etter state 1th about ), 000, 000. )opulation Of these $670,000. WEALTH IN THE UNITED STATES. 17 Another report dated 1894 gives: — Total Wealth of United States. 55% owned by 32% I Of Total Population, i/ioo Il/lOO 88 too 100 100 It would appear almost as if France and Germany show no more con- centration of wealth than does the United States — and certainly Great Britain, where one per cent, of the population receive thirty-five per cent, of the income, shows abetter result than that quoted above. Notwithstand- ing the natural selfishness of the mercantile classes and the nobility, from the year 1500 down, still the cities of Great Britain today show less concentration ot wealth than do the great United States cities. Of course the distribution of wealth in the villages of the United States is more equal than in Great Britain, but that is largely the result ot the law of entail in the latter country prohibiting the sale of the land. In 1880 the Atlantic Monthly said: "We (the United States) are taking immense strides in placing our country in the position of Great Britain, and even worse." In 1880 the farms of the United States were worth ten billion dollars; city real estate the same value. In 1890 farms increased to $13,000,000,000, and city estate to $26,000,000,000. We find in the United States, — 36 per cent, of homes, ( cities of 8,000 ) 64 " ** ( to 100,000 f 23 per cent, of homes, ( cities of 100,- ) 77 •' " I 000 and up. j 66 per cent, of farms. 34 owned by tenants, rented. owned by tenants, rented. owned by tenants, rented. Thus in the cities, where wealth has increased much more rapidly than in the agricultural districts, we find that three-quarters of the people are subject to landlordism, and in the largest cities less than 10 per cent, live in their own houses. In the farm and village, labor is still the domin- ant power, and by the above returns nearly three-quarters of the farmers are ostensibly owners of those farms. The great increase of wealth in the large cities, has not been retained by those who originally made it, and even the small increase of farm wealth can be reduced by the fact, that thousands of these western farms are covered by mortgages held by the capitalist of Chicago, St. Louis and the other great cities. I doubt if the small farms all over the United 18 WEALTH IN THE UNITED STATES. I •■ if-- u States could today do as the people of France did in 187 1, when the small farmers and trades people paid off in a few years the $600,000,000 demanded by Prussia. But even in the farms ot the United States, and particularly in the western portions, the influence of capital is so great, that it is rapidly tending lo destroy that sympathetic home life of the farm, which builds up the State. We hear much of the bonanza farms of the West, where there are no homes, and regularly every year, the farm helpers by the hundred migrate to them from the Eastern cities. The owners of these farms are wealthy- men, who look on from a distance. They manage to combine with the railroads, and by getting a large reduction on freight rates, crush out the small farm. These rich farmers buy their implements cheaper, get their freights cheaper, and hy combinations are gradually able to get better prices for goods, than the hundreds of small farmers whom they are obliterating. The lower rates of freight and the lower cost of implements, that they obtain, force the railways and factories to get higher prices out ot the small farmers. The Atlantic Monthly of 1881 says: "Mr. Vanderbilt assured the public, over his own signature, that the New York Central made no special rates Mr, Sterne's examination of the officers and books of the road proved the existence of 6,000 special contracts' "The Northern Pacific, which has been built by grants of land from the people, and which is now an applicant before the people's Congress for the extension of its land grant, gives special rates to the Dalrymples, the Casses, the Grandins, with their 30,000 and 40,000 acre farms, and charges the poor farmers full rates. The St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad furnishes the large farmers along its route with rates one-half those charged the small farmer. Who are the large farmers ? President Drake, of the road; General Bishop, its manager; President T. Siney, of the Metropolitan Bank of New York; Mr. Orr, a partner ot the great house of David Dows & Co. of New York; Goldschmidt, the rich German banker of Frankfort- on-the-Main, and every director on the road." No wonder that theAtlantic Monthly also says " that the position of the United States is getting even worse than that of Great Britain." "The efficiency of labor always increases with the habitual waf^es of labor, — for high wages mean increased self-respect, intelligence, hope and energy. Man is not a machine that will do so much and no more, — he is not an animal whose powers will reach thus far and no farther. It is mind, not muscle which is the great agent of pro- duction." — Henry George. when the small e $600,000,000 ted States, and tal is so great, life of the farm, ere there are no undred migrate ms are wealthy mhine with the , crush out the t their freights etter prices for re obliterating, lents, that they ces out ot the lilt assured the Tiade no special >ks of the road ts of land from ;'s Congress for Dalrymples, the Tis, and charges City Railroad If those charged t Drake, of the !ie Metropolitan of David Dows r of Frankfort- hat theAtlantic is getting even ges of labor, — for gy. Man is not a whose powers will real agent of pro— NRV George. CHAPTER IV. WAC.ES IN THE UNITED STATES. " Compel a man to dnuljfi-rv for llu* necessities of animal existence and he will lose ^ the incentive to industry and will do only what he is forced to do." — Henrv (Ikorcje. '1* . . ■i In Great Britain the reports of 1886 averaged wages of skilled trades |at 25s to 32s. a week, and also 28s. to 35s. a week, say $7.00 to $8.50 a J week. In thinking of the wage question in the United States, we must bear in mind that the workman can live more cheaply in Great Britain than he can in the United States. In Great Britain there are no duties on provisions and clothing, I whereas in the United States the heavy duties on sugar, butter, cheese, r potatoes, fish and wool make the wage earner pay high for such articles, ; especially when controlled by a monopoly, as is now the case with sugar, ; cotton, woolens, oil, biscuit, lumber, beer, iron, etc., etc. It There is Protection and Protection. If For a country like Great Britain, where the population ts dense, and .where they are forced to import a large proportion of their food supplies, it seemed right fifty-four years ago to repeal the Corn Laws. It may f^have been wise in the United States immediately after the war, in order to raise the necessary large revenue and thereby decrease their debt, to im- pose very heavy dutie.s, and thus encourage the growth of industries in J^that new country. Jm But now that these industries, the refining of sugar, the weaving of .cloth, the manufacture of implements are established on fairly firm founda- §tions, it would appear sound to gradually reduce these high protective t| rates, so as to prevent monopolies and combination prices. I This was the idea of the National Policy inaugurated by Sir Leonard Tilley in Canada, in 1878, and as the diflierent industries, such as cotton, sugar, canned goods, etc., became thoroughly established, the aim of that 'olicy was to gradually reduce the higher protective rate. This was done a tew years ago in the reduction of the duty on sugar. But to return to the question of wjiges in the United States. The [Massachusetts Labor Report, 1890, gives, for city industries, 160,000 [workers at $330 a year, and 250,000 at $350 a year. This is made up on basis of continual employmeiit while factories are running. No allowance Ill ri- i! ii 30 WAGES IN THR UNITED STATES. is made for accident to mill, or to worker, or for sickness, etc., which would take at lea«»t 5 per cent, off" above, making an average of $330, or $6.35 a week. The Connecticut and Massachusetts Report of 1894 states that the rate of wages decreased 7 per cent, below the level of 1892, while the yearly incomes were still further reduced by lack of work; in fact the great majority of families in Connecticut in 1894 had incomes reduced 25 per cent. The burden of that period, from 1861 to 1866, when the country was plunged in a fratracidal war to free the negro, although slightly relieved by the graduated income tax, fell most heavily upon labor, to its depression and poverty, but at the same time it laid the foundation of the wealth of ma?iy of those 4,047 millionaires — a noble army (not of martyrs) of whom the Church and State should not be proud. Wages, as provi- sions, etc., were abnormally high during the War of the Rebellion, advanced rapidly. Therefore the wages of 1866-67-68 cannot be taken as a standard. In 1873 we find the average at $1.81 per day. This was the average of all kinds of factory labor, according to Dr. Spahr. Despite the activity of 1870 to 1880. the increased productivity and the rapid addition to wealth, to all of which the expansion of trade by railways and steamers had contributed so much, the average of labor wages per employers' returns, went down from $1.81 in 1873 to $1.69 in 1891. These rates apply largely to cotton, shoe, rubber, and such city industries. The great strike that began in January, 1898, in the cotton mills of New Bedford bring to light these facts:, that one weaver will run eight looms, and, even then, can only make $7 a week. Ten years ago these weavers could earn $10 to $1 1 a week, and there were no fines. Now the weekly fines often cut down the wages to $6.50. Scores of other workers who run four or five looms can only earn 90 cents a day. The attempt to cut these people down 10 per cent, on account of the competition from the South resulted in the strike. There is no doubt that the labor competition from the South is very keen, but here lies the kernel of discontent. Weavers and others at this work since 1880 have only been able to provide themselves with food and clothing, whereas the manager and his sons are in receipt of large incomes trom the Combined Mill Association, and are also worth millions made during the last thirty years. If labor hac" had a fair share of its own product during the years of profit, then laborer and capitalist both could have lived a year on reduced wages. From 1850 to 1874 these mill corporations made a yearly profit ot 12 percent., besides leaving a large rest. There are now in New Bedford twenty-two mills, employing 9,000 hands. If the hands had been able to save 5 per cent, a m WAGES IN THB UNITED STATES. ai ess, etc., which age of $330, or states that the 1H92, while the in fact the great reduced 25 per len the country thou{fh slightly )on labor, to its lundation of the (not of mnrtyrs) ^ag-es, as provi- ellion, advanced n as a standard. This was the pahr. Despite and the rapid •y railways and or wages per $1.69 in 1891. city industries. cotton mills of will run eight ears ago these nes. Now the f other workers The attempt to Jtition from the jor competition of discontent, able to provide nd his sons are iation, and are abor hai" had a en laborer and From 1850 to ■ cent., besides :nty-two mills, e 5 per cent, a year of the yearly profits for ten years they could easily now submit to 10 per cent, reduction in wages. But labor has tc live. Would it not have been I right for the twenty-two mills to have paid full wages in 1898, and charged their loss against the past thirty years, when capital got 8 per cent, to 10 per cent, on its investment, and labor earned only enough to provide food and clothing ? From the wages of factories let us turn to those of mines. In 1873, seven years alter the war, wages averaged $1.90 a day, but declined to $1.58 in 1891. Since then further reductions have taken place. Wag^s in two iron mills were reduced twenty per cent, since 1890. As compared with 1850 to i860, all wages show a higher level in 1897, but the wages from 1890 to 1898 are fifteen per cent, to forty per cent, below the levels ot 1870 to i87g, twenty years ago. Since 1850 the telegraph, the cable, sugar refining, coal oil, the sewing machine, the telephone, electric lighting, railways and steamboats, have by their discovery, invention and improvement in machinery, remodelled America and have demanded more and more labor. While some inventions have curtailed labor, certain discoveries have demanded four-fold increase. Coal oil supplies a cheaper and better light than couldbe drean,. i of fifty years ago, but the higher prices of vegetables more than equals this saving. Sugar is less than half the price ot i860, but meat is so dear that the city worker can scarcely afford it. Notwithstanding all these discoveries and inventions the people of the United States have not received their full share, and the records prove that three-fourths ot the people 01 the L'nited States cities are living in rented houses, and that fifty-five per cent, of the wealth is owned by one per cent, ot the pop..ilation, Todav while we write and talk, the luxurious vachts of United States millionaires are anchored on the lovely bay at Monaco on the Mediter- ranean. There, during the winter, they meet to enjoy their ill-gotten millions, and to discuss how best to allay the discontent so rife in the land of the Stars and Stripes. How these 4,047 gained their wealth leads us to consider the question of combines. It is fair to state that since writing this chapter last summer the wages at many factories have been advanced ten percent., fifteen per cent, and possibly, in some cases, twenty per cent. At the same time we must remember that steel is 100 percent, higher in price than it was a short time ago, lead has advanced and iron and tin are thirty-five per cent, to forty per cent, higher than they were last March, canned meats are much higher, and only six months ago the butchers of 22 WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES. New York protested against the advance of two cents per pound, or meat, alleging- the combination of the Western Meat Packing houses as the cause. Whether due to Syndicates or not, it is quite evident that th( late advance in wages is far less than the advance in the price of manj commodities. The last and most serious advance is that of burning oil which las March was 8^ cents per wine gallon wholesale in Boston, and is now i; cents per gallon, almost 50 per cent, advance. We do not hear of anj sudden scarcity at the wells, nor of increased cost of production. It musi be that this advance is made to recoup the Company for the cost of buying out the Canadian refineries, or perhaps it is an easy way to get back thi large amounts given a few years ago to colleges and churches. " The curse of jfold upon the land The lack of bread enforces, The rail cars snort from strand to strand Like more of Death's White Horses, The rich preach ''ri.tfhts" and future days And hear no angel scoffinj^' ; The poor die mute —with starving^ g'aze On corn-ships in the offing. " — E, B. Browning. r d nts per pound, or Packing houses as lite evident that the n the price of manj, rning" oil which las| ton, and is now i do not hear of an\ roduction. It musi ir the cost of buying way to get back th hurches. CHAPTER V. COMBINES AND MONOFOLIES. " Our blood splashes upward, O ^old heaper. And your purple shows your path, But the child's sob in the silence curses deeper Than the strong man in hi.s wrath." — E. B. Browning. vs B. Browning. Even though it were quite wise for the great republican party of the nited States to start the wheels of industry by a protective tariff, it ust be admitted that when the time came to reduce those duties and thus revent monopoly and large profits, the spirit of that party was found to be ontrolled by the capitalists, and we know the result in the Dingley tariff f 1897. Congress seems to be controlled by capital, and no*" by the people, ut the people are growing. They have been but dull fools to let this go n so long unprotested. With all their American cleverness they, the venty millions of today, have made that wealth, one-fourth of which 5ffifteen billions) is owned by the army of 4,047 inillionaires. The laborer worthy of his hire, but that hire must be enough to feed and clothe m and his family. The old war of 1866 had hardly finished before the w war began. The Demos that had fought, shouted and worked, saw a w king appear — Plutus. Poor democracy! It knew not its powers: It was bribed and bribed, and to iHgo the plutocrats, the 4047, held it firtnly. But the people of the nited States felt the decline in wages, and they saw the luxury and inag- ficence of the wealthy. They awoke, and in 1H92 the people's party cast milli^Mi votes. The people's party had seen the national loss resulting m combines and monopolies, and therefore their platform demanded the tionalization of railways, banks and other monopolies. By 1H96 this rty had grown to such an extent that the nation began to realize the ide spread discontent in factory and farm. The people at last began to e where and how the profits of their labor went. Read the history ot the greatest monopoly of the 19th century. In i860 the Standard Oil Company had no capital. In a few years it assed a capital of $3,000,000, It is said to have paid dividends at the te of $1,000,000 a month. To-day it has a capital of $97,000,000. The 24 COMBINES AND MONOPOLIES. :i-) men who comprise this company do not sell any stock. They are million' aires and have built palaces in St. Augustine, where board is $io to $20 day. Their officers in 1880 refused to testify before the Supreme Court Pennsylvania, and the investig-ating committee confessed their inability tc ascertain much about " this mysterious organization, of which the mem- bers declined giving a history, iest their testimony be used to convicn them of crime." Simon Sterne counsel for the merchants of New York in the New. York investigation, declared " that the relations of the railroads to thi, Standard exhibited the most shameless perversion of the duties of ;i com mon carrier to private ends that has taken place in the history of tht. world." Mr. Vanderbilt began, as did the Erie and Pennsylvania rail: road kings, with paying back to the Standard, but to no other shipper x ten per cent, of its freight bills. He continued making one concessioi :after another, till when he was doing the business for other shippers a $1.40 and $1.25 a barrel, he charged the Standard only eighty cents, an( this was afterwards reduced to sixty cents a barrel. The railways agreei . to carry the Standard Oil Co.'s freight at much lower rates than tor othe -oil companies. In fact these railways at times refused to carry freight a all for other rival oil concerns. The Sun Oil Co. of Pennsylvania, a riv.i ' to the Standard, has now an appeal betore the Railway Committee ii Ottawa, against the freight preference given by the G. T. R. and the C P. R. to the Standard Oil Co. Today the Standard Oil Company con \ trols and owns almost all the oil wells of the Uniied States, and now own I all the oil refineries in Canada. This is one vast monopoly, whic ^ has an agency in every city of Canada. It is not of the people, nor fo < the people, but it is the combination of the few for the few. It was we said by George Stephenson, the inventor of the railroad engine, " tha ' when combination was possible, competition was impossible." In 1878 the State of Pennsylvania was on the verge of revolt, whid 1 would have led to the burning of the property of this great company. A ' different times during that decade until 1880, hundreds ot wells, at tli i dictation ot the company were stopped, and the crude oil wasted all ovc ' the ground. It was only the definite appearance of revolution in 187T that forced the officers to take away the surplus oil from the town i Parker. Time and again they have threatened to drive other companie f to the wall unless they sold out. The fact that they are unwilling to a\lo\ t their enormous profits to be known is some evidence as to the size of tli; profit, but the wealth of such gentlemen as Rockefeller and others i enough to satisfy anyone that their profit is immense. The whole America I COMBINES AND MONOPOLIES. 25 . They are TU'l'O'i-^orld has to use their oil, and it has been estimated by some that tor loard IS $io to $20 ajany years they taxed the world five cents per gallon profit. Fortunately le Supreme Court oM^^ ^j^^ developed wells of Russia hold the company in check, else the next sed their mabiltty tc^g^^^^jg ^^j^^l^^ ^^^^ ^^ p^^y ^j^^ enormous profits of 1870-80. But /en at last year's price of eij^ht and a half cents in New York and oston, the owners of stock were reaping" immense profits. Shares that ere sold a tew years ago at $160 are now worth $270, and most difficult buy at that high price. Thus between the coalition of railways and ecial companies the people are forced to contribute millions into the >ckets of a few men. A natural advantage possessed by Pennsylvania id its people is turned into unnatural advantages for a few. Competition id Pennsylvania rail^ impossible against this monopoly, and today in 1900, right and left over to no other shipper||g ,,oijiifry^ ^v^ j^e^ It forcing every other little company to the wall. king one concessioi f . " . . , r .u -i c • r r- j u .u c j j °, , . I Since the acquisition of the oil refineries of Canada bv the Standard or other shippers a^., ^ • , o .u • r i- 1 /-%i l 1 '1 u ..u i. Sil Co., in January 1099, the price of Fuel Oil has advanced so much that nly eighty cents, an(#. ^ . , . , • ^ • ■ , , 1 • «- •^ °., -^ P'rtV industrial concerns in Ontario waited on the Laurier Government The railways agree( ^ ^ ' . , • , ,- , .^., , , . , ^ . ^ , . Mst year, urging in vain that ruel Oil be admitted free into Canada, rates than tor othe-I '^ , of which the mem be used to convici w York in the New the railroads to the the duties of ;i com in the history of tht id to carry freight a Pennsylvania, a riva ilwav Committee a G. T. F:. and the C d Oil Company con Jtates, and now own St monopoly, whicl We have now a Bicycle Trust by which a great saving of clerks^ orerooms and offices will be effected. It will be curious to note how uch cheaper bicycles will be in 1900. The great Sugar Trust was started some time prior to 1890, In 1898 e trust was shown to have a surplus of $10,000,000, after paying its 10 |r cent, divdend. The New York World in January 8th, 1894, estimates e value of the refineries in the trust at about $8,000,000, and yet the f the people, nor fo ^P'*^' of this company was at that time considered to be $75,000,000. le few. It was wel**^^ ^^^ h^s tried to get this company to reveal its business, so that the ilroad engine '* tha i^ation can tax its capital, but up to date the law is of no avail. Dssible." I The Dingley tariff in 1897, increased the duty on sugar, and the trust ;rge of revolt, whicl tpade $8,000,000. If the government had put on the duty at once without great company. A |||arning, as we do in Canada, the people would have received $5,000,000 -eds ot wells, at th m $6,000,000 of duty from the trust. The president of the trust says : le oil wasted all ove '*,l v^on't do business under 15 per cent," and of course the consumer revolution in 187IWS to pay. m1 from the town c s^ A Milk Trust has been formed in New York. The Biscuit Trust ive other companief^med in 1898 at once advanced their prices lyj cents per pound, and re unwilling to allov^-day that Biscuit Trust envelopes almost the whole of the United States, iis to the size of thii^ Whiskey was not thought profitable enough, so that became a trust, efeller and others i ^^ in iggg .^\\ the important distilleries of the northern states, nearly The whole America |&-hty, excepting two, united in the great Whiskey Trust. The president Ut !'; 26 COMBINES AND MONOPOLIES. . I in his report (Wine and Spirit Gazette) said: "We own nearly all of the spirit distilleries in the country, and have at present seventy-eight idle distilleries." A great telegraph company controls most valuable franchises in the United States and rules with a rod of iron. Some years ago it would not ta!;e the striking operators back until they signed a contract "never in the future to enter a lodge of the K. of L." For many years Western Union Co.'s shares, after that thinning out financial process of "watering," paid 5 per cent, yearly dividend. Think of the combination of the Standard Oil Co., with the railways in Pennsylvania, and see what might have been. On November .-^th, 1878, the New York Sun said: "The fact is the State of Pennsylvania has had a narrow escape from an internal civil war. Had certain men given the word there would have been an outbreak that contemplated the seizure ol the railroads and the running of them, the capture and control of the United Pipe Lines property, and in all probability the burning of all the property of the Standard Oil Co. in the region. The men who would have done this, and may do it yet, are not laborers or tramps." The people saw the great coal supplies, the highways of travel, the numerous oil wells, the telegraph and telephone services, the electric and gas lighting of the cities, all these and many more given over to great companies which were making the millions, whilst they, the people, were getting the'bare cost of subsistence. Then they demanded that the nation control and manage these forces and improvements. Prussia owns her railway system and runs it cheaply in the interest of the people. Great Britain owns the telegraph system, and twenty words cost only 6d. to any part of the United Kingdom. Belgium controls her railways, and charges thirty-six cents to go thirty miles. Canada and the United States manage their own postal system and lighthouses. Why should they not also own and manage the great railways, and why should not each city own and manage not only its streets, but its street rail- ways and street lighting ? Can we not lay down this law ? All works for the general public use, which would involve a large outlay of capital, and which would easily become monopolies, should be owned and managed by state or city. We have seen the ineffectual rise of the people against the combines and monopolies of the United States, and it is for Canada to ponder over these records and set her house in order. Hear what the London Spectator of August, i<'^97, says of the U. S.: "But it is certainly mortifying to find after more than a century has passed away, corruption and Mammon enthroned, and the vei / principles on il :t riM ■MillllHMiMi :OMBINES AND MONOPOLIES. 27 ai nearly all of the seventy-eight idle franchises in the « ag-o it would not ract "never in the rs Western Union "watering," paid with the railways vember .^th, 1878, nsylvania has had lin men given the ited the seizure of tid control of the burning of all the 1 who would have Hys of travel, the the electric and ^en over to greal the people, were ;d that the nation in the interest of ind twenty words rium controls her Canada and the hthouses. Why and why should t its street rail- iw ? All works Dutlay of capital, led and managed e people against is for Canada to lys of the U. S.: - >tury has passed ' principles on flhich the republic is based trampled under foot. It is not pleasant to siie millionaires dictating their terms to subservient legislative'bodies, and l|ie whole policy of a great nation arranged expressly to coin wealth for a privileged and protected few. This is assuredly not the democracy to ifhose advent hopeful dreamers were looking forward a hundred years ago." " The United States have scarcely succeeded in gaining the deep re- s|)ect of the world, and have certainly not secured its affectionate regard. We cannot look with veneration or love on nascent oligarchy of oil, sugar, lumber and coal magnates, who pull the wires and make the politi- cal puppets dance to their sinister piping." That is how the English mind views the combines and syndicates of the republic, but note the thought of the best minds in the United States. Lyman Abbott says in the New York Outlook, September 18, 1897 : "That there is abundant reason to fear that what the Spectator writes as history may become so, can hardly be doubted. The levying of a need- less tax on sugar, at the request of a sugar trust, and to increase the millions of those who are already multi-millionaires, the default of a great railroad corporation to the government and the very tender method with which the government treats its defaulting debtor, the extension of the powers of the courts beyond all historical precedent in order to give sup- port to great corporations in their struggles with their employees, the notice by the trustees of a great college that the president should not teach what is objectionable to the holders of the purse-strings on whom colleges depend for endowments — these are some of the more recent and palpable aggressions of that money power against whose aggressions the conserva- tive 'Spectator' warns the American people." "It is not true that corruption and mammon are enthroned, but it is true that they are seeking to possess themselves of the throne, and it is certain that a people which by revolution threw off the worthier yoke of kings and hereditary classes will not submit to the greater indignity of being ruled by money kings. The way to prevent the more danger is revolution in which plutocracy would certainly involve us, is to be warned in time, and prevent it from gaining possession of a power from which it could be dispossessed only by a revolution." Canada, in a smaller way, is in the same position as the United States. We in New Brunswick have our proportion of the rich and of the poor. Have we guarded the interests of labor, which so often enters the poorhouse, or does our legislation favor capital and combines which live in our palaces ? ■■ 1 i; i 1 ' 1 ' j 28 COMBINES AND MONOPOLIES. Monopolies exist in St. John, and none of them are anxious to pay tho taxation demanded by the city. One bank pays 1 2 per cent, dividend on its half million capital, and at the same time leg-ally escapes taxation on| $600,000 of rest. We should do now in the Maritime Provinces that which if done thirty years ag^o in the United States would have largely prevented the accumu- lation of wealth into a few hands, and would have distributed the product of labor more equally between the workman and ihe smaller capitalist, '| The true check for ihese evils is to place a bridle upon the rapid acquire- ment of wealth, by a graduated system of taxation and also by civic- ownership of public lighting and street railways, and other public utilities. J V "Government ownership would tend to avoid those dang'eroiis extremes in private J fortime.s, which have been considered by political philosophers, from the time of Aris "] totle, to be dang^erous and especially so in a republic." — Prof. Richard T. E'.v. h t t( c e anxious to pay the! er cent, dividend oiJ escapes taxation ohj CHAPTER VI. CHECKS UPON CONCENTRATION OF WEALTH. — Henry George. F. Richard T. E'. which if done thirty !vented the accumu- tributed the product *>- "The profit on monopoly is in itself a tax levied upon prodiietion and to tax it is ! smaller canil-al' 't ''*^'y '" divert into the public cotters what production must in any event pay. I the rapid acquire- ^' and also by civic ^1 ^^ '^'^^ been urged by some that the poverty of the laboring" class is ther public utilities ^^ lat-gely to their ignorance, sloth and want of thrift. ;f When Canadian cities tax incomes of $400 or $500, the bare cost of iip)sistence, we help perpetuate all the sloth and ignorance, and we create Sa. I have investigated and know that tamilies in receipt of $300 to DO a year can barely exist, and they cannot live on those incomes, e doctor and the corner grocery suffer at the end of the year. Every d<9Jlar taken from subsistence incomes engenders hatred to the state. Walker in his "Political Economy" says: "Cheap labor is dear U^or. Bare subsistence, ready on the pinch to drop into the jaws of des- tmition, is an economic mistake," and yet we have been taxing that "bare subsistence" for many years, and hesitate now to repair the wrong done. ^K " When a laborer drudges through life on a bare subsistence it is idle tdthink that all he and his family miss is comfort," says Prof. MacCunn> of Liverpool University. We know that they 'miss the chance for full citizenship. It has also been urged, but with little truth, that the profits coming capital are its natural interest, and should not be confiscated by any social or ptogressive tax. The interest rate in Great Britain is 2 to 3 per cent. It is 3 per cent, in the savings banks of the Dominion. It is 5 per cent, to 7 per dint, in the local banks of Canada. % It is 4 per cent, to 7 per cent, on loans secured by mortgages on real estate. V^et we know that the fortunes of the 4,047 millionaries in the Iftiited States and of the 47 in Canada have not been made by simply get- tipig 2 or 3 or 4 per cent, interest on their capital. ' Those aggregations ot wealth have been obtained by rates of 10 per cent., 12 per cent., 15 per cent, and higher, by those "deals" with which I^th United States and Canada are getting too well acquainted. i These billions have been literally forced from labor by telegraph and telephone combinations, sugar and biscuit trusts, agreements between ltS0 ^ I Ill 30 CHFXKS UPON CONCENTRATION OK WEALTH. steamship companies and connecting railways, whereby travel and freigli^gl pay the highest charges, by "deals" with governments, whereby valuablt^Qi franchises are obtained for almost nothing, and by all other arts and de,oi| vices which the selfishness of man in his desire for wealth can think of oi plan. itr«| Capital not only gets interest, but by its power of combination seize>St£ from labor a large part of what belongs to labor, ard the work peoplc.iec poorly fed and poorly paid, have so far only made a slight resistance. liiRal order to check this tendency to concentrate the wealth of the nation into aistl few hands, and also to assist in making labor as free as possible, I wouKlam urge as remedies : First — That the patent office have more control over invetjtions, thatStf the fee be nominal, but that the government always retain a definite con-its trol, so that within a certain number of years, the government would have the right to buy the patent for the people, at a price fixed by a properI\ yej appointed court. « us This would help to prevent increase of monopolies, and would place yci the inventor in a better position. It is well known that the inventor rarely ex gets any considerable return for his skill and genius, and frequently the ga invention is bought up and pigeon-holed, to the disadvantage of the wl public. The larger share of his invention is almost always seized by fe« syndicates or trusts, which afterwards force the public to pay large profits, ye St Second —Co-operation. — That all the wage earners seek to have .! percentage, gradually as to salary, of each year's profits. This wouUl tend to make the workmen more careful of the machinery, would cause less waste, and would make a lasting bond between employer and em- ployees. This percentage of profits to be held by the employer, subject to the call of the worker when needed for investment in land, house, trade, etc. If there were no profits, then the workman would still get his regular wages, and if by any close competition the employer had to cut wages and salaries down 20 per cent., the workman would still have his former years' profits to help him tide that year over. I have had this " profit sharing" in my business for fourteen years, and find that it works admirably. I am glad also to learn that other business houses since the first of the year are adopting this system, thus making a closer feeling between employer and employed. Third— That the government control and own the highways, telegraph lines, postal routes, railroads, and that every city or county control and own the street r ilways, gas or electric lighting, and telephone lines, on m se Hi C! e i i 1 TH. CHECKS UPON CONCENTRATION OF WEALTH. 31 ht resistance. f the nation into Miif, Hiid rreig-hip^ g.,.Qypjj ^]^^i \^^ |g jjgj^t for ^^g public to own and manage all works for } valuablt^^g^jjl pulilic use, which require larfi;-e capital and could easily be mono- other arts and do,ofized. • nk of o! Civil- control of such public utilities as gas and electric lighting and Jtreet railways, has succeeded so well in almost all cities of the United t.omt5ination seizosStales and Great Britain that the citizens of St. John should this year the work peoplo.iecide to hay out all the rights, plant, etc., of the St. John Electric Street IiiRl^lway Co. The lighting contract with that Company terminates July 1901. and I trust the Council will grapple this year with that question possible, I wouldana take over the whole plant. Toronto received in 189)^ the sum of $109,000 as its share of the "■ inventions, thatStreet Railway receipts. St. John received last year $7,750.00 in taxes trom Hin a definite con- its Street Railway. St. John made a serious mistake in letting the franchise go so cheaply > 'i P^'operl} y^grs ago, and we should hasten now to remedy that error. The right to use our streets for rail transit purposes was granted prior to 1890 for 40 and would place years, but when the Act was amended slightly in 1894, those rights were he inventor rarely extended to read 40 years from 1894. . VVe pay $1.75 per 1,000 feet for nd frequently the gas and yet there are many cities in Great Britain and the United States Mvantage of the which make a profit while charging consumers below $1.00 per 1,000 ilways seized by feet Fares on the Toronto Street Railway are lower than with us and pay large profits, yet that Street Railway pays the City of Toronto 14 times as much as seek to have - ^^' J*^*^" t^*^^^ from her Street Railway, ts. This wouki '^'' the large towns in Scotland and all but six in England have a 2ry, would cause n^u'ii^'pal water supply. In Great Britain 200 cities control their own gas iployer and em- service, two cities have municipal for every one that has private electric loyer, subject to Wght and many of them own their street railway tracks. d, house, trade. Fourth — That all persons 21 years of age, residing here a year, who I get his regular can read and write, and who pay a poll tax of $2.00 or $3 00, shall be o cut wages and lis former years' profit sharing " Jmirably. I am of the year are titled to the franchise. Years ago, when we had no common school system in New Bruns- wick, it may have been wise at that time not to give the franchise to all, !|ut now since education through our public schools has been thoroughly flbd widely given, there is no reason why we should withhold, at this time, n employer and t^e franchise from anyone who can read and write, and who has lived here -at least one year. F'fth — The adoption in this country of the progres^sivc system of taxa- n. This, I claim, would put a decided check upon extreme concentra- n of wealth. The progressive or graduated system of taxation upon ways, telegrapli fity control and phone lines, 011 \[\\\ 32 CHECKS UPON CONCENTRATION OV WEALTH. W larg-e incomes and wealth tends to prevent the accumulation of million ^S*^^ and the consequent impoverishment of labor. This system has been tricP most effectually in different countries ol Kurope. It should be adopted i ^^ Canada by each provincial f»^overnment, so that each city, town or count* council would have to apply the law, collect the taxes and expend it for th' city, town or county purposes. This progressive system would be a speci;! tax on wealth, and would be in addition to the rejcular local taxation o^ city, town or county. ^ For the Province of New Brunswick a scale like the followinjj couK be adopted: yi p. c. on all persons, ostates, otc, worth $ 50,000 to $100,001 ffO 14 p. ^- on all persons, estates, ete., worth 100,000 to 200,00 ^ p. c. on all persons, estates, etc., worth 200,000 to 300,001 ^^ }4 p. c. on all persons, estates, etc., worth 300,000 to 500,001 . ^ p. c. on all persons, estates, ete., worth 500,000 to 700,00' ^4 p. c. on all persons, estates, etc., worth 700,000 to goo,oiH "•' % p. c. on all persons, estates, etc., worth 900,000 to 1 ,000,001 SO I p. c. on all persons, estates, etc., wort,li over i ,000,00 th« I X P- *-'• o" «l' incomes, (salaries) of 2,000 to 2,5o< y^. I f^ p. c. on all incomes, (salaries) of i»50o to 3,001 1 ^4 p. e. on all incomes, (salaries) of 3,000 to 3?5*" 2 p. c. on all mcomes, (salaries) of 3>500 to 4»oo( ^" 2}{ p. c. on all incomes, (salaries) of 4,000 to 4,501 OI 2}4 p. c. on all incomes, (salaries) of '. 4,r)oo to 5iOO( an 2^ p. c. on all incomes, (salaries) over 5»ooo £jj This would be a mild and moderate progressive tax, as compared with ^^ those in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, which have met with such St success. The special revenue to St. John from this tax would be about $20,000 to $25,000. It could be used by our council in the usual way for streets, parks, public buildings, etc. I will be surprised if our people do . not use the ballot, directly and effectively to fix the progressive idea in every province of Canada. Progressive taxation is the aid to the pros- perity of the laborer ; it will not pauperize, as does charity ; it will make the people prosper, for it gives them their due and encourages self-respect. ^ It is also the potent curb, the culminating check on selfish capital, and under its beneficent sway the social forces of Canada need never fear becoming disintegrated, as is the case in such maiked manner in the nation to the south of us. Sixth — We should adopt in the Maritime Provinces the idea of the Ontario law, which is that all incomes below $800 are exempt from taxation. Or at the most the wage earner should not pay on incomes of H. CHECKS UPON CONCENTRA.ION OF WEALTH. 83 following- coiiK 50,000 lo 00,000 to -'00,000 to 300,000 lo ;oo,ooo fo 00,000 to 200,00 300,001 500,001 700,001 lation of inilli •> ^^jjoo and below. The workman and clerk should make the Aldermen em has been tri P^^ii^ themselves to relieve all small incomes. Our tax rate last year was >uld be adopted 1'^^' ^'-55 per $100. We ^'ot this low rate in St. John by taxing petty V, town or com t'O^^^'^^'* of SRioo and upwards. Not a city in Ontarivi taxes incomes below d expend it for fi $i8oo. There is no income tax in Maine. Boston and New York exempt would be a sne ■ **^' incomes below $2000. Halifax has no income tax. Let us be just and local taxation ^'^^' about taxation, and make labor as free as possible. If it is impossi- ble to get the different local assessment laws changed so as to exempt all sfftall incomes up to $500, then the trade uniotv; of the Maritime Provinces should ask each provincial government to enact a law like that bf Ontario, so that incomes (salary or wages) under $800 would be exempt $ioo,ou: from taxation. "Can a man make a million lionestly," is often said. Does he not make it by combining to get labor below subsistence level, or by bribing the politician, or by crowding or stinting the market, or by falsifying 9oo,o.)( market reports, or by pooling with railways ? Does he not hide his wealth, 00,000 to i,ooo,oo( so as 10 make others pay the tax rightly due by him ? Does he not live in ifooo.oo fji^Q country, or travel, so as to register as belonging to London or New 2».->o( YppI^ y ^Pg these things honest ? But worst of all, the monied men of a citv ''et the assessment law so arranged that the mechanic and ci'erk, who 4,00c ••rn $300 to $400 have to contribute yearly $7.00 to $H.oo taxes. Dozens 4f5oc of men who only earn $300 to $400 yearly, not enough to provide l.he food 5,oo( and clothing needed for their families, have to pay $6.50 to $H.oo every £k11. Great Britain in her national income tax exempts up to ;^'i50, and even those incomes up to ;£,400 have a rebate oi' ^«i20. 1 regret that " well-to-do" citizens have perinitted small incomes to be taxed, but I am surprised at the stolidity of the laborer and clerk that allows its continu- ance. Let us then urge upon our government the adoption of these or similar suggestions, so that the wrong of the past twenty-five years can |»e righted during the next five years. H^ State control, co-operation, full franchise, patent control and progres- iave taxation; all these would tend to prevent the London Spectator jointing with the finger of scorn and saying, Canada is ruled by an *' oligarchy" of coal, lumber, grain and sugar. Liberty and monopoly Sprang not from Jove's head, nor can they exist together. 2,000 to ^•500 to 3,000 to 3.500 to 4>ooo to 4»r)oo to 5»ooo s compared with i met with such would be about le usual way for if our people do t^-ressive idea in aid to the pros- y ; it will make E^es self-respect, ish capital, ami leed never fear manner in the the idea of the exempt from ' on incomes of "Thus the condition oHho masses in every civilized country is, or is tendinj^ to become, that of virtual slavery under tiie forms of freedom. And it is probable that of Ml kinds of slavery this is the most cruel and relentless. For the laborer is robbed i f the produce of his labor, and compelled to tv>il for a mere subsistence ; but his task- '1^ 34 CHECKS UPON CONCENTRATION OF WEALTH. ,1 maMters, instuad of" hiinmn beiiijfs, ^isHume the form of imperious necesnities. ThoMj whom his labor is rciulfreil ami from whom his wajffs are received are often drivoiivj their turn, lontail between the laborers and the ultimate beneficiaries of their labor; sundered, and individuality is lost. The direct responsibility of master to slavt- responsibility which exercises a softeninjf infliu-nce upon the g'reat majority of ini does ni>t arise ; it is not oiw human beinjif who seems to drive another to unremiiti and ill-rei|uited toil, bill '♦ (he inevitable laws of supply and demand," for which not, in particular is responsible. The maxims of Cato the Censor — maxims which wd rejfarded with abhorence even in an ag'e of crui'lty and universal slaveholding' — til after as much work .'is possible is o!>tained friin) ;i slave he should be turnetl out 'o (I'ijn become the common rule ; and even the selfish interest which prompts the master look after the comfi>rl and well-beinjf of the slave is lost. Labor has become a co| modity, and the laborer a machine. There are no masters and slaves, no owners a owned, but only buyers ami si-llers. The hij^jfliii)^ i>f the market takes the plan' fl^ every other sentiment." — Hknrv (ii:i>Rt;K, TH. necessities. Thos ved are often drivo liaries of tlieir labor of master to slave KTeat majority of irii inothi-r to unremilii land," for whiih no c • maxims which w sal slavoholdinjf — I d In- tiiriu'd out »o di prompts ilu' master or has become a loi 'slaves, 111) owners a '<<'i takes the pUuv UliNRV Gi:ORtiK. CHAPTKR VII. PROC.RESSIVE TAXATION. •• Taxes, in so far as they rob us i>f the means of satisfyinjf our wants, impose a rifice on iis. In i>rder to impose equal sacritices we must tax the richer man not absolutely, but relatively more than the poor man." — Prok. Sei.h;man. How has the progressive idea succeeded in other phices, and who are y who commend its adoption ? ask my readers, and naturally this ques- n demands a review of that system ot taxation. **To tax and to be loved is not given to men," said Kdmund Burke, and thus it will be that the men who are j^ettinj^ 12 per cent, interest from au^^ar shares, or eight per cent, from street railway or bank stock will look with derision upon any atteinpt to prove the justice and wisdom of pro- g^ressive taxation. If these capitalists wish to prevent Canada becoming" the battle jfroimd of contending factions, as now seen in the United States, let them listen to the opinions of the great men of this century, and think calmly over the absolute necessity of adopting the progressive idea in this country. As early as the fifteenth century the principle of progressive taxation was adopted in Florence, Italy. A scale, four per cent, to 33 1-3 was applied to income, in order to correct the escape of the wealthy from taxa- tion. This extreme tax resulted badly, as the Medici pandered to the people by the high rate against wealth, but the family o( Cosimi di' Medici did not care so long as they grew in popularity and power. It was in the abuse of this progressive principle that bad results followed in Italy. In the fourteenth century France, England and Clermany knew little of the progressive principle. In fact the pressure of taxation in that C^entury was heaviest on the small incomes. During the period from 1450 to 1750, in all Europe, but more particu- larly on the continent, the social forces of the state were divided into the *obles, the clergy and the people, which latter trembled before the foriner. ^ was a saying that the priest gave his prayers, the noble gave his blood, ■^lit the people gave also their blood, as well as their labor and means, for |t*phey paid all the bills of the cainpaigns, the palaces and the lavish luxury, last continental Europe woke on the 14th July, 1789, to learn that ^'-*ings were no longer divine, that the people who had given their blood d their money were now giving their curses ; that the Bastille had been 36 PROGRESSIVE TAXATION. taken, and as its grim towers fell stone by stone from their dizzy height the people made a long- stride towards freedom and equal rights. With a savage ferocity, born of the wrongs of centuries, they laid the foundation of that progressive principle which is now so successful in Europe, In 1791 France adopted a progressive rental tax. Later on, since 1850, many towns have adopted the progressive rental tax, making «"ents exempt below a certain figure. In Paris rents of 500 francs were exempt. In 1890, 600 francs paid six and a half per cent, tax; 1000 francs, ten and a half per cent.; above looo francs, twelve per cent. In Belgium and Hol- land at this time many local taxes were progressive on income, often ad- vancing .lom 1-2 per cent, to four per cent. Holland state property tax ^n 1892 varied one to five per cant, progressively. In the i8th century Holland had the progressive idea, but it only ran from one per ce'nt. to two and a half per cent. Saxony appears to have had a tax in the last century that ran from one per cent, to eight per cent., which was largely caused by war debt, but generally the progressive principle was not applied in Europe until after 1850. Both city and state in Germany adopted it since 1850. The development ot the progre .sive income tax is specially noteworthy in Prussia. In 1891 below 900 marks ($225) exempt. Above 900 to 100,000 marks the scale rises from 5-8 of one per cent, tc four per cent, on the highest incomes. There are eleven classes from 900 to 100,000 marks. Most of the larger German States have the above graduated income tax. In Baden, Saxony and Prussia the tax increases rapidly. In Saxony : 500 mark incomes pay > 1 mark 1,100 " 2,200 " 4,300 " 8,400 " 14,000 " 33,000 " 65,000 " (< . . 8 .. 30 .. 94 ..216 ..360 ..900 1,800 (i In Prussia 1,050 mark incomes pay six marks and increase (every 150 to 300 marks), until 5,000 mark income pays 118 marks, 10,000 mark in- come 300 and so on. In Baden the system is different, but the progressive result is the same. From i870-'95 the local taxes of towns in Prussia graduate from one percent, up to ten per cent. In Austria since 1868 the tax on incomes rises from Iwo and a half per cent, up to ten per cent., and in some cases of stock companies is twenty per cent. ;(• i( < ( <( rki;ig classes to the level of true citizenship. Would it not be well to have this bridle placed on 'he avarice of the rich, and thereby create a fund of sure avail to give work to the pleading poor? Let us be just and wise in our day, and urge upon all communities the need to adopt remedies against the too rapid concentration of wealth. Even now there are those who say they would rather serve the nobility of 1750 than be slaves to mammon lords of 1900. Do we "crook the pregnant hinges of the knee" to this oligarchy of sugar, oil, lumber and coal, more than our forefathers did in the seventeenth century? Wealth in its palaces on the land, or on the sea, strives to compass so much, earns an unhonored reputation, and goes at last in equality with its servant to the one narrow confine whose boundaries are broken only by the spirit of love and tenderness. And away oft", crying in the night of their poor houses, are millions calling, calling to take away the stone that we had given them, and give them back the bread that thev had earned. *' For oh," say the cliildivn, " wo are weary And we cannot run or leap — If we eared for any ine.'idows, it were merely To drop down in tlieni and sleep. Our tcnees tremble sorely in the stoopintf — We fall upon our faces, tryinjj- to j^o, And underneath our heavy eyeliiis ilroopin^, The reddest flower would look as pale as snow. For, all day, we dra^ our burden tiring', Throug'h the coal-dark underjjfronnd, Or, all day, we drive the wheels of iron In the factories, round and round." — E. B. Browning. OPINIONS AND STATEMENTS WORTH REMEMBERING. its by Ian Maclaren on United States Monopolists. *♦ Leg-islature is simply the obedient servant of a great railway corporation. A wealthy trust has offered direct bribes to the law officer of another great Legislature, and in one Legislature after another, trusts, railways, rich men and private interests can control the making and changing of laws It seems as if not merely coarse and unlet- tered men, whose souls have never been touched either by religion or by culture, but that all men, with a few delightful exceptions, bow the knee to this golden calf and do it homage." Prof. R. T. Ely's View of Civic Ownership. " Municipal monopolies, could under municipal ownership and operation, be managed with reference to the greatest good of the greatest number. A special consideration could be shown to those wiio require help. The working woman who in cities trudges to and from her work, because she cannot pay a five ct-nl street car fare, of which two cents represent economic surplus, could frequently ride in- stead of walk if the fare were reduced to three cents." Toronto Globe in iSgg. '' In the last 20 years, Mr. Lee said, the Standard had absorbed more than 100 in- dependent concerns. Many of these had been dismantled, others were permitted to stand idle. He thought if there had been fifty refiners instead of the Standard O I Com- pany, the market would have been just as extensive the consumer would have got his oil as cheaply or more cheaply and the producer would have been much belter olf. The balance he said, was explained by the $500,030,000 profit that the trust is said to have made " Daily Sin, St. John, N. B., March, 1900. " The Standard Oil Company paid §5,000,000 more dividends in the last quarter than in the preceding oiTe. Noting this fact that the price of oil was advanced three cents in the same period, a motion has been introduced in the United Sta'.es House of Representatives affirming that the action of the company is a direct violation of the anti-trust law, and punishable by fine and imprisonment. The total quarterly dividend just paid was $17,000,000." Pkof. Geo. D Herron, on United States Money Makers. " In no nation on earth is there such abject submission to mere money, in both church and state, as here in America. The emancipation of life, of our nation and its institutions, from the rule of money is our religio-economic problem in its first and political aspect. It presents the national and social situation for which we are each responsible. It points out the deliverance for which we must individually and collectively give ourselves, and that with divine urgency. 46 OPINIONS WORTH REMBMBERING. The Investor's Review, (Enjflish Journal,) Reports an eminent American citizen and politician, who is prominent in the jfreat steel organization, as sayin{^, "We have the mines and the mills, and the railroads connect- ing: them, and the shipping facilities, and many subsidiary enterprises, and we are going to manufacture our steel with economies that will make it cheaper than before, and cheaper than it is any where else in the world. But we are going to raise the price. In the past we have had to make concessions to our workingmen. As long as the mills were competitors, when one gave way as to hours or wages the others had to do the same. But there is an end to all that sort of thing now." Mayor Jones, Toledo, Ohio. •* In Great Britain, where they are older than we, they have come to understand that the good of the individual can only be found and conserved by seeking the good of all. When Glasgow, Leeds and Plymouth adopted public ownership of the street rail- . ways, they bettered the service, reduced fares, shortened hours of labor and raised the wages of men. Every city in this or any other country that municipalizes its work of improvement substitutes day labor for contract, gets better work, pays better wages and usually shortens, the hours of labor, not only making money, but what is infinitely of more im-, porlance, making men." Gazette, St John, N. B.. September, 1899. " We might well lake a leaf out of the German book and try progressive taxation. On the basis that those who have plenty should pay generously, it seems not unwise to graduate taxation on income, — so that if incomes of $1,000, pay i 1-2 per cent., then $2,000 incomes should pay 2 per cent., $3,ooo should pay 2 1-2 per cent., and gradu- ally increase the rate as the income becomes larger. We trust some spirit in the Common Council will consider this question and see that the new law, so urgently demanded by the people, embodies some of the features outlined above. i J Daily Globe, St John, N. B , October, 1899/ •' The gross receipts of the Toronto Street Railway for the year ending August 3ist, 1899, were $1,291,086. The City of Toronto, under its arrangement with the railway company, is entitled to 8 per cent, of the gross receipts up to one million and to ten per cent, in the gross receipts over a million. Under this the receipts of the year just closed were $109,108 a very good addition to the city funds, and again of $14,821 over the receipts of the previous year. In St. John the Street Railway Company contributes nothing to the city funds, but it ought to do so. That it does not is due very largely to the lack ot business manage- ment and skill of the entire corporation which allowed itself to be stampeded with hur- riedly closing a bargain. In this way mistakes are often made.