THE 
 
 FORGOTTF"^ MAN 
 
 o 
 
 i M k 
 
 BY 
 \\ >I GRAHAM SUMNEll 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 AL1/)WAY KELLER 
 
 •\^m«v??. m«i\oiV^ A\mV\Vj^ 
 [VOGI]
 
 William Graham Sumner 
 
 [1907]
 
 THE 
 
 FORGOTTEN MAN 
 
 AND 
 
 OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 BY 
 WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 ALBERT GALLOWAY KELLER 
 
 NEW HAVEN 
 
 YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD 
 
 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 MDCCCCXVIII
 
 Copyright, 1919, 
 By Yale University Press
 
 o ^ LinR ARY 
 
 o o l]^avERs^rv ui- cmjfouma 
 
 ^-)^ • SAISIU BAlUiAJKA 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 WITH the present collection the publication of 
 Sumner's Essays comes to an end. The original 
 project of publishers and editor contemplated but a single 
 volume — "War and Other Essays" — and they accord- 
 ingly equipped that volume with a bibliography which 
 was as complete as they then could make it. But when, 
 later on, other materials came to be known about, and 
 especially after the discovery of a number of unpub- 
 lished manuscripts, the encouraging reception accorded to 
 the first venture led us to publish a second, and then a 
 third collection: "Earth Hunger and Other Essays" and 
 "The Challenge of Facts and Other Essays." It was 
 during the preparation of the latter of these, now some 
 five years ago, that the late Professor Callender deplored to 
 the editor the omission of certain of Sumner's essays in 
 political economy — in particular those dealing with free 
 trade and sound money. And the reviewers of preceding 
 collections had reminded us, rightly enough, that there 
 should be a fuller bibliography and also an index covering 
 all the essays. 
 
 In this last volume we have striven to meet these several 
 suggestions and criticisms. And it is now the purpose of 
 the publishers to form of these singly issued volumes a set 
 of four, numbered in the order of their issue. Since the 
 ocries could not have been planned as such at the outset, 
 this purpose is in the nature of an after-thought; and there 
 is therefore no general organization or systematic classi- 
 
 3
 
 4 PREFACE 
 
 fication by volumes. In so far as classification is possible, 
 under the circumstances, it is made by way of the index. 
 This and the bibliography are the work of Dr. M. R. Davie; 
 and are but a part of the service he has performed in the 
 interest of an intellectual master whom he could know only 
 through the printed word and the medium of another man. 
 
 Sumner's dominant interest in political economy, as 
 revealed in his teaching and writing, issued in a doughty 
 advocacy of "free trade and hard money," and involved 
 the relentless exposure of protectionism and of schemes 
 of currency-debasement. As conveying his estimate of 
 protectionism, it is only fitting that his little book on "The 
 -Ism which teaches that Waste makes Wealth" should 
 be recalled from an obscurity that it does not deserve; it 
 is typical of the author's most vigorous period and wit- 
 nesses to the acerbity of a former issue that may recur. 
 In default of a single, comprehensive companion-piece in 
 the field of finance, and one making as interesting read- 
 ing, it has been necessary to confine selection to several 
 rather briei articles, most of them dating from the cam- 
 paign of 1896. In the choice of all economic essays I 
 have been guided by the advice of my colleague, Professor 
 F. R. Fairchild, a fellow-student under Sumner and a 
 fellow-admirer of his character and career. Professor S. 
 L. Mims also has been generous in his aid. I do not 
 need to thank either of these men, for what they did was 
 a labor of gratitude and love. 
 
 The title essay will be found at the end of the volume. 
 It is the once-famous lecture on "The Forgotten Man," 
 and is here printed for the first time. When "War and 
 Other Essays" was being prepared, we had no knowledge 
 of the existence of this manuscript lecture; and, in order 
 to bring into what we supposed was to be a one- 
 volume collection this character-creation of Sumner's, one 
 often alluded to in modern writings, we reprinted two
 
 PREFACE 5 
 
 chapters from "What Social Classes Owe to Each Other." 
 It has been found impracticable in later reprintings of 
 Vol. I to replace those chapters with the more complete 
 essay; and we have therefore decided to reproduce the 
 latter, despite the certain degree of repetition involved, 
 rather than leave it out of the series. In view of the fact 
 that Sumner has been more widely known, perhaps, as 
 the creator and advocate of the "Forgotten Man," than 
 as the author of any other of his works, we entitle this 
 volume "The Forgotten Man and Other Essays." 
 
 Several essays not of an economic order have been in- 
 cluded because they have come to my knowledge within 
 the last few years and have seemed to me to call for preser- 
 vation. It is almost impossible to fix the dates of such 
 manuscript essays, for I have not been able in all cases to 
 secure information from persons who might be able to 
 identify times and occasions. And there remain a good 
 number of articles and manuscripts, published or unpub- 
 hshed, which can receive no more than mention, with a 
 word of characterization, in the bibliography. 
 
 Some mention ought to be made here of a large body of 
 hand-written manuscript left by Sumner and representing 
 the work of several years — 1899 to 1905 or thereabouts — 
 upon a systematic treatise on "The Science of Society." 
 Printed as it was left, partially and unevenly completed 
 and with many small and some wide hiatuses, this manu- 
 script would make several substantial volumes. It is a 
 monument of industry, involving, as it did, the collection 
 over many years of thousands of notes and memoranda, 
 and the extraction from the same, by a sort of tour de force, 
 of generalizations intended to be set forth, with the sup- 
 port of copious evidence, in the form of a survey of the 
 evolution and life of human society. These manuscripts, 
 as left, represent no more than a preliminary survey of a 
 wide field, together with more elaborately worked out
 
 6 PREFACE 
 
 chartings of sections of that field. The author planned 
 to re- write the whole in the light of "Folkways." The con- 
 tinuation, modification, and completion of this enterprise, 
 in something approaching the form contemplated by its 
 author, must needs be, if at all possible, a long task. 
 
 As one surveys, through these volumes of essays, the 
 various phases of scholarly and literary activity of their 
 author, and then recalls the teaching, both extensive and 
 intensive, done by him with such unremitting devotion 
 to what he regarded as his first duty — and when one 
 thinks, yet again, of his labors in connection with college 
 and university administration, with the Connecticut State 
 Board of Education, and in other lines — it is hard to un- 
 derstand where one man got the time, with all his ability 
 and energy, to accomplish all this. In the presence of evi- 
 dence of such incessant and unswerving industry, scarcely 
 interrupted by the ill-health that overtook Sumner at 
 about the age of fifty, an ordinary person feels a sense 
 of oppression and of bewilderment, and is almost willing 
 to subscribe to the old, hopeless tradition that "there were 
 giants in those days." 
 
 In the preparation of this set of books the editor has been 
 constantly sustained and encouraged by the interest and 
 sympathy of the woman who stood by the author's side 
 through life, and to whom anything that had to do with the 
 preservation of his memory was thereby just, perfect, and 
 altogether praiseworthy. The completion of this editorial 
 task would be the more satisfying if she were still among 
 us to receive the final offering. 
 
 A. G. Keller. 
 
 West Boothbay Hakbor, Mb., 
 September 1, 1918.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Protectionism, THE -Ism which Teaches that Waste IMakes 
 
 PAGE 
 
 . . 3 
 Preface ... 
 
 Wealth (1885) ^^^ 
 
 Tariff Reform (1888) 
 
 What is Free Trade? (1886) J*^ ' 
 
 ^Protectionism Twenty Years After (1906) J^J 
 
 •^ Prosperity Strangled by Gold (1896) 
 
 C' Cause and Cure of Hard Times (1896) _ • • 
 
 ^^The Free-Coinage Scheme is Impracticable at every Point 
 "' . .... la* 
 
 (1896) gg 
 
 ^ The Delusion of the Debtors (1896) 
 
 The Crime of 1873 (1896) • • • • —^.: ' ' „„ 
 
 A Concurrent Circulation of Gold and Silver (1878) ... • ib^ 
 The Influence of Commercial Crises on Opinions about Eco- ^^^ 
 
 nomic Doctrines (1879) 
 
 The Philosophy of Strikes (1883) 
 
 Strikes and the Industrial Organization (1887) ^* ' 
 
 Trusts and Trades-unions (1888) 
 
 An Old "Trust" (1889) ^^^ 
 
 Shall Americans Own Ships? (1881) 
 
 Politics in America, 1776-1876 (1876) 
 
 The Administration of Andrew Jackson (1880) 
 
 The Commercial Crisis of 1837 (1877 or 1878) ^7J 
 
 The Science of Sociology (1882) 
 
 -r, ... 409 
 
 Integrity in Education 
 
 Discipline . ., 
 
 The Cooperative Commonwealth 
 
 CThe Forgotten Man (1883) 
 
 Bibliography g. 
 
 Index
 
 PROTECTIONISM 
 
 THE -ISM WHICH TEACHES THAT WASTE 
 MAKES WEALTH 
 
 [1885] 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 DURING the last fifteen years we have had two great 
 questions to discuss: the restoration of the currency 
 and civil -service reform. Neither of these questions has yet 
 reached a satisfactory solution, but both are on the way 
 toward such a result. The next great effort to strip off the 
 evils entailed on us by the Civil W^ar will consist in the re- 
 peal of those taxes which one man was enabled to le\^^ on 
 another, under cover of the taxes which the government 
 had to lay to carry on the war. I have taken my share in 
 the discussion of the first two questions, and I expect to 
 take my share in the discussion of the third. 
 
 I- have written this book as a contribution to a popular 
 agitation. I have not troubled myself to keep or to throw 
 off scientific or professional dignity. I have tried to make 
 my point as directly and effectively as I could for the 
 readers whom I address, viz., the intelligent voters of all 
 degrees of general culture, who need to have it explained 
 to them what protectionism is and how it works. I have 
 therefore pushed the controversy just as hard as I could, 
 and have used plain language, just as I have always done 
 before in what I have written on this subject. I must there- 
 fore forego the hope that I have given any more pleasure 
 now than formerly to the advocates of protectionism. 
 
 9
 
 10 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 Protectionism seems to me to deserve only contempt and 
 scorn, satire and ridicule. It is such an arrant piece of 
 economic quackery, and it masquerades under such an af- 
 fectation of learning and philosophy, that it ought to be 
 treated as other quackeries are treated. Still, out of defer- 
 ence to its strength in the traditions and lack of informa- 
 tion of many people, I have here undertaken a patient and 
 serious exposition of it. Satire and derision remain re- 
 served for the dogmatic protectionists and the sentimental 
 protectionists; the Philistine protectionists and those who 
 hold the key of all knowledge; the protectionists of stupid 
 good faith and those who know their dogma is a humbug 
 and are therefore irritated at the exposure of it; the pro- 
 tectionists by birth and those by adoption; the protec- 
 tionists for hire and those by election; the protectionists 
 by party platform and those by pet newspaper; the pro- 
 tectionists by "invincible ignorance" and those by vows 
 and ordination; the protectionists who run colleges and 
 those who want to burn colleges down; the protectionists 
 by investment and those who sin against light; the hope- 
 less ones who really believe in British gold and dread the 
 Cobden Club, and the dishonest ones who storm about 
 those things without believing in them; those who may not 
 be answered when they come into debate, because they are 
 "great" men, or because they are "old" men, or because 
 they have stock in certain newspapers, or are trustees of 
 certain colleges. All these have honored me personally, in 
 this controversy, with more or less of their particular at- 
 tention. I confess that it has cost me something to leave 
 their cases out of account, but to deal with them would 
 have been a work of entertainment, not of utility. 
 
 Protectionism arouses my moral indignation. It is a 
 subtle, cruel, and unjust invasion of one man's rights by 
 another. It is done by force of law. It is at the same 
 time a social abuse, an economic blunder, and a political
 
 DEFINITIONS 11 
 
 evil. The moral indignation which it causes is the motive 
 which draws me away from the scientific pursuits which 
 form my real occupation, and forces me to take part in a 
 popular agitation. The doctrine of a "call" applies in 
 such a case, and every man is bound to take just so great a 
 share as falls in his way. That is why I have given more 
 time than I could afford to popular lectures on this sub- 
 ject, and it is why I have now put the substance of those lec- 
 tures into this book. 
 
 W. G. S. 
 
 Chapter I 
 
 DEFINITIONS: STATEMENT OF THE QUESTION 
 TO BE INVESTIGATED 
 
 (A) The System of which Protection is a Survival. 
 
 1. The statesmen of the eighteenth century supposed 
 that their business was the art of national prosperity. 
 Their procedure was to form ideals of pohtical greatness 
 and civil prosperity on the one hand, and to evolve out of 
 their own consciousness grand dogmas of human happiness 
 and social welfare on the other hand. Then they tried to 
 devise specific means for connecting these two notions with 
 each other. Their ideals of political greatness contained, 
 as predominant elements, a brilliant court, a refined and 
 elegant aristocracy, well-developed fine arts and belles 
 lettres, a powerful army and navy, and a peaceful, obedient, 
 and hard-working peasantry and artisan class to pay the 
 taxes and support the other part of the political structure. 
 In this ideal the lower ranks paid upward, and the upper 
 ranks blessed downward, and all were happy, together. 
 The great political and social dogmas of the period were 
 exotic and incongruous. They were borrowed or accepted 
 from the classical authorities. Of course the dogmas were
 
 12 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ^ESSAYS 
 
 chiefly held and taught by the philosophers, but, as the 
 century ran its course, they penetrated the statesman class. 
 The statesman who had had no purpose save to serve the 
 "grandeur" of the king, or to perpetuate a dynasty, gave 
 way to statesmen who had strong national feeling and 
 national ideals, and who eagerly sought means to realize 
 their ideals. Having as yet no definite notion, based on 
 facts of observation and experience, of what a human 
 society or a nation is, and no adequate knowledge of the 
 nature and operation of social forces, they were driven to 
 empirical processes which they could not test, or measure, 
 or verify. They piled device upon device and failure upon 
 failure. When one device failed of its intended purpose 
 and produced an unforeseen evil, they invented a new de- 
 vice to prevent the new evil. The new device again failed 
 to prevent, and became a cause of a new harm, and so on 
 indefinitely. 
 
 2. Among their devices for industrial prosperity were 
 (1) export taxes on raw materials, to make raw materials 
 abundant and cheap at home; (2) bounties on the export 
 of finished products, to make the exports large; (3) taxes 
 on imported commodities to make the imports small, and 
 thus, with No. 2, to make the "balance of trade" favorable, 
 and to secure an importation of specie; (4) taxes or prohibi- 
 tion on the export of machinery, so as not to let foreigners 
 have the advantage of domestic inventions; (5) prohibition 
 on the emigration of skilled laborers, lest they should carry 
 to foreign rivals knowledge of domestic arts; (6) monop- 
 olies to encourage enterprise; (7) navigation laws to foster 
 ship-building or the carrying trade, and to provide sailors 
 for the navy; (8) a colonial system to bring about by po- 
 litical force the very trade which the other devices had 
 destroyed by economic interference; (9) laws for fixing 
 wages and prices to repress the struggle of the non-capitalist 
 class to save themselves in the social press; (10) poor-laws
 
 DEFINITIONS 13 
 
 to lessen the struggle by another outlet; (11) extravagant 
 criminal laws to try to suppress another development of 
 this struggle by terror; and so on, and so on. 
 
 (B) Old and New Conceptions of the State. 
 
 3. Here we have a complete illustration of one mode of 
 looking at human society, or at a state. Such society is, 
 on this view, an artificial or mechanical product. It is an 
 object to be molded, made, produced by contrivance. 
 Like every product which is brought out by working up to 
 an ideal instead of working out from antecedent truth and 
 fact, the product here is haphazard, grotesque, false. Like 
 every other product which is brought out by working on 
 lines fixed by a priori assumptions, it is a satire on human 
 foresight and on what we call common sense. Such a 
 state is like a house of cards, built up anxiously one upon 
 another, ready to fall at a breath, to be credited at most 
 with naive hope and silly confidence; or, it is like the long 
 and tedious contrivance of a mischievous schoolboy, for 
 an end which has been entirely misappreciated and was 
 thought desirable when it should have been thought a 
 folly; or, it is like the museum of an alchemist, filled with 
 specimens of his failures, monuments of mistaken industry 
 and testimony of an erroneous method; or, it is like the 
 clumsy product of an untrained inventor, who, instead of 
 asking: "what means have I, and to what will they serve.'^" 
 asks: "what do I wish that I could accomplish.?" and 
 seeks to win steps by putting in more levers and cogs, in- 
 creasing friction and putting the solution ever farther off. 
 
 4. Of course such a notion of a state is at war with the 
 conception of a state as a seat of original forces which 
 must be reckoned with all the time; as an organism whose 
 life will go on anyhow, perverted, distorted, diseased, 
 vitiated as it may be by obstructions or coercions; as a
 
 14 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 seat of life in which nothing is ever lost, but every ante- 
 cedent combines with every other and has its share in the 
 immediate resultant, and again in the next resultant, and 
 so on indefinitely; as the domain of activities so great that 
 they should appall any one who dares to interfere with 
 them; of instincts so delicate and self -preservative that it 
 should be only infinite delight to the wisest man to see 
 them come into play, and his sufficient glory to give them 
 a little intelligent assistance. If a state well performed its 
 functions of providing peace, order, and security, as con- 
 ditions under which the people could live and work, it 
 would be the proudest proof of its triumphant success that 
 it had nothing to do — that all went so smoothly that it 
 had only to look on and was never called to interfere; just 
 as it is the test of a good business man that his business 
 runs on smoothly and prosperously while he is not harassed 
 or hurried. The people who think that it is proof of en- 
 terprise to meddle and "fuss" may believe that a good 
 state will constantly interfere and regulate, and they may 
 regard the other type of state as "non-government." The 
 state can do a great deal more than to discharge police 
 functions. If it will follow custom, and the growth of social 
 structure to provide for new social needs, it can powerfully 
 aid the production of structure by laying down lines of 
 common action, where nothing is needed but some common 
 action on conventional lines; or, it can systematize a num- 
 ber of arrangements which are not at their maximum utility 
 for want of concord; or, it can give sanction to new rights 
 which are constantly created by new relations under new 
 social organizations, and so on. 
 
 5. The latter idea of the state has only begun to win 
 way. All history and sociology bear witness to its com- 
 parative truth, at least when compared with the former. 
 Under the new conception of the state, of course liberty 
 means breaking off the fetters and trammels which the
 
 DEFINITIONS 15 
 
 "wisdom" of the past has forged, and laissez-faire, or "let 
 alone," becomes a cardinal maxim of statesmanship, be- 
 cause it means: "Cease the empirical process. Institute 
 the scientific process. Let the state come back to normal 
 health and activity, so that you can study it, learn some- 
 thing about it from an observation of its phenomena, and 
 then regulate your action in regard to it by intelligent 
 knowledge." Statesmen suited to this latter type of state 
 have not yet come forward in any great number. The new 
 radical statesmen show no disposition to let their neighbors" 
 alone. They think that they have come into power just 
 because they know what their neighbors need to have done 
 to them. Statesmen of the old type, who told people that 
 they knew how to make everybody happy, and that they 
 were going to do it, were always far better paid than any 
 of the new type ever will be, and their failures never cost 
 them public confidence either. We have got tired of kings, 
 priests, nobles and soldiers, not because they failed to 
 make us all happy, but because our a priori dogmas have 
 changed fashion. We have put the administration of the 
 state in the hands of lawyers, editors, litterateurs, and pro- 
 fessional politicians, and they are by no means disposed to 
 abdicate the functions of their predecessors, or to abandon 
 the practice of the art of national prosperity. The chief 
 difl'erence is that, whereas the old statesmen used to temper 
 the practice of their art with care for the interests of the 
 kings and aristocracies which put them in power, the new 
 statesmen feel bound to serve those sections of the popu- 
 lation which have put them where they are. 
 
 6. Some of the old devices above enumerated (§ 2) are, 
 however, out of date, or are becoming obsolete.^ Number 
 
 1 February 4, 1884, Mr. Robinson of New York proposed, in the House of 
 Representatives, an amendment to the Constitution, so as to allow Congress to 
 lay an export duty on cotton for the encouragement of home manufactures. 
 (Record, 862.)
 
 16 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 3, taxes on imports for other than fiscal purposes, is not 
 among this number. Just now such taxes seem to be com- 
 ing back into fashion, or to be enjoying a certain revival. 
 It is a sign of the deficiency of our sociology as compared 
 with our other sciences that such a phenomenon could be 
 presented in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, as 
 a certain revival of faith in the efficiency of taxes on im- 
 ports as a device for producing national prosperity. There 
 is not a single one of the eleven devices mentioned above, 
 including taxes on the exportation of machinery and pro- 
 hibitions on emigration, which is not quite as rational and 
 sound as taxes on imports. 
 
 I now propose to analyze and criticize protectionism. 
 
 {€) Definition of Protectionism — Definition of 
 "Theory." 
 
 7. By protectionism I mean the doctrine of protective 
 taxes as a device to be employed in the art of national 
 prosperity. The protectionists are fond of representing 
 themselves as "practical" and the free traders as "theo- 
 rists." "Theory" is indeed one of the most abused words 
 in the language, and the scientists are partly to blame for 
 it. They have allowed the word to come into use, even 
 among themselves, for a conjectural explanation, or a specu- 
 lative conjecture, or a working hypothesis, or a project which 
 has not yet been tested by experiment, or a plausible and harm- 
 less theorem about transcendental relations, or about the way 
 in which men will act under certain motives. The news- 
 papers seem often to use the word "theoretical" as if they 
 meant by it imaginary or fictitious. I use the word "the- 
 ory," however, not in distinction from fact, but, in what I 
 understand to be the correct scientific use of the word, to 
 denote a rational description of a group of coordinated facts 
 in their sequence and relations. A theory may, for a special 
 purpose, describe only certain features of facts and disre-
 
 DEFINITIONS 17 
 
 gard others. Hence "in practice," where facts present 
 themselves in all their complexity, he who has carelessly 
 neglected the limits of his theory may be astonished at 
 phenomena which present themselves; but his astonish- 
 ment will be due to a blunder on his part, and will not be 
 an imputation on the theory. 
 
 8. Now free trade is not a theory in any sense of the 
 word. It is only a mode of liberty; one form of the assault 
 (and therefore negative) which the expanding intelligence 
 of the present is making on the trammels which it has in- 
 herited from the past. Inside the United States, absolute 
 free trade exists over a continent. No one thinks of it or 
 realizes it. No one "feels" it. We feel only constraint 
 and oppression. If we get liberty we rejflect on it only so 
 long as the memory of constraint endures. I have again 
 and again seen the astonishment with which people realized 
 the vact when presented to them that they have been living 
 under free trade all their lives and never thought of it. 
 When the whole world shall obtain and enjoy free trade 
 there will be nothing more to be said about it; it will dis- 
 appear from discussion and reflection; it will disappear 
 from the text-books on political economy as the chapters 
 on slavery are disappearing; it will be as strange for men 
 to think that they might not have free trade as it would be 
 now for an American to think that he might not travel in 
 this country without a passport, or that there ever was a 
 chance that the soil of our western states might be slave 
 soil and not free soil. It would be as reasonable to apply 
 the word "theory" to the protestant reformation, or to 
 law reform, or to anti-slavery, or to the separation of church 
 and state, or to popular rights, or to any other campaign in 
 the great struggle which we call liberty and progress, as to 
 apply it to free trade. The pro-slavery men formerly did 
 apply it to abolition, and with excellent reason, if the use 
 of it which I have criticized ever was correct; for it re-
 
 18 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 quired great power of realizing in imagination the results 
 of social change, and great power to follow and trust ab- 
 stract reasoning, for any man bred under slavery to realize, 
 in advance of experiment, the social and economic gain to 
 be won — most of all for the whites — by emancipation. 
 It now requires great power of "theoretical conception" 
 for people who have no experience of the separation of 
 church and state to realize its benefits and justice. Simi- 
 lar observations would hold true of all similar reforms. 
 Free trade is a revolt, a conflict, a reform, a reaction and 
 recuperation of the body politic, just as free conscience, 
 free worship, free speech, free press, and free soil have been. 
 It is in no sense a theory. 
 
 9. Protectionism is not a theory in the correct sense of 
 the term, but it comes under some of the popular and in- 
 correct uses of the word. It is purely dogmatic and a 
 priori. It is desired to attain a certain object — wealth 
 and national prosperity. Protective taxes are proposed as 
 a means. It must be assumed that there is some connec- 
 tion between protective taxes and national prosperity, 
 some relation of cause and effect, some sequence of ex- 
 pended energy and realized product, between protective 
 taxes and national wealth. If then by theory we mean a 
 speculative conjecture as to occult relations which have 
 not been and canixot be traced in experience, protection 
 would be a capital example. Another and parallel ex- 
 ample was furnished by astrology, which assumed a causal 
 relation between the movements of the planets and the 
 fate of men, and built up quite an art of soothsaying on 
 this assumption. Another example, paralleling protection- 
 ism in another feature, was alchemy, which, accepting as 
 unquestionable the notion that we want to transmute lead 
 into gold if we can, assumed that there was a philosopher's 
 stone, and set to work to find it through centuries of repeti- 
 tion of the method of "trial and failure."
 
 DEFINITIONS 19 
 
 10, Protectionism, then, is an ism; that is, it is a doctrine 
 or system of doctrine which offers no demonstration, and 
 rests upon no facts, but appeals to faith on grounds of its 
 a priori reasonableness, or the plausibility with which it 
 can be set forth. Of course, if a man should say: "I am 
 in favor of protective taxes because they bring gain to me. 
 That is all I care to know about them, and I shall get them 
 retained as long as I can" — there is no trouble in under- 
 standing him, and there is no use in arguing with him. So 
 far as he is concerned, the only thing to do is to find his 
 victims and explain the matter to them. The only thing 
 which can be discussed is the doctrine of national wealth 
 by protective taxes. This doctrine has the forms of an 
 economic theory. It vies with the doctrine of labor and 
 capital as a part of the science of production. Its avowed 
 purpose is impersonal and disinterested — the same, in 
 fact, as that of political economy. It is not, like free trade, 
 a mere negative position against an inherited system, to 
 which one is led by a study of political economy. It is a 
 species of political economy, and aims at the throne of the 
 science itself. If it is true, it is not a corollary, but a pos- 
 tulate, on which, and by which, all political economy must 
 be constructed. 
 
 11. But then, lo! if the dogma which constitutes pro- 
 tectionism — national wealth can be produced by protective 
 taxes and cannot be produced without them — is enunciated, 
 instead of going on to a science of political economy based 
 upon it, the science falls dead on the spot. TMiat can be 
 said about production, population, land, money, exchange, 
 labor and all the rest? What can the economist learn or 
 do.'* What function is there for the university or school? 
 There is nothing to do but to go over to the art of legisla- 
 tion, and get the legislator to put on the taxes. The only 
 questions which can arise are as to the number, variety, 
 size, and proportion of the taxes. As to these questions
 
 20 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 the economist can offer no light. He has no method of in- 
 vestigating them. He can deduce no principles, lay down 
 no laws in regard to them. The legislator must go on in 
 the dark and experiment. If his taxes do not produce the 
 required result, if there turn out to be "snakes" in the tariff 
 which he has adopted, he has to change it. If the result 
 still fails, change it again. Protectionism bars the science 
 of political economy with a dogma, and the only process of 
 the art of statesmanship to which it leads is eternal trial 
 and failure — the process of the alchemist and of the in- 
 ventor of perpetual motion. 
 
 (D) Definition of Free Trade and of a Protective 
 
 Duty. 
 
 12. What then is a protective tax. 5* In order to join 
 issue as directly as possible, I will quote the definitions given 
 by a leading protectionist journal,^ of both free trade and 
 protection, "The term 'free trade,' although much dis- 
 cussed, is seldom rightly defined. It does not mean the 
 abolition of custom houses. Nor does it mean the substi- 
 tution of direct for indirect taxation, as a few American 
 disciples of the school have supposed. It means such an 
 adjustment of taxes on imports as will cause no diversion 
 of capital, from any channel into which it would otherwise 
 fliow, into any channel opened or favored by the legislation 
 which enacts the customs. A country may collect its en- 
 tire revenue by duties on imports, and yet be an entirely 
 free trade country, so long as it does not lay those duties 
 in such a way as to lead any one to undertake any em- 
 ployment, or make any investment he would avoid in the 
 absence of such duties: thus, the customs duties levied by 
 England — with a very few exceptions — are not incon- 
 sistent with her profession of being a country which be- 
 
 ^ Philadelphia American, August 7, 1884.
 
 DEFINITIONS 21 
 
 lieves in free trade. They either are duties on articles not 
 produced in England, or they are exactly equivalent to 
 the excise duties levied on the same articles if made at 
 home. They do not lead any one to put his money into 
 the home production of an article, because they do not 
 discriminate in favor of the home producer." 
 
 13. "A protective duty, on the other hand, has for its 
 object to effect the diversion of a part of the capital and 
 labor of the people out of the channels in which it would 
 run otherwise, into channels favored or created by law." 
 
 I know of no definitions of these two things which have 
 ever been made by anybody which are more correct than 
 these. I accept them and join issue on them. 
 
 (E) Protectionism Raises a Purely Domestic 
 Controversy. 
 
 14. It will be noticed that this definition of a protective 
 duty says nothing about foreigners or about imports. Ac- 
 cording to this definition, a protective duty is a device for 
 effecting a transformation in our own industry. If a tax 
 is levied at the port of entry on a foreign commodity which 
 is actually imported, the tax is paid to the treasury and 
 produces revenue. A protective tax is one which is laid 
 to act as a bar to importation, in order to keep a foreign 
 commodity out. It does not act protectively unless it 
 does act as a bar, and is not a tax on imports but an ob- 
 struction to imports. Hence a protective duty is a wall to 
 inclose the domestic producer and consumer, and to pre- 
 vent the latter from having access to any other source of 
 supply for his needs, in exchange for his products, than 
 that one which the domestic producer controls. The pur- 
 pose and plan of the device is to enable the domestic pro- 
 ducer to levy on the domestic consumer the taxes which 
 the government has set up as a barrier, but has not col-
 
 22 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 lected at the port of entry. Under this device the govern- 
 ment says: "I do not want the revenue, but I will lay the 
 tax so that you, the selected and favored producer, may 
 collect it." "I do not need to tax the consumer for my- 
 self, but I will hold him for you while you tax him." 
 
 (F) "A Protective Duty is not a Tax." 
 
 15. There are some who say that "a tariff is not a tax," 
 or as one of them said before a Congressional Committee: 
 "We do not like to call it so!" That certainly is the most 
 humorous of all the funny things in the tariff controversy. 
 If a tariff is not a tax, what is it.^^ In what category does 
 it belong.'* No protectionist has ever yet told. They seem 
 to think of it as a thing by itself, a Power, a Force, a 
 sort of Mumbo Jumbo whose special function it is to pro- 
 duce national prosperity. They do not appear to have an- 
 alyzed it, or given themselves an account of it, sufficiently 
 to know what kind of a thing it is or how it acts. Any 
 one who says that it is not a tax must suppose that it costs 
 nothing, that it produces an effect without an expenditure 
 of energy. They do seem to think that if Congress will 
 
 say: "Let a tax of per cent be laid on article A," and 
 
 if none is imported, and therefore no tax is paid at the 
 custom house, national industry will be benefited and 
 wealth secured, and that there will be no cost or outgo. 
 If that is so, then the tariff is magic. We have found the 
 philosopher's stone. Our congressmen wave a magic wand 
 over the country and say: "Not otherwise provided for, 
 one hundred and fifty per cent," and, presto! there we have 
 wealth. Again they say: "Fifty cents a yard and fifty 
 per cent ad valor em''; and there we have prosperity! If 
 we should build a wall along the coast to keep foreigners 
 and their goods out, it would cost something. If we main- 
 tained a navy to blockade our own coast for the same
 
 DEFINITIONS 23 
 
 purpose, it would cost something. Yet it is imagined that 
 if we do the same by a tax it costs nothing. 
 
 16. This is the fundamental fallacy of protection to 
 which the analysis will bring us back again and again. 
 Scientifically stated, it is that protectionism sins against the 
 conservation of energy. More simply stated, it is that tJie 
 protectionist either never sees or does not tell the other side of 
 the account, the cost, the outlay for the gains which he alleges 
 from protection, and that when these are examined and weighed 
 they are sure vastly to exceed the gains, if the gains were real, 
 even taking no account of the harm to national growth 
 which is done by restriction and interference. 
 
 17. There are only three ways in which a man can part 
 with his product, and different kinds of taxes fall under 
 different modes of alienating one's goods. First, he may 
 exchange his product for the product of others. Then he 
 parts with his property voluntarily, and for an equivalent. 
 Taxes which are paid for peace, order, and security, fall 
 under this head. Secondly, he may give his product 
 away. Then he parts with it voluntarily without an equiv- 
 alent. Taxes which are voluntarily paid for schools, libra- 
 ries, parks, etc., fall under this head. Thirdly, he may be 
 robbed of it. Then he parts with it involuntarily and with- 
 out' an equivalent. Taxes which are protective fall under 
 this head. The analysis is exhaustive, and there is no 
 other place for them. Protective taxes are those which a 
 man pays to his neighbor to hire him (the neighbor) to 
 carry on his own business. The first man gets no equiva- 
 lent (§ 108). Hence any one who says that a tariff is not 
 a tax would have to put it in some such category as tribute, 
 plunder, or robbery. In order, then, that we may not give 
 any occasion for even an unjust charge of using hard words, 
 let us go back and call it a tax. 
 
 18. In any case it is plain that we have before us the case 
 of two Americans. The protectionists who try to discuss
 
 24 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 the subject always go off to talk English politics and history, 
 or Ireland, or India, or Turkey. I shall not follow them. 
 I shall discuss the case between two Americans, which is 
 the only case there is. Whether Englishmen like our tariff 
 or not is of no consequence. As a matter of fact. English- 
 men seem to have come to the opinion that if Americans 
 will take their own home market as their share, and will 
 keep out of the world's market, they (the Englishmen) will 
 agree to the arrangement; but it is immaterial whether 
 they agree, or are angry. The only question for us is: 
 What kind of an arrangement is it for one American to 
 tax another American? How does it work? Who gains 
 by it? How does it affect our national prosperity? 
 These and these only are the questions which I intend 
 to discuss. 
 
 19. I shall adopt two different lines of investigation. 
 First, I shall examine protectionism on its own claims and 
 pretensions, taking its doctrines and claims for true, and 
 following them out to see whether they will produce the 
 promised results; and secondly, I shall attack protection- 
 ism adversely, and controversially. If any one proposes a 
 device for the public good, he is entitled to candid and pa- 
 tient attention, but he is also under obligation to show how 
 he expects his scheme to work, what forces it will bring into 
 play, how it will use them, etc. The joint stock principle, 
 credit institutions, cooperation, and all similar devices 
 must be analyzed and the explanation of their advan- 
 tage, if they offer any, must be sought in the principles 
 which they embody, the forces they employ, the suitable- 
 ness of their apparatus. We ought not to put faith in any 
 device {e.g., bi-metalism, socialism) unless the proposers 
 offer an explanation of it which will bear rigid and pitiless 
 examination; for, if it is a sound device, such examination 
 will only produce more and more thorough conviction of 
 its merits. I shall therefore first take up protectionism
 
 EXAMINED ON ITS OWN GROUNDS 25 
 
 just as it is offered, and test it, as any candid inquirer might 
 do, to see whether, as it is presented by its advocates, it 
 has any claims to confidence. 
 
 Chapter II 
 
 PROTECTIONISM EXAMINED ON ITS OWN GROUNDS 
 
 20. It is the peculiar irony in all empirical devices in 
 social science that they not only fail of the effect expected 
 of them, but that they produce the exact opposite. Paper 
 money is expected to help the non-capitalist and the debtor 
 and to make business brisk. It ruins the non-capitalists 
 and the debtors, and reduces industry and commerce to a 
 standstill. Socialistic devices are expected to bring about 
 equality and universal happiness. They produce despo- 
 tism, favoritism, inequality, and universal misery. The de- 
 vices are, in their operation, true to themselves. They act 
 just as an unprejudiced examination of them should have 
 led any one to expect that they would act, or just as a 
 limited experience has shown that they must act. If pro- 
 tectionism is only another case of the same kind, an ex- 
 amination of it on its own grounds must bring out the fact 
 that it will issue in crippling industry, diminishing capital, 
 and lowering the average of comfort. Let us see. 
 
 (A) Assumptions in Protectionism. 
 
 21. Obviously the doctrine includes two assumptions. 
 The first is, that if we are left to ourselves, each to choose, 
 under liberty, his line of industrial effort, and to use his 
 labor and capital, under the circumstances of the country, 
 as best he can, we shall fail of our highest prosperity. 
 Secondly, that, if Congress will only tax us (properly) we 
 can be led up to higher prosperity. Hence it is at once
 
 26 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 evident that free trade and protection here are not on a 
 level. No free trader will affirm that he has a device for 
 making the country rich, or saving it from hard times, any 
 more than a respectable physician will tell us that he can 
 give us specifics and preventives to keep us well. On the 
 contrary, so long as men live they will do foolish things, 
 and they will have to bear the penalty; but if they are free, 
 they will commit only the follies which are their own, and 
 they will bear the penalties only of those. The protection- 
 ist begins with the premise that we shall make mistakes, 
 and that is why he, who knows how to make us go right, 
 proposes to take us in hand. He is like the doctor who can 
 give us just the pill we need to "cleanse our blood" and 
 "ward off chills." Hence either prosperity in a free-trade 
 country, or distress in a protectionist country, is fatal to pro- 
 tectionism, while distress in a free-trade country, or pros- 
 perity in a protectionist country proves nothing against 
 free trade. Hence the fallacy of all Mr. R. P. Porter's 
 letters is obvious. (§§ 52, 92, 102, 154.) 
 
 22. The device by which we are to be made better than 
 ourselves is to select some of ourselves, who certainly are 
 not the best business men among ourselves, to go to Wash- 
 ington, and there turn around and tax ourselves blindly, 
 or, if not blindly, craftily and selfishly. Surely this would 
 be the triumph of stupidity and ignorance over intelligent 
 knowledge, enterprise and energy. The motive which 
 would control each of us, if we were free, would be the hope 
 of the greatest gain. We should have to put industry, 
 prudence, economy, and enterprise into our business. If 
 we failed, it would be through error. How is the congres- 
 sional interference to act.^^ How is it to meet and correct 
 our error? It can appeal to no other motive than desire 
 for profit, and can only offer us a profit where there was 
 none before, if we will turn out of the industry which we 
 have selected, into one which we do not know. It offers a
 
 EXAMINED ON ITS OWN GROUNDS 27 
 
 greater profit there only by means of what it takes from 
 somebody else and somewhere else. Or, is congressional 
 interference to correct the errors of John, James and 
 William, and to make the idle, industrious, and the extrav- 
 agant prudent? Any one who believes it must believe 
 that the welfare of mankind is not dependent on the reason 
 and conscience of the interested persons themselves, but on 
 the caprices of blundering ignorance, embodied in a selected 
 few, or on the trickery of lobbyists, acting impersonally and 
 at a distance. 
 
 (B) Necessary Conditions of Successful Protective 
 
 Legislation. 
 
 23. Suppose, however, that it were true that Congress 
 had the power (by some exercise of the taxing function) to 
 influence favorably the industrial development of the 
 country: is it not true that men of sense would demand to 
 be satisfied on three points, as follows? 
 
 24. (a) If Congress can do this thing, and is going to try 
 it, ought it not, in order to succeed, to have a distinct idea of 
 what it is aiming at and proposes to do? Who would have 
 confidence in any man who should set out on an enterprise 
 and who did not satisfy this condition? Has Congress 
 ever satisfied it? Never. They have never had any plan 
 or purpose in their tariff legislation. Congress has simply 
 laid itself open to be acted upon by the interested parties, 
 and the product of its tariff legislation has been simply the 
 resultant of the struggles of the interested cliques with 
 each other, and of the log-rolling combinations which they 
 have been forced to make among themselves. In 1882 
 Congress did pay some deference, real or pretended, to the 
 plain fact that it was bound, if it exercised this mighty 
 power and responsibility, to bring some intelligence to 
 bear on it, and it appointed a Tariff Commission which
 
 28 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND 'OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 spent several months in collecting evidence. This Com- 
 mission was composed, with one exception, of protectionists. 
 It recommended a reduction of twenty-five per cent in the 
 tariff, and said: "Early in its deliberations the Commission 
 became convinced that a substantial reduction of tariff duties 
 is demanded, not by a mere indiscriminate popular clamor, 
 but by the best conservative opinion of the country." 
 "Excessive duties are positively injurious to the interests 
 which they are supposed to benefit. They encourage the 
 investment of capital in manufacturing enterprises by rash 
 and unskilled speculators, to be followed by disaster to the 
 adventurers and their employees, and a plethora of com- 
 modities which deranges the operations of skilled and 
 prudent enterprise." (§ 111.) This report was entirely 
 thrown aside, and Congress, ignoring it entirely, began 
 again in exactly the old way. The Act of 1883 was not 
 even framed by or in Congress. It was carried out into 
 the dark, into a conference committee,^ where new and 
 gro'ss abuses were put into the bill under cover of a pre- 
 tended revision and reduction. When a tariff bill is be- 
 fore Congress, the first draft starts with a certain rate on a 
 certain article, say twenty per cent. It is raised by amend- 
 ment to fifty, the article is taken into a combination and 
 the rate put up to eighty per cent; the bill is sent to the 
 other house, and the rate on this article cut down again to 
 forty per cent; on conference between the two houses the 
 rate is fixed at sixty per cent. He who believes in the pro- 
 tectionist doctrine must, if he looks on at that proceeding, 
 believe that the prosperity of the country is being kicked 
 around the floor of Congress, at the mercy of the chances 
 which are at last to determine with what per cent of tax 
 these articles will come out. And what is it that determines 
 with what tax any given article will come out.'* Any intelli- 
 gent knowledge of industry? Not a word of it. Nothing 
 
 1 Taussig: " ffistory of the Existing Tariff," 78 ff.
 
 EXAMINED ON ITS OWN GROUNDS 29 
 
 in the case of a given tax on a given article, but just this: 
 "Who is behind it?" The history of tariff legislation by 
 the Congress of the United States throws a light upon the 
 protective doctrine which is partly grotesque and partly 
 revolting. 
 
 25. (6) If Congress can exert the supposed beneficent in- 
 fluence on industry, ought not Congress to understand the 
 force which it proposes to use? Ought it not to have some 
 rules of protective legislation so as to know in what cases, 
 within what limits, under what conditions, the device can 
 be effectively used? Would that not be a reasonable de- 
 mand to make of any man who should propose a device for 
 any purpose? Congress has never had any knowledge of 
 the way in which the taxes which it passed were to do this 
 beneficent work. It has never had, and has never seemed 
 to think that it needed to get, any knowledge of the mode 
 of operation of protective taxes. It passes taxes, as big as 
 the conflicting interests will allow, and goes home, satisfied 
 that it has saved the country. What a pity that philos- 
 ophers, economists, sages, and moralists should have spent 
 so much time in elucidating the conditions and laws of 
 human prosperity! Taxes can do it all. 
 
 26. (c) If Congress can do what is affirmed and is going 
 to try it, is it not the part of common sense to demand that 
 some tests he applied to the experiment after a few years to see 
 whether it is really doing as was expected? In the campaign 
 of 1880 it was said that if Hancock was elected we should 
 have free trade, wages would fall, factories would be closed, 
 etc. Hancock was not elected, we did not get any reform 
 of the tariff, and yet in 1884 wages were falling, factories 
 were closed, and all the other direful consequences which 
 were threatened had come to pass. Bradstreet's made in- 
 vestigations in the winter of 1884-1885 which showed that 
 316,000 workmen, thirteen per cent of the number employed 
 in manufacturing in 1880, were out of work, 17,550 on strike,
 
 30 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 and that wages had fallen since 1882 from ten to forty per 
 cent, especially in the leading lines of manufacturing which 
 are protected. What did these calamities all prove then? 
 If we had had any revision of the tariff, should we not have 
 had these things alleged again and again as results of it? 
 Did they not, then, in the actual case, prove the folly of 
 protection? Oh, no! that would be attacking the sacred 
 dogma, and the sacred dogma is a matter of faith, so that, 
 as it never had smy foundation in fact or evidence, it has 
 just as much after the experiment has failed as before the 
 experiment was made. 
 
 27. If, now, it were possible to devise a scheme of legisla- 
 tion which should, according to protectionist ideas, be just 
 the right jacket of taxation to fit this country to-day, how 
 long would it fit? Not a week. Here are certain millions 
 of people on three and a half million square miles of land. 
 Every day new lines of communication are opened, new 
 discoveries made, new inventions produced, new processes 
 applied, and the consequence is that the industrial system 
 is in constant flux and change. How, if a correct system 
 of protective taxes was a practicable thing at any given 
 moment, could Congress keep up with the changes and 
 readaptations which would be required? The notion is 
 preposterous, and it is a monstrous thing, even on the pro- 
 tectionist hypothesis, that we are living under a protective 
 system which was set up in 1864. The weekly tariff deci- 
 sions by the treasury department may be regarded as the 
 constant attempts that are required to fit that old system 
 to present circumstances, and, as it is not possible that new 
 fabrics, new compounds, and new processes should find a 
 place in schedules which were made twenty years before 
 they were invented, those decisions carry with them the 
 fate of scores of new industries which figure in no census, 
 and are taken into account by no congressman. Therefore, 
 even if we believed that the protective doctrine was sound
 
 EXAMINED ON ITS OWN GROUNDS 31 
 
 and that some protective system was beneficial, and that 
 the one which we have was the right one when it was 
 made, we should be driven to the conclusion that one which 
 is twenty years old is sure to be injurious to-day. 
 
 28. There is nothing then in the legislative machinery 
 by which the tariff is to be made which is calculated to win 
 the confidence of a man of sense, but everything to the con- 
 trary; and the experiments of such legislation which have 
 been made have produced nothing but warnings against 
 the device. Instead of offering any reasonable ground for 
 belief that our errors will be corrected and our productive 
 powers increased, an examination of the tariff as a piece of 
 legislation offers to us nothing but a burden, which must 
 cripple any economic power which we have. 
 
 (C) Examination of the Means Proposed, 
 viz.. Taxes. 
 
 29. Every tax is a burden, and in the nature of the case 
 can be nothing else. In mathematical language, every tax 
 is a quantity affected by a minus sign. If it gets peace and 
 security, that is, if it represses crime and injustice and pre- 
 vents discord, which would be economically destructive, 
 then it is a smaller minus quantity than the one which 
 would otherwise be there, and that is the gain by good 
 government. Hence, like every other outlay which we 
 make, taxes must be controlled by the law of economy — 
 to get the best and most possible for the least expenditure. 
 Instead of regarding public expenditure carelessly, we 
 should watch it jealously. Instead of looking at taxation 
 as conceivably a good, and certainly not an ill, we should 
 regard every tax as on the defensive, and every cent of tax 
 as needing justification. If the statesman exacts any 
 more than is necessary to pay for good government eco- 
 nomically administered, he is incompetent, and fails in his
 
 32 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 duty. I have been studying political economy almost ex- 
 clusively for the last fifteen years, and when I look back 
 over that period and ask myself what is the most marked 
 effect which I can perceive on my own opinion, or on my 
 standpoint, as to social questions, I find that it is this: I 
 am convinced that nobody yet understands the multiplied 
 and complicated effects which are produced by taxation. 
 I am under the most profound impression of the mischief 
 wliich is done by taxation, reaching, as it does, to every 
 dinner-table and to every fireside. The effects of taxation 
 vary with every change in the industrial system and the in- 
 dustrial status, and they are so complicated that it is im- 
 possible to follow, analyze, and systematize them; but out 
 of the study of the subject there arises this firm convic- 
 tion: taxation is crippling, shortening, reducing all the 
 time, over and over again. 
 
 30. Suppose that a man has an income of one thousand 
 dollars, of which he has been saving one hundred dollars 
 per annum with no tax. Now a tax of ten dollars is 
 demanded of him, no matter what kind of a tax or how 
 laid. Is he to get the tax out of the nine hundred dollars 
 expenditure or out of the one hundred dollars savings .^^ If 
 the former, then he must cut down his diet, or his clothing, 
 or his house accommodation, that is, lower his standard of 
 comfort. If the latter, then he must lessen his accumula- 
 tion of capital, that is, his provision for the future. Either 
 way his welfare is reduced and cannot be otherwise affected, 
 and, through the general effect, the welfare of the com- 
 munity is reduced by the tax. Of course it is immaterial 
 that he may not know the facts. The effects are the same. 
 In this view of the matter it is plain what mischief is done 
 by taxes which are laid to buy parks, libraries, and all sorts 
 of grand things. The tax-layer is not providing public 
 order. He is spending other people's earnings for them. 
 He is deciding that his neighbor shall have less clothes and
 
 EXAMINED ON ITS OWN GROUNDS 33 
 
 more library or park. But when we come to protective 
 taxes the abuse is monstrous. The legislator who has 
 in his hands this power of taxation uses it to say that 
 one citizen shall have less clothes in order that he may 
 contribute to the profits of another citizen's private 
 business. 
 
 31. Hence if we look at the nature of taxation, and if 
 we are examining protectionism from its own standpoint, 
 under the assumption that it is true, instead of finding any 
 confirmation of its assumptions, in the nature of the means 
 which it proposes to use, we find the contrary. Granting 
 that people make mistakes and fail of the highest pros- 
 perity which they might win when they act freely, we see 
 plainly that more taxes cannot help to lift them up or to 
 correct their errors; on the contrary, all taxation, beyond 
 what is necessary for an economical administratioji of good 
 government, is either luxurious or wasteful, and if such taxa- 
 tion could tend to wealth, waste would make wealth. 
 
 (D) Examination of the Plan of Mutual 
 Taxation. 
 
 32. Suppose then that the industries and sections all be- 
 gin to tax each other as we see that they do under protec- 
 tion. Is it not plain that the taxing operation can do 
 nothing but transfer products, never by any possibility 
 create them? The object of the protective taxes is to "ef- 
 fect the diversion of a part of the capital and labor of the 
 country from the channels in which it would run other- 
 wise." To do this it must find a fulcrum or point of re- 
 action, or it can exert no force for the effect it desires. The 
 fulcrum is furnished by those who pay the tax. Take a 
 case. Pennsylvania taxes New England on every ton of 
 iron and coal used in its industries. Ohio taxes New 
 England on all the wool obtained from that state for its
 
 34 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 industries.^ New England taxes Ohio and Pennsylvania on 
 all the cottons and woolens which it sells to them. What 
 is the net final result.'^ It is mathematically certain that 
 the only result can be that (1) New England gets back 
 just all she paid (in which case the system is nil, save for 
 the expense of the process and the limitation it imposes on 
 the industry of all), or, (2) that New England does not get 
 back as much as she paid (in which case she is tributary to 
 the others), or, (3) that she gets back more than she paid 
 (in which case she levies tribute on them). Yet, on the 
 protectionist notion, this system extended to all sections, 
 and embracing all industries, is the means of producing 
 national prosperity. When it is all done, what does it 
 amount to except that all Americans must support all 
 Americans? How can they do it better than for each to 
 support himself to the best of his ability.'* Then, however, 
 all the assumptions of protectionism must be abandoned 
 as false. 
 
 33. In 1676 King Charles II granted to his natural son, 
 the Duke of Richmond, a tax of a shilling a chaldron on 
 all the coal which was exported from the Tyne. We re- 
 gard such a grant as a shocking abuse of the taxing power. 
 It is, however, a very interesting case because the mine 
 owner and the tax owner were two separate persons, and 
 the tax can be examined in all its separate iniquity. If, 
 as I suppose was the case, the Tyne Valley possessed such 
 superior facilities for producing coal that it had a qualified 
 monopoly, the tax fell on the coal mine owner (landlord); 
 that is, the king transferred to his son part of the property 
 which belonged to the Tyne coal owners. In that view the 
 
 ^ The wool growers held a convention at St. Louis May 28, 1885, at which they 
 estimated their loss by the reduction of the tax on wool in 1883, or the difference 
 between what they got by this tax before that date and after, at ninety million 
 dollars (New York Times, May 29). If that sum is what they lost, it is what the 
 consumers gained. They are very angry, and will not vote for any one who will 
 not help to re-subject the consumers to this tribute to them.
 
 EXAMINED ON ITS OWN GROUNDS 35 
 
 case may come home to some of our protectionists as it 
 would not if the tax had fallen on the consumers. If Con- 
 gress had pensioned General Grant by giving him seventy- 
 five cents a ton on all the coal mined in the Lehigh Valley, 
 what protests we should have heard from the owners of 
 coal lands in that district! If the king's son, however, had 
 owned the coal mines, and worked them himself, and if the 
 king had said: "I will authorize you to raise the price of 
 your coal a shilling a chaldron, and, to enable you to do it, 
 I will myself tax all coal but yours a shilling a chaldron," 
 then the de\'ice would have been modern and enlightened 
 and American. We have done just that on emery, copper, 
 and nickel. Then the tax comes out of the consumer. 
 Then it is not, according to the protectionist, harmful, but 
 the key to national prosperity, the thing which corrects 
 the errors of our incompetent self-will, and leads us up 
 to better organization of our industry than we, in our 
 unguided stupidity, could have made. 
 
 (E) Examination of the Peoposal to *' Create an 
 Industry." 
 
 34. The protectionist says, however, that he is going to 
 create an industry. Let us examine this notion also from 
 his standpoint, assuming the truth of his doctrine, and see 
 if we can find anything to deserve confidence. A pro- 
 tective tax, according to the protectionist's definition (§ 13), 
 "has for its object to effect the diversion of a part of the 
 labor and capital of the people . . . into channels favored or 
 created by law." If we follow out this proposal, we shall 
 see what those channels are, and shall see whether they 
 are such as to make us believe that protective taxes can 
 increase wealth. 
 
 35. What is an industry? Some people will answer: It 
 is an enterprise which gives employment. Protectionists
 
 36 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 seem to hold this view, and they claim that they "give 
 work" to laborers when they make an industry. On that 
 notion we live to work; we do not work to live. But we 
 do not want work. We have too much work. We want 
 a living; and work is the inevitable but disagreeable price 
 we must pay. Hence we want as much living at as little 
 price as possible. We shall see that the protectionist does 
 "make work" in the sense of lessening the living and in- 
 creasing the price. But if we want a living we want capital. 
 If an industry is to pay wages, it must be backed up by 
 capital. Therefore protective taxes, if they were to in- 
 crease the means of living, would need to increase capital. 
 How can taxes increase capital.'^ Protective taxes only 
 take from A to give to B. Therefore, if B by this arrange- 
 ment can extend his industry and "give more employment," 
 A's power to do the same is diminished in at least an equal 
 degree. Therefore, even on that erroneous definition of 
 an industry, there is no hope for the protectionist. 
 
 36. An industry is an organization of labor and capital 
 for satisfying some need of the community. It is not an end 
 in itself. It is not a good thing to have in itself. It is 
 not a toy or an ornament. If we could satisfy our needs 
 without it we should be better off, not worse off. How, 
 then, can we create industries? 
 
 37. If any one will find, in the soil of a district, some 
 new power to supply human needs, he can endow that 
 district with a new industry. If he will invent a mode of 
 treating some natural deposit, ore or clay, for instance, so 
 as to provide a tool or utensil which is cheaper and more 
 convenient than what is in use, he can create an industry. 
 If he will find out some new and better way to raise cattle 
 or vegetables, which is, perhaps, favored by the climate, 
 he can do the same. If he invents some new treatment of 
 wool, or cotton, or silk, or leather, or makes a new com- 
 bination which produces a more convenient or attractive
 
 EXAMINED ON ITS OWN GROUNDS 37 
 
 fabric, he may do the same. The telephone is a new in- 
 dustry. What measures the gain of it.'* Is it the "em- 
 ployment" of certain persons in and about telephone 
 offices? The gain is in the satisfaction of the need of com- 
 munication between people at less cost of time and labor. 
 It is useless to multiply instances. It can be seen what 
 it is to "create an industry." It takes brains and energy 
 to do it. How can taxes do it.f^ 
 
 38. Suppose that we create an industry even in this 
 sense — What is the gain of it? The people of Connecticut 
 are now earning their living by employing their labor and 
 capital in certain parts of the industrial organization. 
 They have changed their "industries" a great many times. 
 If it should be found that they had a new and better chance 
 hitherto undeveloped, they might all go into it. To do 
 that they must abandon what they are now doing. They 
 would not change unless gains to be made in the new in- 
 dustry were greater. Hence the gain is the difference only 
 between the profits of the old and the profits of the new. 
 The protectionists, however, when they talk about "creat- 
 ing an industry," seem to suppose that the total profit of 
 the industry (and some of them seem to think that the total 
 expenditure of capital) measures their good work. In any 
 case, then, even of a true and legitimate increase of in- 
 dustrial power and opportunity, the only gain would be a 
 margin. But, by our definition, "a protective duty has 
 for its object to effect the diversion of a part of the capital 
 and labor of the people out of the channels in which it would 
 otherwise run." Plainly this device involves coercion. 
 People would need no coercion to go into a new industry 
 which had a natural origin in new industrial power or op- 
 portunity. No coercion is necessary to make men buy 
 dollars at ninety -eight cents apiece. The case for coercion 
 is when it is desired to make them buy dollars at one 
 hundred and one cents apiece. Here the statesman with his
 
 38 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 taxing power is needed, and can do something. What? 
 He can say: "If you will buy a dollar at one hundred 
 and one cents, I can and will tax John over there two 
 cents for your benefit; one to make up your loss and the 
 other to give you a profit." Hence, on the protectionist'' s 
 own doctrine, his device is not needed, and cannot come 
 into use, when a new industry is created in the true and 
 only reasonable sense of the words, but only when and 
 because he is determined to drive the labor and capital of 
 the country into a disadvantageous and wasteful employment. 
 
 39. Still further, it is obvious that the protectionist, 
 instead of "creating a new industry," has simply taken one 
 industry and set it as a parasite to live upon another. In- 
 dustry is its own reward. A man is not to be paid a pre- 
 mium by his neighbors for earning his own living. A 
 factory, an insane asylum, a school, a church, a poorhouse, 
 and a prison cannot be put in the same economic category. 
 We know that the community must be taxed to support 
 insane asylums, poorhouses, and jails. When we come 
 upon such institutions we see them with regret. They are 
 wasting capital. We know that the industrious people all 
 about, who are laboring and producing, must part with a 
 portion of their earnings to supply the waste and loss of 
 these institutions. Hence the bigger they are the sadder they 
 are. 
 
 40. As for the schools and churches, we know that 
 society must pay for and keep up its own conservative in- 
 stitutions. They cost capital and do not pay back capital 
 directly, although they do indirectly, and in the course of 
 time, in ways which we could trace out and verify if that 
 were our subject. Here, then, we have a second class of 
 institutions. 
 
 41. But the factories and farms and foundries are the 
 productive institutions which must provide the support of 
 these consuming institutions. If the factories, etc., put
 
 EXAMINED ON ITS OWN GROUNDS 39 
 
 themselves on a Kne with the poorhouses, or even with the 
 schools, what is to support them and all the rest too? 
 They have nothing behind them. If in any measure or 
 way they turn into burdens and objects of care and pro- 
 tection, they can plainly do it only by part of them turn- 
 ing upon the other part, and this latter part will have to 
 bear the burden of all the consuming institutions, including 
 the consuming industries. For a protected factory is not a 
 producing industry. It is a consuming industry! If a 
 factory is (as the protectionist alleges) a triumph of the 
 tariff, that is, if it would not be but for the tariff (and other- 
 wise he has nothing to do with it), then it is not producing; 
 it is consuming. It is a burden to be borne. The bigger it 
 is the sadder it is. 
 
 42. If a protectionist shows me a woolen mill and chal- 
 lenges me to deny that it is a great and valuable industry, 
 I ask him whether it is due to the tariff. If he says "no,'* 
 then I will assume that it is an independent and profitable 
 establishment, but in that case it is out of this discussion as 
 much as a farm or a doctor's practice. If he says "yes," 
 then I answer that the mill is not an industry at all. We 
 pay sixty per cent tax on cloth simply in order that that mill 
 may be. It is not an institution for getting us cloth, for if 
 we went into the market with the same products which we 
 take there now and if there were no woolen mill, we should 
 get all the cloth we want. The mill is simply an institu- 
 tion for making cloth cost per yard sixty per cent more of 
 our products than it otherwise would. That is the one and 
 only function which the mill has added, by its existence, 
 to the situation. I have called such a factory a "nuisance." 
 The word has been objected to. The word is of no con- 
 sequence. He who, when he goes into a debate, begins to 
 whine and cry as soon as the blows get sharp, should learn 
 to keep out. WTiat I meant was this: A nuisance is some- 
 thing which by its existence and presence in society works
 
 40 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 loss and damage to the society — works against the gen- 
 eral interest, not for it. A factory which gets in the way 
 and hinders us from attaining the comforts which we are 
 all trying to get — which makes harder the terms of ac- 
 quisition when we are all the time struggling by our arts 
 and sciences to make those terms easier — is a harmful 
 thing, and noxious to the common interest. 
 
 43. Hence, once more, starting from the protectionist's 
 hypothesis, and assuming his own doctrine, we find that he 
 cannot create an industry. He only fixes one industry as 
 a parasite upon another, and just as certainly as he has in- 
 tervened in the matter at all, just so certainly has he forced 
 labor and capital into less favorable employment than they 
 would have sought if he had let them alone. When we 
 ask which "channels" those are which are to be "favored 
 or created by law," we find that they are, by the hypothesis, 
 and by the whole logic of the protectionist system, the in- 
 dustries which do not pay. The protectionists propose to 
 make the country rich by laws which shall favor or create 
 these industries, but these industries can only waste capital, 
 so that if they are the source of wealth, waste is the source 
 of wealth. Hence the protectionist's assumption that by 
 his system he could correct our errors and lead us to greater 
 prosperity than we would have obtained under liberty, has 
 failed again, and we find that he wastes what power we do 
 possess. 
 
 (F) Examination of the Proposal to Develop our 
 Natural Resources. 
 
 44. "But," says the protectionist, "do you mean to say 
 that, if we have an iron deposit in our soil, it is not wise 
 for us to open and work it.'*" "You mean, no doubt," I 
 reply, "open and work it under protective help and stimulus; 
 for, if there is an iron deposit, the United States does not
 
 EXAMINED ON ITS OWN GROUNDS 41 
 
 own it. Some man owns it. If he wants to open and 
 work it, we have nothing to do but wish him God-speed." 
 "Very well," he says, "understand it that he needs pro- 
 tection." Let us examine this case, then, and still we will 
 do it assuming the truth of the protectionist doctrine. 
 Let us see where we shall- come out. 
 
 The man who has discovered iron (on the protectionist 
 doctrine), when there is no tax, does not collect tools and 
 laborers and go to work. He goes to Washington. He 
 visits the statesman, and a dialogue takes place. 
 
 Iron man. — "Mr. Statesman, I have found an iron de- 
 posit on my farm." 
 
 Statesman. — "Have you, indeed.'^ That is good news. 
 Our country is richer by one new natural resource than we 
 have supposed." 
 
 Iron man. — "Yes, and I now want to begin mining 
 iron." 
 
 Statesman. — "Very well, go on. We shall be glad to 
 hear that you are prospering and getting rich." 
 
 Iron man. — "Yes, of course. But I am now earning 
 my living by tilling the surface of the ground, and I am 
 afraid that I cannot make as much at mining as at farming." 
 
 Statesman. — "That is indeed another matter. Look 
 into that carefullj'^ and do not leave a better industry for a 
 worse." 
 
 Iron man. — "But I want to mine that iron. It does 
 not seem right to leave it in the ground when we are im- 
 porting iron all the time, but I cannot see as good profits 
 in it at the present price for imported iron as I am making 
 out of what I raise on the surface. I thought that per- 
 haps you would put a tax on all the imported iron so that 
 I could get more for mine. Then I could see my way to 
 give up farming and go to mining." 
 
 Statesman. — "You do not think what you ask. That 
 would be authorizing you to tax your neighbors, and would
 
 42 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 be throwing on them the risk of working your mine, which 
 you are afraid to take yourself." 
 
 Iron man (aside). — "I have not talked the right dialect 
 to this man. I must begin all over again. (AJoud.) Mr. 
 Statesman, the natural resources of this continent ought to 
 be developed. American industry must be protected. 
 The American laborer must not be forced to compete with 
 the pauper labor of Europe." 
 
 Statesman. — "Now I understand you. Now you talk 
 business. Why did you not say so before? How much 
 tax do you want?" 
 
 The next time that a buyer of pig iron goes to market 
 to get some, he finds that it costs thirty bushels of wheat 
 per ton instead of twenty. 
 
 "What has happened to pig iron?" says he. 
 
 "Oh! haven't you heard?" is the reply. "A new mine 
 has been found down in Pennsylvania. We have got a 
 new 'natural resource.'" 
 
 "I haven't got a new 'natural resource,' " says he. "It 
 is as bad for me as if the grasshoppers had eaten up one- 
 third of my crop." 
 
 45. That is just exactly the significance of a new re- 
 source on the protectionist doctrine. We had the mis- 
 fortune to find emery here. At once a tax was put on it 
 which made it cost more wheat, cotton, tobacco, petro- 
 leum, or personal services per pound than ever before. A 
 new calamity befell us when we found the richest copper 
 mines in the world in our territory. From that time on it 
 cost us five (now four) cents a pound more than before. 
 By another catastrophe we found a nickel mine — thirty 
 cents (now fifteen) a pound tax! Up to this time we have 
 had all the tin that we wanted above ground, because 
 beneficent nature has refrained from putting any under- 
 ground in om* territory. In the metal schedule, where the 
 metals which we unfortunately possess are taxed from
 
 EXAJVIINED ON ITS OWN GROUNDS 43 
 
 forty to sixty per cent, tin alone is free. Every little while 
 a report is started that tin has been found. Hitherto these 
 reports have happily all proved false. It is now said that 
 tin has been found in West Virginia and Dakotah. We 
 have reason devoutly to hope that this may prove false, 
 for, if it should prove true, no doubt the next thing will 
 be forty per cent tax on tin. The mine-owners say that 
 they want to exploit the mine. They do not. They want 
 to make the mine an excuse to exploit the taxpayers. 
 
 46. Therefore, when the protectionist asks whether we 
 ought not by protective taxes to force the development of 
 our own iron mines, the answer is that, on his own doctrine, 
 he has developed a new philosophy, hitherto unknowTi, by 
 which "natural resources" become national calamities, and 
 the more a country is endowed by nature the worse off it 
 is. Of course, if the wise philosophy is not simply to use, 
 with energy and prudence, all the natural opportunities 
 which we possess, but to seek "channels favored or created 
 by law," then this view of natural resources is perfectly 
 consistent with that philosophy, for it is simply saying 
 over again that waste is the key 0/ wealth. 
 
 (G) -Examination of the Proposal to Raise W^ages. 
 
 47. "But," he says again, "we want to raise wages and 
 favor the poor working man." "Do you mean to say,'* 
 I reply, "that protective taxes raise wages — that that is 
 their regular and constant effect.^" "Yes," he replies, 
 "that is just what they do, and that is why we favor them. 
 We are the poor man's friends. You free-traders want to 
 reduce him to the level of the pauper laborers of Europe." 
 "But here, in the evidence offered at the last tariff dis- 
 cussion in Congress, the employers all said that they wanted 
 the taxes to protect them because they had to pay such 
 high wages." "Well, so they do." "Well then, if they
 
 44 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 get the taxes raised to help them out when they have high 
 wages to pay, how are the taxes going to help them any 
 unless the taxes lower wages? But you just said that 
 taxes raise wages. Therefore, if the employer gets the 
 taxes raised, he will no sooner get home from Washington 
 than he will find that the very taxes which he has just 
 secured have raised wages. Then he must go back to 
 Washington to get the taxes raised to offset that advance, 
 and when he gets home again he will find that he has only 
 raised wages more, and so on forever. You are trying to 
 teach the man to raise himself by his boot straps. Two 
 of your propositions brought together eat each other." 
 
 48. We will, however, pursue the protectionist doctrine 
 of wages a little further. It is totally false that protective 
 taxes raise wages. As I will show further on (§91 and 
 following), protective taxes lower wages. Now, however, 
 I am assuming the protectionist's own premises and doc- 
 trines all the time. He says that his system raises wages. 
 Let us go to see some of the wages class and get some evi- 
 dence on this point. We will take three wage-workers, a 
 boot man, a hat man, and a cloth man. First we ask the 
 boot man, "Do you win anything by this tariff. J^" "Yes," 
 he says, "I understand that I do." "How?" " W^ell, the 
 way they explain it to me is that when anybody wants 
 boots he goes to my boss, pays him more on account of 
 the tax, and my boss gives me part of it." "All right! 
 Then your comrades here, the hat man and the cloth man, 
 pay this tax in which you share?" "Yes, I suppose so. 
 I never thought of that before. I supposed that rich 
 people paid the taxes, but I suppose that when they buy 
 boots they must do it too." "And when you want a hat 
 you go and pay the tax on hats, part of which (as you ex- 
 plain the system) goes to your friend the hat man; and 
 when you want cloth you pay the tax which goes to bene- 
 fit your friend the cloth man?" "I suppose that it must
 
 EXAMINED ON ITS OWN GROUNDS 45 
 
 be so." We go, then, to see the hat man and have the 
 same conversation with him, and we go to see the cloth 
 man and have the same conversation with him. Each of 
 them then gets two taxes and pays two taxes. Three men 
 illustrate the whole case. If we should take a thousand 
 men in a thousand industries we should find that each paid 
 nine hundred and ninety-nine taxes, and each got nine hun- 
 dred and ninety-nine taxes, if the system worked as it is 
 said to work. What is the upshot of the whole .^^ Either 
 they all come out even on their taxes paid and received, or 
 some of the wage receivers are winning something out of other 
 wage receivers to the net detriment of the whole class. If each 
 man is creditor for nine hundred and ninety-nine taxes, and 
 each debtor for nine hundred and ninety-nine taxes, and if 
 the system is "universal and equal," we can save trouble 
 by each drawing nine hundred and ninety-nine orders on 
 the creditors to pay to themselves their own taxes, and 
 we can set up a clearing house to wipe off all the accounts. 
 Then we come down to this as the net result of the system 
 when it is "universal and equal," that each man as a con- 
 sumer pays taxes to himself as a producer. That is what 
 is to make us all rich. We can accomplish it just as well 
 and far more easily, when we get up in the morning, by 
 transferring our cash from one pocket to the other. 
 
 49. One point, however, and the most important of all, 
 remains to be noticed. How about the thousandth tax.'* 
 How is it when the boot man wants boots, and the hat 
 man hats, and the cloth man cloth? He has to go to the 
 store on the street and buy of his own boss, at the market 
 price (tax on), the very things which he made himself in 
 the shop. He then pays the tax to his own employer, and 
 the employer, according to the doctrine, "shares" it with 
 him. WHiere is the offset to that part which the employer 
 keeps.? There is none. The wages class, even on the pro- 
 tectionist explanation, may give or take from each other,
 
 46 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 but to their own employers they give and take not. At 
 election time the boss calls them in and tells them that 
 they must vote for protection or he must shut up the shop, 
 and that they ought to vote for protection, because it makes 
 their wages high. If, then, they believe in the system, 
 just as it is taught to them, they must believe that it causes 
 him to pay them big wages, out of which they pay back to 
 him big taxes, out of which he pays them a fraction back 
 again, and that, but for this arrangement, the business could 
 not go on at all. A little reflection shows that this just 
 brings up the question for a wage-earner: How much can I 
 afford to pay my boss for hiring me? or, again, which is just 
 the same thing in other words: What is the net reduction of 
 my wages, below the market rate under freedom, which results 
 from this system? (See § 65.) 
 
 50. Let it not be forgotten that this result is reached by 
 accepting protectionism and reasoning forward from its 
 doctrines and according to its principles. In truth, the 
 employees get no share in any taxes which the boss gets out 
 of them and others (see § 91 ff . for the truth about wages). 
 Of course, when this or any other subject is thoroughly 
 analyzed, it makes no difference where we begin or what 
 line we follow, we shall always reach the same result if the 
 result is correct. If we accept the protectionist's own ex- 
 planation of the way in which protection raises wages we 
 find that it proves that protection lowers wages. 
 
 (H) Examination of the Proposal to Prevent 
 Competition by Foreign Pauper Labor. 
 
 51. The protectionist says that he does not want the 
 American laborer to compete with the foreign "pauper 
 laborer" (see § 99). He assumes, that if the foreign laborer 
 is a woolen operative, the only American who may have to 
 compete with him is a woolen operative here. His device
 
 EXAMINED ON ITS OWN GROUNDS 47 
 
 for saving our operatives from the assumed competition is 
 to tax the American cotton or wheat grower on the cloth 
 he wears, to make up and offset to the woolen operative 
 the disadvantage under which he labors. If then, the case 
 were true as the protectionist states it, and if his remedy 
 were correct, he would, when he had finished his operation, 
 simply have allowed the American woolen operative to 
 escape, by transferring to the American cotton or wheat 
 grower the evil results of competition with "foreign pauper 
 labor." 
 
 (7) Examination of the Proposal to raise the 
 Standard of Public Comfort. 
 
 52. But the protectionist reiterates that he wants to 
 make our people well off, and to diffuse general prosperity, 
 and he says that his system does this. He says that the 
 country has prospered under protection and on account of 
 it. He brings from the census the figures for increased 
 wealth of the country, and, to speak of no minor errors, 
 draws an inference that we have prospered more than we 
 should have done under free trade, which is what he has to 
 prove, without noticing that the second term of the com- 
 parison is absent and unattainable. In the same manner 
 I once heard a man argue from statistics, who showed by 
 the small loss of a city by fire that its fire department cost 
 too much. I asked him if he had any statistics of the fires 
 which we should have had but for the fire department 
 (see § 102). 
 
 53. The people of the United States have inherited an 
 untouched continent. The now living generation is prac- 
 ticing bonanza farming on prairie soil which has never 
 borne a crop. The population is only fifteen to the square 
 mile. The population of England and Wales is four hun- 
 dred and forty-six to the square mile; that of the British
 
 48 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 Islands two hundred and ninety; that of Belgium four 
 hundred and eighty-one; of France one hundred and 
 eighty; of Germany two hundred and sixteen. Bateman ^ 
 estimates that in the better part of England or Wales a 
 peasant proprietor would need from four and a half to six 
 acres, and, in the worse part, from nine to forty-five acres 
 on which to support "a healthy family." The soil of 
 England and Wales, equally divided between the families 
 there, would give only seven acres apiece. The land of 
 the United States, equally divided between the families 
 there, would give two hundred and fifteen acres apiece. 
 These old nations give us the other term of the comparison 
 by which we measure our prosperity. They have a dense 
 population on a soil which has been used for thousands of 
 years; we have an extremely sparse population on a virgin 
 soil. We have an excellent climate, mountains full of 
 coal and ore, natural highways on the rivers and lakes, and 
 a coast indented with sounds, bays, and some of the best 
 harbors in the world. We have also a population of good 
 national character, especially as regards the economic and 
 industrial virtues. The sciences and arts are highly culti- 
 vated among us, and our institutions are the best for the 
 development of economic strength. As compared with old 
 nations we are prosperous. Now comes the protectionist 
 statesman and says: "The things which you have enu- 
 merated are not the causes of our comparative prosperity. 
 Those things are all vain. Our prosperity is not due to 
 them. I made it with my taxes." 
 
 54. (a) In the first place the fact is that we surpass most 
 in prosperity those nations which are most like us in their 
 tax systems, and those compared with whom our prosperity 
 is least remarkable are those which have by free trade offset 
 as much as possible the disadvantage of age and dense 
 population. Since, then, we find greatest difference in 
 
 ^ Broderick, " English Land and English Landlords," p. 194.
 
 EXAMINED ON ITS OWN GROUNDS 49 
 
 prosperity with least difference in tax, and least diflFerence 
 in prosperity with greatest difference in tax, we cannot re- 
 gard tax as a cause of prosperity, but as an obstacle to pros- 
 perity which must have been overcome by some stronger 
 cause. That such is the case lies plainly on the face of the 
 facts. The prosperity which we enjoy is the prosperity 
 which God and nature have given us minus what the legis- 
 lator has taken from it. 
 
 55. (b) We prospered with slavery just as we have pros- 
 pered with protection. The argument that the former was 
 a cause would be just as strong as the argument that the 
 lattei^ is a cause, 
 
 56. (c) The protectionists take to themselves as a credit 
 all the advance in the arts of the last twenty-five years, 
 because they have not entirely offset it and destroyed it. 
 
 57. (d) The protectionists claim that they have increased 
 our wealth. All the wealth that is produced must be pro- 
 duced by labor and capital applied to land. The people 
 have wrought and produced. The tax gatherer has only 
 subtracted something. Whether he used what he took well 
 or ill, he subtracted. He could not do anything else. 
 Therefore, whatever wealth we see about us, and whatever 
 wealth appears in the census is what the people have pro- 
 duced, Ze^s what the tax gatherer has taken out of it. 
 
 58. (e) If the members of Congress can establish for them- 
 selves some ideal of the grade of comfort which the average 
 American citizen ought to enjoy, and then just get it for 
 him, they have used their power hitherto in a very beggarly 
 manner. For, although the average status of our people is 
 high when compared with that of other people on the globe, 
 nevertheless, when compared with any standard of ideal 
 comfort, it leaves much to be desired. If Congress has 
 the power supposed, they surely ought not to measure the 
 exercise of it by only making us better off than Europeans. 
 
 59. (/) During the late presidential campaign the pro-
 
 50 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 tectionist orators assured the people that they meant to 
 make everybody well off, that they wished our people to 
 be prosperous, contented, etc. I wish so too. I wish that 
 all my readers may be millionaires. I freely and sincerely 
 confer on them all the bounty of my good wishes. They 
 will not find a cent more in their pockets on that account. 
 The congressmen have no power to bless my readers which 
 I have not, save one; that is, the power to tax them. 
 
 60. (g) If the congressmen are determined to elevate the 
 comfort of the population by taxing the population, then 
 every new ship load of immigrants must be regarded as a 
 new body of persons whom we must "elevate" by the 
 taxes we have to pay. It is said that an Irishman affirmed 
 that a dollar in America would not buy more than a shilling 
 in Ireland. He was asked why then he did not stay in 
 Ireland. He replied that it was because he could not get 
 the shilling there. That is a good story, only it stops just 
 where it ought to begin. The next question is: How does 
 he get the dollar when he comes to America? The pro- 
 tectionist wants us to suppose that he gets it by grace of 
 the tariff. If so he gets it out of those who were here be- 
 fore he came. But plainly no such thing is true. He gets 
 it by earning it, and he adds two dollars to the wealth of 
 the country while earning it. The only thing the tariff 
 does in regard to it is to lower the purchasing power of the 
 dollar, if it is spent for products of manufacture, to seventy 
 cents. 
 
 61. Here, again, then, we find that protective taxes, if 
 they do just what the protectionist says that they will do, 
 produce the very opposite effects from those which he says 
 they will produce. They lessen wealth, reduce prosperity, 
 diminish average comfort, and lower the standard of living. 
 (See § 30.)
 
 PROTECTIONISM EXAMINED ADVERSELY 51 
 Chapter III 
 
 PROTECTIONISM EXAMINED AD\'ERSELY 
 
 62. I have so far examined protectionism as a philosophy 
 of national wealth, assuming and accepting its own doc- 
 trines, and following them out, to see if they will issue as 
 is claimed. We have found that they do not, but that pro- 
 tectionism, on its own doctrines, issues in the impoverish- 
 ment of the nation and in failure to do anything which it 
 claims to do. On the contrary, an examination in detail 
 of its means, methods, purposes, and plans shows that it 
 must produce waste and loss, so that if it were true, we 
 should have to believe that waste and loss are means of wealth. 
 Now I turn about to attack it in face, on an open issue, for 
 if any project which is advocated proves, upon free and 
 fair examination, to be based on errors of fact and doc- 
 trine, it becomes a danger and an evil to be exposed and 
 combated, and truth of fact and doctrine must be set 
 against it. 
 
 1. PROTECTIONISM INCLUDES AND NECESSARILY CARRIES WITH 
 IT HOSTILITY TO TRADE OR, AT LEAST. SUSPICION AGAINST 
 TRADE 
 
 (A) Rules for Knowing when it is Safe to Trade. 
 
 63. Every protectionist is forced to regard trade as a 
 mischievous or at least doubtful thing. Protectionists 
 have even tried to formulate rules for determining when 
 trade is beneficial and when harmful. 
 
 64. It has been said that we ought to trade only on 
 meridians of longitude, not on parallels of latitude. 
 
 65. It has been affirmed that we cannot safely trade 
 unless we have taxes to exactly offset the lower wages of 
 foreign countries. But it is plain that if the case stands
 
 52 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 so that an American employer says: "I am at a disad- 
 vantage compared with my foreign competitor, because he 
 pays less wages than I " — then, by the same token, the 
 American laborer will say: "I am at an advantage, com- 
 pared with my foreign comrade, for I get better wages 
 than he." If the law interferes with the state of things 
 so that the employer is enabled to say: "I am now at less 
 disadvantage in competition with my foreign rival, because 
 I do not now have to pay as much more wages than he 
 as formerly " — then, by the same token, the American 
 laborer must say: "I am not now as much better off than 
 my foreign comrade as formerly, for I do not now gain as 
 much more than he as I did — there is not now as much 
 advantage in emigrating to this country as formerly." 
 Therefore, whenever the taxes just offset the difference in 
 wages, they just take away from the American laborer all his 
 superiority over the foreigner, and take away all reason for 
 caring to come to this country. So much for the laborer. 
 But the employer, if he has arrested immigration, has cut 
 off one source of the supply of labor, tending to raise wages, 
 and is at war with himself again (§ 47). 
 
 66. It has been said that two nations cannot trade ij the 
 rate of interest in the two differs by two per cent The rate 
 of interest in the Atlantic States and in the Mississippi 
 Valley has always differed by two per cent, yet they have 
 traded together under absolute free trade, and the IVIis- 
 sissippi Valley has had to begin a wilderness and grow up 
 to the highest standard of civilization in spite of that state 
 of things. 
 
 67. It has been said that we ought to trade only with 
 inferior nations. The United States does not trade with 
 any other nation, save when it buys territory. A in the 
 United States trades with B in some foreign country. If 
 I want caoutchouc I want to trade with a savage in the 
 forests of South America. If I want mahogany I want to
 
 PROTECTIONISM EXAMINED ADVERSELY 53 
 
 trade with a man in Honduras. If I want sugar I want to 
 trade with a man in Cuba. If I want tea I want to trade 
 with a man in China. If I want silk or champagne I want 
 to trade with a man in France. If I want a razor I want to 
 trade with a man in England. I want to trade with the 
 man who has the thing which I want of the best quality 
 and at the lowest rate of exchange for my products. What 
 is the definition or test of an "inferior nation," and what 
 has that got to do with trade any more than the race, 
 language, color, or religion of the man who has the goods? 
 
 68. If trade was an object of suspicion and dread, then 
 indeed we ought to have rules for distinguishing safe and 
 beneficial trade from mischievous trade, but these attempts 
 to define and discriminate only expose the folly of the sus- 
 picion. We find that the primitive men who dwelt in 
 caves in the glacial epoch carried on trade. The earliest 
 savages made footpaths through the forests by which to 
 traffic and trade, winning thereby mutual advantages. 
 They found that they could supply more wants with less 
 effort by trade, which gave them a share in the natural 
 advantages and acquired skill of others. They trained 
 beasts of burden, improved roads, invented wagons and 
 boats y all in order to extend and facilitate trade. They 
 were foolish enough to think that they were gaining by it, 
 and did not know that they needed a protective tariff to keep 
 them from ruining themselves. Or, why does not some 
 protectionist sociologist tell us at what stage of civiliza- 
 tion trade ceases to be advantageous and begins to need 
 restraint and regulation.? 
 
 {B) Economic Units not National Units. 
 
 69. The protectionists say that their system advances 
 civilization inside a state and makes it great, but the facts 
 are all against them (see § 136ff). It was by trade that civi-
 
 54 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 lization was extended over the earth. It was through the 
 contact of trade that the more civihzed nations trans- 
 mitted to others the alphabet, weights and measures, 
 knowledge of astronomy, divisions of time, tools and 
 weapons, coined money, systems of numeration, treat- 
 ment of metals, skins, and wool, and all the other achieve- 
 ments of knowledge and invention which constitute the 
 bases of our civilization. On the other hand, the nations 
 which shut themselves up and developed an independent 
 and self-contained civilization (China and Japan) present 
 us the types of arrested civilization and stereotyped social 
 status. It is the penalty of isolation and of withdrawal 
 from the giving and taking which properly bind the whole 
 human race together, that even such intelligent and highly 
 endowed people as the Chinese should find their high 
 activity arrested at narrow limitations on every side. 
 They invent coin, but never get beyond a cast copper coin. 
 They invent gunpowder, but cannot make a gun. They 
 invent movable types, but only the most rudimentary 
 book. They discover the mariner's compass, but never 
 pass the infancy of ship-building. 
 
 70. The fact is, then, that trade has been the handmaid 
 of civilization. It has traversed national boundaries, and 
 has gradually, with improvement in the arts of transpor- 
 tation, drawn the human race into closer relations and more 
 harmonious interests. The contact of trade slowly saps 
 old national prejudice and religious or race hatreds. The 
 jealousies which were perpetuated by distance and igno- 
 rance cannot stand before contact and knowledge. To stop 
 trade is to arrest this beneficent work, to separate mankind 
 into sections and factions, and to favor discord, jealousy, 
 and war. 
 
 71. Such is the action of protectionism. The pro- 
 tectionists make much of their pretended "nationalism," 
 and they try to reason out some kind of relationship be-
 
 PROTECTIONISM EXAMINED ADVERSELY 55 
 
 tween the scope of economic forces and the boundaries of 
 existing nations. The argumentation is fatally broken at 
 its first step. They do not show what they might show, 
 viz., that the scope of economic forces on any given stage 
 of the arts does form economic units. An English county 
 was such a unit a century ago. I doubt if anything less 
 than the whole earth could be considered so to-day, when 
 the wool of Australia, the hides of South America, the 
 cotton of Alabama, the wheat of Manitoba, and the meat 
 of Texas meet the laborers in Manchester and ShejQBeld, 
 and would meet the laborers in Lowell and Paterson, if 
 the barriers were out of the way. But what the national 
 protectionist would need to show would be that the eco- 
 nomic unit coincides with the political unit. He would 
 have to affirm that Maine and Texas are in one economic 
 unit, but that Maine and New Brunswick are not; or that 
 Massachusetts and Minnesota are in one economic unit, 
 but that Massachusetts and Manitoba are not. Every 
 existing state is a product of historic accidents. Mr. 
 Jefferson set out to buy the city of New Orleans. He 
 awoke one morning to find that he had bought the western 
 half of the Mississippi Valley. Since that turned out so, 
 the protectionists think that Missouri and Illinois prosper 
 by trading in perfect freedom.^ If it had not turned out 
 so, it would have been very mischievous for them to trade 
 
 ^ Since the above was in type, I have, for the first time, seen an argument 
 from a protectionist, that a tarifiF between our states is, or may become, desirable. 
 It is from the Chicago Inter-Ocean, and marks the extreme limit reached, up to 
 this time, by protectionist fanaticism and folly, although it is thoroughly con- 
 sistent, and fairly lays bare the spirit and essence of protectionism: 
 
 "In the United States the present ominous and overshadowing strike in the 
 iron trade, by which from 75,000 to 100,000 men have been thrown out of work, 
 is an incisive example of the tendency of this country, also, to a condition of trade 
 which will compel individual states and certain sections of the country to ask for 
 legislation, in order to protect them against the cheaper labor and superior natural 
 advantage of others." The remedy for the harm done by taxes on our foreign 
 trade is to lay some on our domestic trade. (See §§ 26, 95.)
 
 56 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 in perfect freedom. Nova Scotia did not join the revolt 
 of our thirteen colonies. Hence it is thought ruinous to 
 let coal and potatoes come in freely from Nova Scotia. If 
 she had revolted with us, it would have been for the benefit 
 of everybody in this union to trade with her as freely as 
 we now trade with Maine. We tried to conquer Canada in 
 1812-1813 and failed. Consequently the Canadians now put 
 taxes on our coal and petroleum and wheat, and we put 
 taxes on their lumber, which our coal and petroleum in- 
 dustries need. We did annex Texas, at the cost of war, 
 in 184i>. Consequently we trade with Texas now under 
 absolute freedom, but, if we trade with Mexico, it must be 
 only very carefully and under stringent limitations. Is 
 this wisdom, or is it all pure folly and wrongheadedness, 
 by which men who boast of their intelligence throw away 
 their own chances? ^ 
 
 72. Trade is a beneficent thing. It does not need any 
 regulation or restraint. There is no point at which it 
 begins to be dangerous. It is mutually beneficent. If it 
 ceases to be so, it ceases entirely, because he who no longer 
 gains by it will no longer carry it on. (See § 125.) 
 
 II. PROTECTIONISM IS AT WAR WITH IMPROVEMENT 
 
 73. The cities of Japan are built of very combustible 
 material, and when a fire begins it is rarely arrested until 
 the city is destroyed. It was suggested that a steam fire- 
 engine would there reach its maximum of utility. One 
 was imported and proved very useful on several occasions. 
 
 * Since the above was in type, a treasury order has subjected all goods from 
 Canada to the same taxes as imported goods, although they may be going from 
 Minnesota to England. Nature has made man too well off. The inhabitants of 
 North America will not simply use their chances, but they divide into two artifi- 
 cial bodies so as to try to harm each other. Millions are spent to cut an isthmus 
 where nature has left one, and millions more to set up a tax-barrier where nature 
 has made a highway.
 
 PROTECTIONISM EXAMINED ADVERSELY 57 
 
 Thereupon the carpenters got up a petition to the govern- 
 ment to send the fire-engine away, because it ruined their 
 business. 
 
 74. The instance is grotesque and exaggerated, but it 
 is strictly true to the principle of protectionism. The 
 southern counties of England, a century ago, protested 
 against the opening of the great northern turnpike, because 
 that would bring the products of the northern counties to 
 the London market, of which the southern counties had 
 had a monopoly. After the St. Gothard tunnel was 
 opened the people of southern Germany petitioned the 
 Government to lay higher taxes on Italian products to 
 offset the cheapness which the tunnel had produced. In 
 1837 the first two steamers which ever made commercial 
 voyages across the Atlantic arrived at the same time. A 
 grand celebration was held in New York. The foolish 
 people rejoiced as if a new blessing had been won. Man 
 had won a new triumph over nature. What was the gain 
 of it.? It was that he could satisfy his needs with less 
 labor than before; or, in plain language, get things cheaper. 
 But in 1842 a Home Industry Convention was held in New 
 York, at which it was alleged as the prime reason why more 
 taxes were needed, that this steam transportation had made 
 things cheap here.^ Taxes were needed to neutralize the 
 improvement. 
 
 {A) Taxes to Offset Cheapened Transportation. 
 
 75. For the last twenty-five years, to go no farther 
 back, we have multiplied inventions to facilitate trans- 
 portation. Ocean cables, improved marine engines, and 
 screw steamers, have been only improved means, of sup- 
 plying the wants of people on two continents more 
 abundantly with the products each of the other. The 
 
 » 62, Niles's " Register." 132.
 
 58 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 scientific journals and the daily papers boast of every step 
 in this development as a thing to be proud of and rejoice 
 in, but in the meantime the legislators on both sides of the 
 water are hard at work to neutralize it by taxation. We, 
 in the United States, have multiplied monstrous taxes on 
 all the things which others make and which we want, to 
 prevent them from being brought to us. The statesmen 
 of the European continent are laying taxes on our meat 
 and wheat, lest they be brought to their people. The arts 
 are bringing us together; the taxes are needed to keep us 
 apart. In France, for instance, the agriculturist complains 
 of American competition — not "pauper labor," but gra- 
 tuitous soil and sunlight. He does not want the French 
 artisan to have the benefit of our prairie soil. The govern- 
 ment yields to him and lays a tax on our meat and wheat. 
 This raises the price of bread in Paris, where the recon- 
 struction of the city has collected a large artisan popula- 
 tion. The government then finds itself driven to fix the 
 price of bread in Paris, to keep it down. But the recon- 
 struction of the city was accomplished by contracting a 
 great debt, which means heavy taxes. These taxes drive 
 the population out into the suburbs. At least one voice 
 has been raised by an owner of city property that a tax 
 ought to be laid on suburban residents to drive them back 
 to the city,^ and not let them escape the efforts of the city 
 landlord to throw his taxes on them. Then, again, France 
 has been subsidizing ships, and when the question of re- 
 newing the subsidy came up, it was argued that the ships 
 subsidized at the expense of the French taxpayer had 
 lowered freight on wheat and made wheat cheap; that is, 
 as somebody justly replied, had wrought the very mis- 
 chief against which the increased tax had just been de- 
 manded on wheat. Therefore the taxpayer had been 
 taxed first to make wheat cheap, and then again to make 
 it dear. 
 
 1 Journal des Economistes, March, 1885, page 496.
 
 PROTECTIONISM EXAMINED ADVERSELY 59 
 
 76 Tax A to favor B. If A complains, tax C to make 
 it up to A. If C complains, tax B to favor C. If any of 
 them still complain, begin all over again. Tax them as 
 long as anybody complains, or anybody wants anythmg. 
 This is the statesmanship of the last quarter of the mne- 
 
 teenth century. , , . xj i^.e f^ 
 
 77 Bismarck, too, is going mto the busmess. He has to 
 rule a people who live on a poor soil and have to bear a 
 crushing military system. The consequence is that the 
 population is declining. Emigration exceeds the natural 
 increase. Bismarck's cure for it is to lay protective taxes 
 against American pork and wheat and rye. This wdl 
 protect the German agriculturist. If it lowers still more 
 the comfort of the buyers of food, and drives more of hem 
 out of the country, then he will go and buy or fight for 
 colonies at the expense of the German agriculturists whom 
 he has just "protected," although the surplus population 
 of Germany has been taking itself away for thirty years 
 without asking help or giving trouble, mat can Germany 
 gain by diverting her emigrants to her own colony unless 
 she means to bring the able-bodied men back to fight her 
 battles? If she means that, the emigrants will not go to 
 
 ^78 "" France is also reviving the old colonial policy ^th 
 discriminating favors and compensatory restraints. She 
 already owns a possession in Algeria, which is the best 
 example of a colony for the sake of a colony. It has been 
 asserted in the French Chambers that each French family 
 now in Algeria has cost the Government {i.e., the French 
 taxpayer) 25,000 francs.^ The longing of these countries 
 for "colonies" is like the longing of a negro dandy for a 
 cane or a tall hat so as to be like the white gentlemen. 
 
 1 Paris correspondent of the New York Evening Post, February 9, 1884.
 
 60 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 (B) Sugar Bounties. 
 
 79. The worst case of all, however, is sugar. The pro- 
 tectionists long boasted of beet-root sugar as a triumph of 
 their system. It is now an industry in which an immense 
 amount of capital is invested on the Continent, but cheap 
 transportation for cane sugar, and improvements in the 
 treatment of the latter, are constantly threatening it. 
 Mention is made in Bradstreefs for June 28, 1885, of a very 
 important improvement in the treatment of cane which has 
 just been invented at Berlin. Germany has an excise tax 
 on beet-root sugar, but allows a drawback on it when ex- 
 ported which is greater than the tax. This acts as a 
 bounty paid by the German taxpayer on the exportation. 
 Consequently, beet-root sugar has appeared even in our 
 market. The chief market for it, however, is England. 
 The consequence is that the sugar, which is nine cents a 
 pound in Germany, and seven cents a pound here, is five 
 cents a pound in England, and that the annual consump- 
 tion of sugar per head in the three countries ^ is as follows: 
 England, sixty-seven and a half pounds; United States, 
 fifty-one pounds; Germany, twelve pounds. I sometimes 
 find it difficult to make people understand the difference be- 
 tween wanting an "industry" and wanting goods, but this 
 case ought to make that distinction clear. Obviously the 
 Germans have the industry and the Englishmen have the sugar. 
 
 80. No sooner, however, does Germany get her export 
 bounty in good working order than the Austrian sugar re- 
 finers besiege their government to know whether Germany 
 is to have the monopoly of giving sugar to the Englishmen.^ 
 
 ' Economist, Commercial Review, 1884, p. 15. 
 
 ^ The Vienna correspondent of the Economist writes, June 15, 1885, "The rep- 
 resentatives of the sugar trade addressed a petition to the Finance Minister, ask- 
 ing, above all things, that the premium on export should be retained, without 
 which, they say, they cannot continue to exist, and which is granted in all countries 
 where beet-root sugar is manufactured."
 
 PROTECTIONISM EXAMINED ADVERSELY 61 
 
 They get a bounty and compete for that privilege. Then 
 the French refiners say that they cannot compete, and must 
 be enabled to compete in giving sugar to the Englishmen. 
 I believe that their case is under favorable consideration. 
 
 80 a. I have found it harder (as is usually the case) to 
 get recorded information about the trade and industry of 
 our own country than about those of foreign nations. 
 However, we too, although we do not raise beet-sugar, 
 have our share in this bounty folly, as may be seen by the 
 following statement, which comes to hand just in time to 
 serve my purpose.^ "The export of refined sugar [from 
 the United States] is entirely confined to hard sugars, or, 
 to be more explicit, loaf, crushed, and granulated. This 
 is because the drawback upon this class of sugar is so large 
 that refiners are enabled to sell them at less than cost. 
 The highest collectable duty upon sugar testing as high 
 as 99° is but 2.36, but the drawback upon granulated test- 
 ing the same, and in the case of crushed and loaf less, is 
 2.82 less 1 per cent. This is exactly 43 cents per one 
 hundred pounds more than the government receives in 
 duty. But it rarely happens that raw sugar is imported 
 testing 99°, and never for refining purposes. The following 
 table gives the rates of duty upon the average grades used 
 
 ^ ' Degrees Duty 
 
 Fair refining testing 89 1 . 96 
 
 Fair refining testing 90 2 . 00 
 
 Centrifugal testing 96 2 . 28 
 
 Beet-sugar testing 88 1 . 92 
 
 It will be clearly seen from the above figures that with a 
 net drawback upon hard sugar of 2.79 our refiners are able 
 to sell to foreigners, through the assistance of our Treasury, 
 sugar at less than cost. Taking, for instance, the net 
 price of centrifugal testing only 97° and the net price less 
 drawback of granulated: 
 
 i BradslreeCs, July 25, 1885.
 
 62 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 Centrifugal raw sugar testing 97° 6 . 00 
 
 Less duty 2.28 
 
 Net 3.72 
 
 Granulated refined testing 99° 6.37§ 
 
 Less drawback 2.71 
 
 Net 3.661 
 
 Nothing could demonstrate the absurdity of the present 
 rate of drawback more clearly than the above. A refiner 
 pays 6| cents per hundred more for raw sugar testing 2° 
 less saccharine than he sells refined for. Not, however, to 
 the American consumers, but to foreigners. After pay- 
 ing the expenses necessary to refining by the assistance of 
 a drawback, which clearly amounts to a subsidy of about 
 50 cents a hundred pounds, our large sugar monopolists 
 are assisted by the government to increase the cost of sugar 
 to American consumers. One firm controls almost the 
 entire trade of the east; at all events it is safe to say that 
 the trade of the entire country is controlled by three firms, 
 and the Treasury assists this monopoly in sustaining prices 
 against the interest of the country at large. Up to date 
 the exports of refined sugar have amounted to 83,340 tons, 
 which, taken at 50 cents a hundred, has cost the treasury 
 over $830,000. All this may not have gone into the pockets 
 of the refiners, as the ship owners have obtained a share, 
 but the fact remains that the Treasury is the loser by this 
 amount. Besides this bounty presses hard upon the con- 
 sumers. They not only have to pay the tax, but during 
 the late rise they were compelled to pay more for their 
 sugar than they otherwise would have done had not the 
 export demand caused by selling sugar to foreigners at less 
 than cost, the Treasury paying the difference, increased 
 prices. While an American consumer is charged 6| cents 
 for granulated, foreign buyers, through the liberality of 
 our government, can buy it under 3f cents. Certainly it
 
 PROTECTIONISM EXAMINED ADVERSELY 63 
 
 is time that the Secretary of the Treasury asked the sugar 
 commission to commence a comprehensive and impartial 
 inquiry." 
 
 81. Of course the story would not be complete if the 
 English refiners did not besiege their government for a 
 tax to keep out this maleficent gift of foreign taxpayers. 
 This, say they, is not free trade. This is protection turned 
 the other way around. We might hold our own on an equal 
 footing, but we cannot contend against a subsidized in- 
 dustry. A superficial thinker might say that this protest 
 was conclusive. The English government set on foot an 
 investigation, not of the sugar refining, but of those other 
 interests which were in danger of being forgotten. There was 
 a tariff investigation which was worth something and was 
 worthy of an enlightened government. It was found that 
 the consumers of sugar had gained more than all the wages 
 paid in sugar refining. But, on the side of the producers, 
 it was found that 6,000 persons are employed and 45,000 
 tons of sugar are used annually in the neighborhood of 
 London in manufacturing jam and confectionery. In 
 Scotland there are eighty establishments, employing over 
 4,000 people and using 35,000 tons of sugar per annum in 
 similar industries. In the whole United Kingdom, in those 
 industries, 100,000 tons of sugar are used and 12,000 people 
 are" employed, three times as many as in sugar refining. 
 Within twenty years the confectionery trade of Scotland 
 has quadrupled and the preserving trade — jam and mar- 
 malade — has practically been originated. In addition, 
 refined sugar is a raw material in biscuit making and the 
 manufacture of mineral waters, and 50,000 tons are used 
 in brewing and distilling. Hence the Economist argues 
 (and this view seems to have controlled the decision): "It 
 may be that the gain which we at present realize from the 
 bounties may not be enduring, as it is impossible to believe 
 that foreign nations will go on taxing themselves to the ex-
 
 64 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 tent of several millions a year in order to supply us and 
 others with sugar at less than its fair price, but that is no 
 reason for refusing to avail ourselves of their liberality so 
 long as it does last." ^ (See § 83, note.) 
 
 82. One point in this case ought not to be lost sight of. 
 If the English government had yielded to the sugar refiners 
 without looking further, all these little industries which 
 are mentioned, and which in their aggregate are so im- 
 portant, would have been crushed out. Ten years later 
 they would have been forgotten. It is from such an ex- 
 ample that one must learn to form a judgment as to the 
 effect of our tariff in crushing out industries which are now 
 lost and gone, and cannot even be recalled for purposes of 
 controversy, but which would spring into existence again if 
 the repeal of the taxes should g^e them a chance. 
 
 83. On our side the water efforts have been made to get 
 us into the sugar struggle by the proposed commercial 
 treaties with Spain and England, which would in effect 
 have extended our protective tariff around Cuban and 
 English West Indian sugar.^ The sugar consumers of 
 the United States were to pay to the Cuban planters the 
 twenty-five million dollars revenue which they now pay to 
 the treasury on Cuban sugar, on condition that the Cubans 
 should bring back part of it and spend it among our manu- 
 facturers. It was a new extension of the plan of taxing 
 some of us for the benefit of others of us. Let it be noticed, 
 too, that when it suited their purpose, the protectionists 
 were ready to sacrifice the sugar industry of Louisiana 
 without the least concern. We have been trying for 
 twenty-five years to secure the home market and keep 
 
 1 Economist, 1884, p. 1052. 
 
 ^ A friend has sent me a report (Barbados Agricultural Report, April 24, 1885) 
 of an indignation meeting at Bridgetown to protest because the English Govern- 
 ment refused to ratify the commercial treaty with the United States. The islanders 
 feel the competition of the "bounty-fed" sugar in the English market; a new com- 
 plication, a new mischief.
 
 PROTECTIONISM EXAMINED ADVERSELY 65 
 
 everybody else out of it. As soon as we get it firmly shut, 
 so that nobody else can get in, we find that it is a question of 
 life and death with us to get out ourselves. The next device 
 is to tax Americans in order to go and buy a piece of the 
 foreign market. At the last session of Congress Senator 
 Cameron proposed to allow a drawback on raw materials 
 used in exported products. On that plan the American 
 manufacturer would have two costs of production, one 
 when he was working for the home market, and another 
 much lower one when working for the foreign market. As 
 it is now, the exports of manufactured products, of which 
 so much boasting is heard, are for the most part articles 
 sold abroad lower than here so as not to break down the 
 home monopoly market. The proposed plan would raise 
 that to a system, and we should be giving more presents to 
 foreigners. 
 
 84. To return to sugar, our treaty with the Sandwich 
 Islands has produced anomalous and mischievous results 
 on the Pacific coast. In the southern Pacific New Zealand 
 is just going into the plan of bounties and protection on 
 sugar. ^ It would not, therefore, be very bold to predict 
 a worldwide catastrophe in the sugar industry within five 
 years. 
 
 85. Now what is it all for.'^ What is it all about? Na- 
 poleon Bonaparte began it in a despotic whim, when he 
 determined to force the production of beet-root sugar to 
 show that he did not care for the supremacy of England 
 at sea which cut him off from the sugar islands. In order 
 not to lose the capital engaged in the industry, protection 
 was continued. But this led to putting more capital into 
 it and further need of protection. The problem has tor- 
 mented financiers for seventy-five years. There are two 
 natural products, of which the cane is far richer in sugar. 
 But the processes of the beet-sugar industry have been 
 
 ^ Economist, Commercial Supplement, February 14, 1885, p. 7.
 
 66 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 improved, until recently, far more rapidly than those of the 
 cane industry. Then the refining is a separate interest. 
 If, then, a country has cane-sugar colonies which it wants 
 to protect against other colonies, and a beet-sugar industry 
 which it wants to protect against neighbors who produce 
 beet-sugar, and refiners to be protected against foreign re- 
 finers, and if the relations of its own colonial cane-sugar 
 producers to its own domestic beet-sugar producers must 
 be kept satisfactorily adjusted, in spite of changes in proc- 
 esses, transportation, and taxation, and if it wants to get 
 a revenue from sugar, and to use the colonial trade to de- 
 velop its shipping, and if it has two or three commercial 
 treaties in which sugar is an important item, the states- 
 man of that country has a task like that of a juggler riding 
 several horses and keeping several balls in motion. Sugar 
 is the commodity on which the effects of a world-embrac- 
 ing commerce, produced by modern inventions, are most 
 apparent, and it is the commodity through which all the 
 old protectionist anti-commercial doctrines will be brought 
 to the most decisive test. 
 
 (C) Forced Foreign Relations to Regulate Improve- 
 ment WHICH CAN NO LoNGER BE DEFEATED. 
 
 86. If we turn back once more to our own case, we note 
 the rise in 1883-1884 of the policy of commercial treaties 
 and of a "vigorous foreign policy." For years a "national 
 policy" for us has meant "securing the home market." 
 The perfection of this policy has led to isolation and os- 
 tentatious withdrawal from cosmopolitan interests. I may 
 say that I do not write out of any sympathy with vague 
 humanitarianism or cosmopolitan sentiments. It seems to 
 me that local groupings have great natural strength and 
 obvious utility so long as they are subdivisions of a higher 
 organization of the human race, or so long as they are
 
 PROTECTIONISM EXAMINED ADVERSELY 67 
 
 formed freely and their relations to each other are de- 
 veloped naturally. But now suddenly rises a clap-trap 
 demand for a "national policy," which means that we shall 
 force our way out of our tax-created isolation by diplo- 
 macy or war. The effort, however, is to be restrained care- 
 fully and arbitrarily to the western hemisphere, and we 
 have anxiously disavowed any part or lot in the regulation 
 of the Congo, although we shall certainly some day desire 
 to take our share in the trade of that district. Our states- 
 men, however, if they are going to let us have any foreign 
 trade, cannot bear to let us go and take it where we shall 
 make most by it. They must draw a priori lines for it. 
 They have taxed us in order to shut us up at home. This 
 has killed the carrying trade, for, if we decided not to trade, 
 what could the shippers find to do.^* Next ship-building 
 perished, for if there was no carrying trade why build 
 ships, especially when the taxes to protect manufactures 
 were crushing ships and commerce.'^ (§ 101.) Next the 
 navy declined, for with no commerce to protect at sea, we 
 need no navy. Next we lost the interest which we took 
 thirty years ago in a canal across the isthmus, because we 
 have now, under the no-trade policy, no use for it. Next 
 diplomacy became a sinecure, for we have no foreign 
 relations. 
 
 87. Now comes the "national policy," not because it is 
 needed, but as an artificial and inflated piece of political 
 bombast. We are to galvanize our diplomacy by contract- 
 ing commercial treaties and meddling in foreign quarrels. 
 No doubt this will speedily make a navy necessary. In 
 fact our proposed "American policy" is only an old, cast- 
 off, eighteenth-century, John Bull policy, which has forced 
 England to keep up a big army, a big navy, heavy debt, 
 heavy taxes, and a constant succession of little wars. Hence 
 we shall be taxed some more to pay for a navy. Then it is 
 proposed to tax us some more to pay for canals through
 
 68 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 which the navy can go. Then we are to be taxed some 
 more to subsidize merchant ships to go through the canal. 
 Then we are to be taxed some more to subsidize voyages, 
 i.e., the carrying trade. Then we are to be taxed some 
 more to provide the ships with cargoes (§ 83). 
 
 88. All this time, the whole West Indian, Mexican, and 
 Central and South American trade is ours if we will only 
 stand out of the way and let it come. It is ours by all 
 geographical and commercial advantage, and would have 
 been ours since 1825 if we had but taken down the barriers. 
 Instead of that we propose to tax ourselves some more to 
 lift it over the barriers. Take the taxes off goods, let ex- 
 change go on, and the carrying trade comes as a conse- 
 quence. If we have goods to carry, we shall build or buy 
 ships in which to carry them. If we have merchant ships, 
 we shall need and shall keep up a suitable navy. If we 
 need canals, we shall build them, as, in fact, private capital 
 is now building one and taking the risk of it. If we need 
 diplomacy we shall learn and practice diplomacy of the 
 democratic, peaceful, and commercial type. 
 
 89. Thus, under the philosophy of protectionism, the 
 very same thing, if it comes to us freely by the extension 
 of commerce and the march of improvement, is regarded 
 with terror, while, if we can first bar it out, and then only 
 let a little of it in at great cost and pains, it is a thing worth 
 fighting for. Such is the fallacy of all commercial treaties. 
 The crucial criticism on all the debates at Washington in 
 1884-1885 was: Have these debaters made up their minds to 
 any standard by which to measure what you get and what you 
 give under a commercial treaty? It was plain that they 
 had not. A generation of protectionism has taken away 
 the knowledge of what trade is (§§ 125, 139), and whence 
 its benefits arise, and has created a suspicion of trade 
 (§§ 63 ff.). Hence when our public men came to compare 
 what we should get and what we should give, they set
 
 PROTECTIONISM EXAMINED ADVERSELY 69 
 
 about measuring this by things which were entirely foreign 
 to it. Scarcely two of them agreed as to the standards by 
 which to measure it. Some thought that it was the number 
 of people in one country compared with the number in the 
 other. Others thought that it was the amount sold to as 
 compared with the amount bought from the country in 
 question. Others thought that it was the amount of 
 revenue to be sacrificed by us as compared with the amount 
 which would be sacrificed by the other party. If any one 
 will try to establish a standard by which to measure the 
 gain by such a treaty to one party or the other, he will be 
 led to see the fallacy of the whole procedure. The great- 
 est gain to both would be if the trade were perfectly free. 
 If it is obstructed more or less, that is a harm to be cor- 
 rected as far and as soon as possible. If then either party 
 lowers its own taxes, that is a gain and a movement toward 
 the desirable state of things. No state needs anybody's 
 permission to lower its own taxes, and entanglements 
 which would impair its fiscal independence would be a new 
 harm.^ 
 
 ^ Since the above was in type, a report from the "South American Commission" 
 has been received and published. This Commission submitted certain proposi- 
 tions to the President of Chili on behalf of the United States. The report says: 
 
 "The second proposition involved the idea of a reciprocal commercial treaty 
 between the two countries tmder which special products of each should be ad- 
 mitted free of duty into the other when carried under the flag of either nation. 
 This did not meet with any greater favor with President Santa Maria, who was 
 not disposed to make reciprocity treaties. His people were at liberty to sell where 
 they could get the best prices and buy where goods were the cheapest. In his 
 opinion commerce was not aided by commercial treaties, and Chili neither asked 
 from nor gave to other nations especial favors. Trade would regulate itself, and 
 there was no advantage in trjang to divert it in one direction or the other. So 
 far as the United States was concerned, there could be very little trade with Chili, 
 owing to the fact that the products of the two countries were almost identical. 
 Chili produced very little that we wanted, and although there were many industrial 
 products of the United States that were used in Chili, the merchants of the latter 
 country must be allowed to buy where they sold and where they could trade to 
 the greatest advantage. With reference to the provision that reduced duties
 
 70 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 90. Protectionism, therefore, is at war with improve- 
 ment. It is only useful to annul and offset the effects of 
 those very improvements of which we boast. In time, the 
 improvements win power so great that protectionism can- 
 not withstand them. Then it turns about and tries to con- 
 trol and regulate them at great expense by diplomacy or war. 
 The greater and more worldwide these improvements are, 
 the more numerous are the efforts in different parts of the 
 world to revive or extend protection. No doubt there is 
 loss and inconvenience in the changes which improvement 
 brings about. A notable case is the loss and inconven- 
 ience of a laborer where a machine is first introduced to 
 supplant him. Patient endurance and hope, in the con- 
 fidence that he will in the end be better off, has long been 
 preached to him. It is true that he will be better off; but 
 why not apply the same doctrine in connection with the 
 other inconveniences of improvement, where it is equally 
 true.f* 
 
 8. PROTECTION LOWERS WAGES 
 
 91. On a pure wages system, that is, where there is a 
 class who have no capital and no land, wages are deter- 
 mined by supply and demand of labor. The demand for 
 labor is measured by the capital in hand to pay for it just 
 as the demand for anything else is measured by the supply 
 of goods offered in exchange for it. In Cobden's language: 
 *'When two men are after one boss, wages are low; when 
 two bosses are after one man, wages are high." 
 
 should be allowed only upon goods Carried in Chilian or American vessels, he said 
 that Chili did not want any such means to encourage her commerce: her ports 
 were open to all the vessels of the world upon an equality, and none should have 
 especial privileges." — (N. Y. Times, July 3, 1885.) 
 
 If this is a fair specimen of the political and economic enlightenment which 
 prevails at the other end of the American Continent, it is a great pity that the 
 "Commission" is not a great deal larger. They are like the illiterate missionaries 
 who found themselves unawares in a theological seminary. We would do well to 
 send our whole Congress out there.
 
 PROTECTIONISM EXAMINED ADVERSELY 71 
 
 (A) No True Wages Class in the United States. 
 
 92. The United States, however, have never yet been 
 on a pure wages system because there is no class which has 
 no land or cannot get any. In fact, the cheapening of 
 transportation which is going on is making the land of this 
 continent, Australia, and Africa available for the laborers 
 of Europe, and is breaking down the wages system there. 
 This is the real reason for the rise of the proletariat and 
 the expansion of democracy which are generally attributed 
 to metaphysical, sentimental, or political causes. A man 
 who has no capital and no land cannot live from day to 
 day except by getting a share in the capital of others 
 in return for services rendered. In an old society or dense 
 population, such a class comes into existence. It has no 
 reserves; no other chances; no other resource. In a new 
 country no such class exists. The land is to be had for 
 going to it. On the stage of agriculture which is there ex- 
 isting very little capital and very little division of labor 
 are necessary. Hence he who has only unskilled manual 
 strength can get at and use the land, and he can get out of 
 it an abundant supply of the rude primary comforts of exist- 
 ence for himself and his family. If it is made so cheap and 
 easy to get from the old centers of population to the new 
 land that the lowest class of laborers can save enough to 
 pay the passage, then the effect will reach the labor market 
 of the old countries also. Such is now the fact. 
 
 93. The weakness of a true wages class is in the fact 
 that they have no other chance. Obviously, however, a 
 man is well off in this world in proportiofi to the chances which 
 he can command. The advantage of education is that it 
 multiplies a man's chances. Our noncapitalists have another 
 chance on the land, and the chance is near and easy to grasp 
 and use. It is not necessary that all or any number should 
 use it. Every one who uses it leaves more room behind.
 
 72 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 lessens the supply and competition of labor, and helps his 
 class as a class. The other chance which the laborer pos- 
 sesses is also a good one, and consequently sets the mini- 
 mum of unskilled wages high. Here we have the reason for 
 high wages in a new country, 
 
 94. The relation of things was distinctly visible in the 
 early colonial days. Winthrop tells how the General Court 
 in Massachusetts Bay tried to fix the wages of artisans by 
 law. It is obvious that artisans were in great demand to 
 build houses, and that they would not work at their trades 
 unless the wages would buy as good or better living than 
 the farmers could get out of the ground, for these artisans 
 could go and take up land and be farmers too. The only 
 effect of the law was that the artisans "went West" to the 
 valley of the Connecticut, and the law became a dead 
 letter. The same equilibration between the gains from 
 the new land and the wages of artisans and laborers has 
 been kept up ever since. 
 
 95. In 1884 an attempt was made to unite the Eastern 
 and Western Iron Associations for common effort in behalf 
 of higher wages. The union could not be formed because 
 the Eastern and Western Associations never had had the 
 same rate of wages. The latter, being farther west, where 
 the supply of labor is smaller and the land nearer, have 
 obtained higher wages. It may be well to anticipate a 
 little right here in order to point out that this difference in 
 wages has not prevented the growth of the industry in 
 the West, and has not made competition in a common 
 market impossible.^ The fact is of the first importance to 
 controvert the current assumption of the protectionists. 
 They say that an industry cannot be carried on in one 
 place if the wages there are higher than must be paid by 
 somebody in the same industry in another place. This 
 
 ' This is the case for which the Inter-Ocean proposed the remedy described in 
 § 71 note.
 
 PROTECTIONISM EXAMINED ADVERSELY 73 
 
 proposition has no foundation in fact at all. Farm laborers 
 in Iowa get three times the wages of farm laborers in Eng- 
 land. The products of the former pay 5,000 miles trans- 
 portation, and then drive out the products of the latter. 
 Wages are only one element, and often they are far from 
 being the most important element, in the economy of pro- 
 duction. The wages which are paid to the men who make an 
 article have nothing to do with the price or value of that article. 
 This proposition, I know, has a startling effect on the 
 people who hold to the monkish notions of political econ- 
 omy, but it is only a special case of the theorem that 
 "Labor lohich is past has no effect on value" which is the 
 true cornerstone of any sound political economy. Wages 
 are determined by the supply and demand of labor. Value 
 is determined by the supply and demand of the commodity. 
 These two things have no connection. Wages are one ele- 
 ment in the capitalist's outlay for production. If the total 
 outlay in one line of production, when compared with the 
 return obtained in that line, is not as advantageous as the 
 total outlay in another line when compared with the return 
 available in the second line, then the capital is withdrawn 
 from the first line and put into the second; but the rate of 
 wages in either case or any case is the market rate, deter- 
 mined by the supply and demand of labor, for that is what 
 the employers must pay if they want the men, whether 
 they are making any profits or not. 
 
 96. The facts and economic principles just stated above 
 show plainly why wages are high, and put in strong light 
 the assertion of the protectionists that their device makes 
 wages high (§ 47), that is, higher than they would be other- 
 wise, or higher here than they are in Europe, Wages are 
 not arbitrary. They cannot be shifted up and down at 
 anybody's whim. They are controlled by ultimate causes. 
 If not, then what has made them fall during the last eight- 
 een months, ten to forty per cent, most in the most pro-
 
 74 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 tected industries (§ 26) ? Why are they highest in the least 
 protected and the unprotected industries, e.g., the build- 
 ing trades? Hod-carriers recently struck in New York for 
 three dollars for nine hours' work. WTiere did the tariff 
 touch their case? Why does not the tariff prevent the fall in 
 wages? It is all there, and now is the time for it to come 
 into operation, if it can keep wages up. Now it is needed. 
 When wages were high in the market, and it was not 
 needed, it claimed the credit. Now when they fall and it is 
 needed, it is powerless. 
 
 97. Wages are capital. If I promise to pay wages I 
 must find capital somewhere with which to fulfill my con- 
 tract. If the tariff makes me pay more than I otherwise 
 would, where does the surplus come from? Disregarding 
 money as only an intermediate term, a man's wages are his 
 means of subsistence — food, clothing, house rent, fuel, 
 lights, furniture, etc. If the tariff system makes him get 
 more of these for ten hours' work in a shop than he would 
 get without tariff, where does the ''more" come from? Noth- 
 ing but labor and capital can produce food, clothing, etc. 
 Either the tax must make these out of nothing, or it can 
 only get them by taking them from those who have made 
 them, that is by subtracting them from the wages of some- 
 body else. Taking all the wages class into account, then 
 the tax cannot possibly increase, but is sure by waste and 
 loss to decrease wages. 
 
 {B) How Taxes Do Act on Wages. 
 
 98. If taxes are to raise wages they must be laid not on 
 goods but on men. Let the goods be abundant and the 
 men scarce. Then the average wages will be high, for the 
 supply of labor will be small and the demand great. If 
 we tax goods and not men, the supply of labor will be great, 
 the demand will be limited, and the wages will be low.
 
 PROTECTIONISM EXAMINED ADVERSELY 75 
 
 Here we see why employers of labor want a tariff. For it 
 is an obvious inconsistency and a most grotesque satire 
 that the same men should tell the workmen at home that 
 the tariff makes wages high, and should go to Washington 
 and tell Congress that they want a tariff because the wages 
 are too high. We have found that the high wages of Ameri- 
 can laborers have independent causes and guarantees, out- 
 side of legislation. They are provided and maintained by 
 the economic circumstances of the country. This is against 
 the interest of those who want to hire the laborers. No 
 device can serve their interest unless it lowers wages. 
 From the standpoint of an employer the fortunate circum- 
 stances of the laborer become an obstacle to be overcome 
 (§65), The laborer is too well off. Nothing can do any 
 good which does not make him less well off. The competi- 
 tion which troubles the employer is not the *' pauper labor" 
 of Europe. 
 
 99. "Pauper labor" had a meaning in the first half of 
 this century, in England, when the overseers of the poor 
 turned over the younger portion of the occupants of the 
 poorhouses to the owners of the new cotton factories, under 
 contracts to teach them the trade and pay them a pittance. 
 Of course the arrangement had shocking evils connected 
 with it, but it was a transition arrangement. The "pauper 
 laborers'" children, after a generation, became independ- 
 ent laborers; the system expired of itself, and "pauper 
 laborer" is now a senseless jingle. 
 
 100. The competition which the employers fear is the 
 competition of those industries in America which can pay the 
 high wages and which keep the wages high because they do pay 
 them. These draw the laborer away. These offer him 
 another chance. If he had no other way of earning more 
 than he is earning, it would be idle for him to demand 
 more. The reason why he demands more and gets it is 
 because he knows where he can get it, if he cannot get it
 
 76 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 where he is. If, then, he is to be brought down, the only 
 way to do it is to destroy, or lessen the value of, his other 
 chance. This is just what the tariff does. 
 
 101. The taxes which are laid for protection must come 
 out of somebody. As I have shown (§§ 32 ff.) the protected 
 interests give and take from each other, but, if they as a 
 group win anything, they must win from another group, 
 and that other group must be the industries which are not 
 and cannot be protected. In England these were formerly 
 manufactures and they were taxed, under the corn laws, 
 for the benefit of agriculture. In the United States, of 
 course, the case must be complementary and opposite. We 
 tax agriculture and commerce to benefit manufactures. 
 Commerce, i.e., the ship-building and carrying trade, has 
 been crushed out of existence by the burden (§86). But 
 the burden thus thrown on agriculture and commerce lowers 
 the gains of those industries, lessens the attractiveness of 
 them to the laborer, lessens the value of the laborer's other 
 chance, lessens the competition of other American indus- 
 tries with manufacturing, and so, by taking away from the 
 blessing which God and nature have given to the American 
 laborer, enable the man who wants to hire his services to 
 get them at a lower rate. The effect of taxes is just the 
 same as such a percentage taken from the fertility of the 
 soil, the excellence of the climate, the power of tools, or 
 the industrious habits of the people. Hence it reduces 
 the average comfort and welfare of the population, and 
 with that average comfort it carries down the wages of 
 such persons as work for wages. 
 
 (C) Perils of Statistics, Especially of Wages. 
 
 102. Any student of statistics will be sure to have far 
 less trust in statistics than the uninitiated entertain. The 
 bookkeepers have taught us that figures will not lie, but
 
 PROTECTIONISM EXAMINED ADVERSELY 77 
 
 that they will tell very queer stories. Statistics will not lie, 
 but they will play wonderful tricks with a man who does 
 not understand their dialect. The unsophisticated reader 
 finds it diflficult, when a column of statistics is offered to 
 him, to resist the impression that they must prove some- 
 thing. The fact is that a column of statistics hardly ever 
 proves anything. It is a popular opinion that anybody 
 can use or understand statistics. The fact is that a special 
 and high grade of skill is required to appreciate the effect 
 of the collateral circumstances under which the statistics 
 were obtained, to appreciate the limits of their application, 
 and to interpret their significance. The statistics which 
 are used to prove national prosperity are an illustration 
 of this, for they are used as absolute measures when it is 
 plain that they have no use except for a comparison. Some- 
 times the other term of the comparison is not to be found 
 and it is always ignored (§ 52). 
 
 103. A congressional committee in the winter of 1883- 
 1884, dealing with the tariff, took up the census and proceeded 
 to reckon up the wages in steel production by adding all the 
 wages from the iron mine up. Then they took bar iron and 
 added all the wages from the bottom up again, in order to 
 find the importance of the wages element in that, and so 
 on with every stage of iron industry. They were going to 
 add in the same wages six or eight times over. 
 
 104. The statistics of comparative wages which are pub- 
 lished are of no value at all.^ It is not known how, or by 
 whom, or from what selected cases, they were collected. 
 It is not known how wide, or how long, or how thorough 
 was the record from which they were taken. The facts 
 about various classifications of labor in the division of labor, 
 and about the rate at which machinery is run, or about the 
 allowances of one kind and another which vary from mill 
 
 ^ I except those of Mr. Carroll Wright. He has sufficiently stated of how slight 
 value his are.
 
 78 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 to mill and town to town are rarely specified at all. Pro- 
 tected employers are eager to tell the wages they pay per 
 day or week, which are of no importance. The only statis- 
 tics which would be of any use for the comparison which 
 is attempted would be such as show the proportion of wages 
 to total cost per unit. Even this comparison would not 
 have the force which is attributed to the other. Hence the 
 statistics offered are worthless or positively misleading. In 
 the nature of the case such statistics are extremely hard to 
 get. If application is made to the employers, the inquiry 
 concerns their private business. They have no interest in 
 answering. They cannot answer without either spending 
 great labor on their books (if the inquiry covers a period), 
 or surrendering their books to some one else, if they allow 
 him to do the labor. If inquiry is made of the men, it be- 
 comes long and tedious and full of uncertainties. Do 
 United States Consuls take the trouble involved in such an 
 inquiry? Have they the training necessary to conduct it 
 successfully? 
 
 105. The fact is generally established and is not disputed 
 that wages are higher here than in Europe. The difference 
 is greatest on the lowest grade of labor — manual labor, 
 unskilled labor. The difference is less on higher grades of 
 labor. For what the. English call "engineers," men who 
 possess personal dexterity and creative power, the differ- 
 ence is the other way, if we compare the United States and 
 England. The returns of immigration reflect these differ- 
 ences exactly (§122, note). The great body of the immi- 
 grants consists of farmers and laborers. The "skilled 
 laborers" are comparatively a small class, and, if the claims 
 of the individuals to be what they call themselves were 
 tested by English or German trade standards, the number 
 would be very small indeed. Engineers emigrate from 
 Germany to England. Men of that class rarely come to 
 this country, or, if they come, they come under special con-
 
 PROTECTIONISM EXAMINED ADVERSELY 79 
 
 tracts, or soon return. Each country, spite of all taxes 
 and other devices, gets the class of men for which its indus- 
 trial condition offers the best chances. The only thing the 
 tariff does in the matter is to take from those who have an 
 advantage here a part of that advantage. 
 
 4. PROTECTIONISM IS SOCIALISM 
 
 106. Simply to give protectionism a bad name would 
 be to accomplish very little. When I say that protectionism 
 is socialism I mean to classify it and bring it not only under 
 the proper heading but into relation with its true affinities. 
 Socialism is any device or doctrine whose aim is to save indi- 
 viduals from any of the difficulties or hardships of the struggle 
 for existence and the competition of life by the intervention of 
 "the State.^' Inasmuch as "the State" never is or can be 
 anything but some other people, socialism is a device for 
 making some people fight the struggle for existence for 
 others. The devices always have a doctrine behind them 
 which aims to show why this ought to be done. 
 
 107. The protected interests demand that they be saved 
 from the trouble and annoyance of business competition, 
 and that they be assured profits in their undertakings, by 
 "the State," that is, at the expense of their fellow-citizens. 
 If this is not socialism, then there is no such thing. If 
 employers may demand that "the State" shall guarantee 
 them profits, why may not the employees demand that 
 "the State" shall guarantee them wages? If we are taxed 
 to provide profits, why should we not be taxed for public 
 workshops, for insurance to laborers, or for any other 
 devices which will give wages and save the laborer from 
 the annoyances of life and the risks and hardships of the 
 struggle for existence? The "we" who are to pay changes 
 all the time, and the turn of the protected employer to pay 
 will surely come before long. The plan of all living on each
 
 80 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 other is capable of great expansion. It is, as yet, far from 
 being perfected or carried out completely. The protec- 
 tionists are only educating those who are as yet on the 
 "paying" side of it, but who will certainly use political 
 power to put themselves also on the "receiving" side of it. 
 The argument that "the State" must do something for me 
 because my business does not pay, is a very far-reaching 
 argument. If it is good for pig iron and woolens, it is good 
 for all the things to which the socialists apply it. 
 
 Chapter IV 
 
 SUNDRY FALLACIES OF PROTECTIONISM 
 
 108. I can now dispose rapidly of a series of current 
 fallacies put forward by the protectionists. They generally 
 are fanciful or far-fetched attempts to show some equiva- 
 lent which the taxpayer gets for his taxes. 
 
 (A) That Infant Industries can be Nourished up to 
 Independence and that they then Become Productive. 
 
 109. I know of no case where this hope has been real- 
 ized, although we have been trying the experiment for 
 nearly a century. The weakest infants to-day are those 
 whom Alexander Hamilton set out to protect in 1791. As 
 soon as the infants begin to get any strength (if they ever 
 do get any) the protective system forces them to bear the 
 burden of other infants, and so on forever. The system 
 superinduces hydrocephalus on the infants, and instead of 
 ever growing to maturity, the longer they live, the bigger 
 babies they are. It is the system which makes them so, 
 and on its own plan it can never rationally be expected to 
 have any other effect. (See further, under the next fallacy, 
 §§ 111 ff.)
 
 SUNDRY FALLACIES OF PROTECTIONISM 81 
 
 110. Mill ^ makes a statement of a case, as within the 
 bounds of conceivability, where there might be an advantage 
 for a young country to protect an infant industry. He is 
 often quoted without regard to the limitation of his state- 
 ment, as if he had aflfirmed the general expediency of pro- 
 tection in new countries and for infant industries. It 
 amounts to a misquotation to quote him without regard 
 to the limitations which he specified. The statement which 
 he did make is mathematically demonstrable.^ The doc- 
 trine so developed is very familiar in private enterprise. A 
 business enterprise may be started which for some years 
 will return no profits or will occasion losses, but which is 
 expected later to recoup all these. What are the limits tvithin 
 which such an enterprise can succeed? It must either call 
 for sinking capital only for a short period (like building a 
 railroad or planting an orange grove), or it must promise 
 enormous gains after it is started (like a patented novelty). 
 The higher the rate of interest, as in any new country, the 
 more stringent and narrow these conditions are. Mill said 
 that it was conceivable that a case of an industry might 
 occur in which this same calculation might be appHed to 
 a protective tax. If, then, anybody says that he can offer 
 an industry which meets the conditions, let it be examined 
 to see if it does so. If protection is never applied until such 
 a case is offered, it will never be applied at all. A thing 
 which is mathematically conceivable is one which is not 
 absurd; but a thing which is practically possible is quite 
 another thing. For myself, I strenuously dissent from 
 Mill's doctrine even as he limits it. In the first place the 
 state cannot by taxes work out an industrial enterprise of 
 a character such that it, as any one can see, demands the 
 most intense and careful oversight by persons whose capital is 
 
 1 Bk. V, ch. 10. § 1. 
 
 * It has been developed mathematically by a French mathematician {Journal 
 des Economistes, August and September, 1873, pp. 285 and 464).
 
 82 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 at stake in it, and, in the second place, the state would bear 
 the loss, while it lasted, but private interests would take 
 the gain after it began. 
 
 (B) That Protective Taxes do not Raise Prices 
 BUT Lower Prices. 
 
 111. To this it is obvious to reply: what good can they 
 then do toward the end proposed .f* Still it is true that, 
 under circumstances, protective taxes do lower prices. The 
 protectionist takes an infant industry in hand and proposes 
 to rear it by putting on taxes to ward off competition, and 
 by giving it more profits than the world's market price 
 would give. This raises the price. But the consumer then 
 raises a complaint. The protectionist turns to him and 
 promises that by and by there will be "overproduction," 
 and prices will fall. This arrives in due time, for every 
 protected industry is organized as a more or less limited 
 monopoly, and a monopoly which has overproduced its 
 market, at the price which it wants, is the weakest industry 
 possible (§ 24). The consumer now wins, but a wail from 
 the cradle calls the protectionist back to the infant indus- 
 try, which is in convulsions from "overproduction." Some 
 of the infants die. This gives a new chance to the others. 
 They combine for more effective monopoly, put the prices 
 up again by limiting production, and go on until "over- 
 production" produces a new collapse. This is another 
 reason why infants never win vitality. The net result is 
 that the market is in constant alternations of stringency 
 and laxity, and nothing at all is gained. 
 
 112. Whenever we talk of prices it should be noticed that 
 our statements involve money — the rate at which goods 
 exchange for money. If then we want to raise prices, we 
 must restrict the supply of goods, so that on the doctrine of 
 money also we shall come to the same result as before, that 
 protective taxes lessen production and diminish wealth.
 
 SUNDRY FALLACIES OF PROTECTIONISM 83 
 
 113. The problem of managing any monopoly is to dose 
 the market with just the quantity which it will take at the 
 price which the monopolist wants to get. In a qualified 
 monopoly, that is, one which is shared by a number of 
 persons, the difficulty is to get agreement about the man- 
 agement. They may not have any communication with 
 each other and may compete. If so they will overdose the 
 market and the price will fall. Then they meet, to estab- 
 lish communication; form an "association," to get har- 
 monious action, and agree to divide the production among 
 them and limit and regulate it, to prevent the former mis- 
 take and restore prices (§ 24). 
 
 (C) That we should be a Purely Agricultural 
 Nation under Free Trade. 
 
 114. A purely agricultural nation covering a territory as 
 large as that of the United States is inconceivable. The 
 distribution of industries now inside the United States is 
 a complete proof that no such thing would come to pass, 
 for we have absolute free trade inside, and manufactures 
 are growing up in the agricultural states just as fast as 
 circumstances favor, and just as fast as they can be profit- 
 ably carried on. Under free trade there would be a sub- 
 division of cotton, woolen, iron and other industries, and 
 we should both export and import different varieties and 
 qualities of these goods. The southern states are now manu- 
 facturing coarse cottons in competition with^New England. 
 The western • states manufacture coarse woolens, certain 
 grades of leather and iron goods, etc., in competition with 
 the East. Here we see the exact kind of differentiation 
 which would take place under free trade, and we can see 
 the mischief of the tariff, whether on the one hand it strikes 
 a whole category with the same brutal ignorance, or tries, 
 by cunning sub-classification, to head off every effort to
 
 84 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 save itself which the trade makes.* If, however, it was 
 conceivable that we should become a purely agricultural 
 nation, the only legitimate inference would be that our 
 whole population could be better supported in that way 
 than in any other. If there was a greater profit in some- 
 thing else some of them would go into it. 
 
 (D) That Communities which Manufacture are More 
 Prosperous than those which are Agricultural. 
 
 115. This is as true as if it should be said that all tall 
 men are healthy. It would be answered that some are 
 and some are not; that tallness and health have no con- 
 nection. Some manufacturing communities are prosperous 
 and some not. The self-contradiction of protectionism 
 appears in one of its boldest forms in this fallacy. We are 
 told that manufactures are a special blessing. The pro- 
 tectionist says that he is going to give us some. Instead 
 of that he makes new demands on us, lays a new burden 
 on us, gives us nothing but more taxes. He promises us 
 an income and increases our expenditure; promises an 
 asset and gives a liability; promises a gift and creates a 
 debt; promises a blessing and gives a burden. The very 
 thing which he boasts of as a great and beneficial advan- 
 tage gives us nothing, but takes from us more. Prosperity 
 is no more connected with one form of industry than 
 another. If it were so, some of mankind would have, by 
 nature, a permanently better chance than others, and no 
 one could emigrate to a new, that is agricultural country, 
 without injuring his interests. The world is not made so. 
 
 ' See a fallacy under this head: Cunningham, "Growth of English Industry," 
 410, note.
 
 SUNDRY FALLACIES OF PROTECTIONISM 85 
 
 (E) That it is an Object to Diversify Industry, and 
 THAT Nations which have Various Industries are 
 Stronger than Others which have not Various 
 Industries. 
 
 116. It is not an object to diversify industry, but to 
 multiply and diversify our satisfactions, comforts, and en- 
 joyments. If we can do this by unifying our industry, in 
 greater measure than by diversifying it, then we should 
 do, and we will do, the former. It is not a question to be 
 decided a priori, but depends upon economic circumstances. 
 If a country has a supremacy in some one industry it will 
 have only one. California and Australia had only one in- 
 dustry until the gold mines declined in productiveness, that 
 is, until their supreme advantage over other countries was 
 diminished: they began to diversify when they began to 
 be less well off. The oil region of Pennsylvania has a chance 
 of three industries, the old farming industry, coal, and oil. 
 It will have only one industry so long as oil gives chances 
 superior to those enjoyed by any other similar district. 
 When it loses its unique advantage by nature it will diver- 
 sify. The "strongest" nation is the one which brings prod- 
 ucts into the world's market which are of high demand, 
 but which cost it little toil and sacrifice to get; for it wUl 
 then have command of all the good things which men can 
 get on earth at little effort to itself. Whether the products 
 which it offers are one or numerous is immaterial. All the 
 tariff has to do with it is that when the American comes 
 into the world's market with wheat, cotton, tobacco, and 
 petroleum, all objects of high demand by mankind and 
 little cost to him, it forces him to forego a part of his due 
 advantage (§§ 125, 134).
 
 86 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 (F) That Manufactures Give Value to Land. 
 
 117. This doctrine issued from the Agricultural Bureau. 
 It has been thought a grand development of the protec- 
 tionist argument. It is a simple logical fallacy based on 
 some misconstrued statistics. The value of land depends 
 on supply and demand. The demand for land is popula- 
 tion. Hence where the population is dense the value 
 of land is great. Manufactures can be carried on only 
 where there is a supply of labor, that is, where the popula- 
 tion is dense. Hence high value of land and manufacturing 
 industry are common results of dense population. The 
 statistician of the Agricultural Bureau connected them with 
 each other as cause and effect, and the New York Tribune 
 said that it was the grandest contribution to political 
 economy since "the fingers of Horace Greeley stifiFened in 
 death"; which was true. 
 
 118. If manufactures spring up spontaneously out of 
 original strength, and by independent development, of 
 course they "add value to land," that is to say, the district 
 has new industrial power and every interest in it is bene- 
 fited; but if the manufactures have to be protected, paid 
 for, and supported, they do not do any good as manufac- 
 tures but only as a device for drawing capital from else- 
 where, as tribute. In this way, protective taxes do alter 
 the comparative value of land in different districts. This 
 effect can be seen under some astonishing phases in Con- 
 necticut and other manufacturing states. The farmers are 
 taxed to hire some people to go and live in manufacturing 
 villages and carry on manufacturing there. This displace- 
 ment of population, brought about at the expense of the 
 rural population, diminishes the value of agricultural land 
 and raises that of city land right here within the same 
 state. The hillside population is being impoverished, and 
 the hillside farms are being abandoned on account of the
 
 SUNDRY FALLACIES OF PROTECTIONISM 87 
 
 tribute levied on them to swell the value of mill sites and 
 adjoining land in the manufacturing towns (§§ 120, 137). 
 
 (G) That the Farmer, if he Pays Taxes to Bring into 
 Existence a Factory, wthich would not otherwise 
 Exist, will Win more than the Taxes by Selling 
 Farm Produce to the Artisans. 
 
 119. This is an arithmetical fallacy. It proposes to get 
 three pints out of a quart. The farmer is out for the tax 
 and the farm produce and he can not get back more than 
 the tax because, if the factory owes its existence to the 
 protective taxes, it cannot make any profit outside of the 
 taxes. The proposition to the farmer is that he shall pay 
 taxes to another man who will bring part of the tax back 
 to buy produce with it. This is to make the farmer rich. 
 The man who owned stock in a railroad and who rode on it, 
 paying his fare, in the hope of swelling his own dividends, 
 was wise compared with a farmer who believes that pro- 
 tection can be a source of gain to him. 
 
 120. Since, as I have shown (§ 101), protective taxes 
 act like a reduction in the fertility of the soil, they lower 
 the "margin of cultivation," and raise rent. They do not, 
 however, raise it in favor of the agricultural land owner, 
 for, by the displacement just described, they take away 
 from him to give to the town land owner. Of course, I do 
 not believe that the protective taxes have really lowered 
 the margin of cultivation in this country, for they have 
 not been able to offset the greater richness of the newest 
 land, and the advance in the arts. What protection costs 
 us comes out of the exuberant bounty of nature to us. 
 Still I know of very few who could not stand it to be a 
 great deal better off than they are, and the New England 
 farmer is the one who has the least chance, and the fewest 
 advantages, with which to endure protection.
 
 88 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 (H) That Farmers Gain by Protection, because it 
 Draws so many Laborers out of Competition with 
 them. 
 
 121. Since the farmers pay the taxes by which this 
 operation is supposed to be produced, a simple question is 
 raised, viz., how much can one afford to pay to buy off com- 
 petition in his business? He cannot afford to pay anything 
 unless he has a monopoly which he wants to consolidate. 
 Our farmers are completely open to competition on every 
 side. The immigration of farmers every three or four years 
 exceeds all the workers in all the protected trades. Hence 
 the farmers, if they take the view which is recommended 
 to them, instead of gaining any ground, are face to face 
 with a task which gets bigger and bigger the longer they 
 work at it. If one man should support another in order 
 to get rid of the latter's competition as a producer, that 
 would be the case where the taxpayer supports soldiers, 
 idle pensioners, paupers, etc. A protected manufacturer, 
 however, by the hypothesis, is not simply supported in 
 idleness, but he is carrying on a business the losses of which 
 must be paid by those who buy off his competition in their 
 own production. On the other hand, when farmers come 
 to market, they are in free competition with several other 
 sources of supply. Hence, if they did any good to agri- 
 cultural industry by hiring the artisans to go out of com- 
 petition with them, they would have to share the gain 
 with all their competitors the world over while paying all 
 the expense of it themselves. 
 
 122. The movement of men over the earth and the 
 movement of goods over the earth are complementary 
 operations. Passports to stop the men and taxes to stop 
 the goods would be equally legitimate. Since it is, once 
 for all, a fact that some parts of the earth have advantages 
 for one thing and other parts for other things, men avail
 
 SUNDRY FALLACIES OF PROTECTIONISM 89 
 
 themselves of the local advantages either by moving them- 
 selves to the places, or by trading what they produce where 
 they are for what others produce in the other places. The 
 passenger trains and the freight trains are set in motion 
 by the same ultimate economic fact. Our exports are all 
 bulky and require more tonnage than our imports. On 
 the westward trip, consequently, bunks are erected and 
 men are brought in space where cotton, wheat, etc., were 
 taken out. The tariff, by so much as it lessens the import 
 of goods, leaves room which the ship owners are eager to 
 fill with immigrants. To do this they lower the rates. 
 Hence the tariff is a premium on immigration. The pro- 
 tectionists have claimed that the tariff does favor immi- 
 gration. But nine-tenths of the immigrants are laborers, 
 domestic servants, and farmers.^ Probably more than one- 
 third of the total number, including women, find their way 
 to the land. As we have seen, the tariff also lowers the 
 profits of agriculture, which discourages immigration and 
 the movement to the land. Therefore, if the farmer be- 
 lieves what the protectionist tells him, he must understand 
 that the taxes he pays bring in more people, and raise the 
 value of land by settling it, and that they also bring more 
 competition, which the farmer must buy off by lowering 
 the profits of his own (the farming) industry. Then, too, 
 so far as the immigrants are artisans, the premium on immi- 
 gration is a tax paid to increase the supply of labor, that is, 
 
 1 IMMIGRATION IN 1884 
 
 Males Females Total 
 
 Professional occupations 2,184 100 2,284 
 
 SkUled occupations 50,905 4,156 55,061 
 
 Occupations not stated 19,778 11,887 31,665 
 
 No occupation 75,483 169,904 £45,387 
 
 Miscellaneous occupations 160,159 24,036 184,195 
 
 Total 308,509 210,083 518,592 
 
 Under miscellaneous were 106,478 laborers and 42,050 farmers.
 
 90 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 to lower wages, although the protectionists say that the 
 tariff raises wages. Hence we see that when a tax is laid, 
 in our modern complicated society, instead of being a sim- 
 ple and easy means or method to be employed for a specific 
 purpose, its action and reaction on transportation, land, 
 wages, etc., will produce erratic, contradictory, and con- 
 fused effects, which cannot be predicted or analyzed thor- 
 oughly, and the protectionist, when he pleads three or four 
 arguments for his system, is alleging three or four features 
 of it which, if properly analyzed and brought together, are 
 found to be mutually destructive, and cumulative only as 
 to the mischief they do (see §§ 29, 101). 
 
 (7) That our Industries would Perish without 
 Protection. 
 
 123. Those who say this think only of manufacturing 
 establishments as "industries." They also talk of "our" 
 industries. They mean those we support by the taxes we 
 pay; not those from which we get dividends. No industry 
 will ever be given up except in order to take up a better 
 one, and if, under free trade, any of our industries should 
 perish, it would only be because the removal of restrictions 
 enabled some other industry to offer so much better rewards 
 that labor and capital would seek the latter. It is plain 
 that, if a man does not know of any better way to earn his 
 living than the one in which he is, he must remain in that, 
 or move to some other place. If any one can suppose that 
 the population of the United States could be forced, by 
 free trade, to move away, he must suppose that this coun- 
 try cannot support its population, and that we made a 
 mistake in coming here. This argument is especially full of 
 force if the articles to be produced are coal, iron, wool, 
 copper, timber, or any other primary products of the soil. 
 For, if it is said that we cannot raise these products of the
 
 SUNDRY FALLACIES OF PROTECTIONISM 91 
 
 soil in competition with some other part of the earth's sur- 
 face, all it proves is that we have come to the wrong spot 
 to seek them. If, however, the soil can support the popu- 
 lation under an arrangement by which certain industries 
 support themselves, and those which do not pay besides, 
 then it is plain that the former are really supporting the 
 whole population — part directly and part indirectly, 
 through a circuitous and wasteful organization. Hence 
 the same strong and independent industries could cer- 
 tainly still better support the whole population, if they 
 supported it directly. 
 
 124. I have been asked whether we should have had 
 any steel works in this country, if we had had no protection. 
 I reply that I do not know; neither does anybody else, but 
 it is certain that we should have had a great deal more steel, 
 if we had had no protection. 
 
 125. "But," it is said, "we should import everything." 
 Should we import everything and give nothing? If so, 
 foreigners would make us presents and support us. Should 
 we give equal value in exchange .^^ If so, there would be just 
 as much "industry" and a great deal less "work" in that 
 way of getting things than in making them ourselves. The 
 moment that ceased to be true we should make and not 
 buy. Suppose that a district, A, has two million inhabi- 
 tants, one million of whom produce a million bushels of 
 wheat, and one million produce a million hundredweight 
 of iron; and suppose that a bushel of wheat exchanges for 
 a hundredweight of iron. Now, by improved transporta- 
 tion and emigration, suppose that a new wheat country, B, 
 is opened, and that its people bring wheat to the first dis- 
 trict, offering two bushels for a hundredweight of iron. 
 Plainly they must offer more than one bushel for one hun- 
 dredweight, or it is useless for them to come. Now the 
 people of A, by putting all their labor and capital in iron 
 production, produce two million hundredweight. They
 
 92 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 keep one million hundredweight, and exchange one million 
 hundredweight of iron for two million bushels of wheat. 
 The destruction of their wheat industry is a sign of a change 
 in industry (unifying and not diversifying) by which they 
 have gained a million bushels of wheat. Such is the gain of 
 all trade. If the gain did not exist, trade would not be a 
 feature of civilization. 
 
 (J) That it would be Wise to Call into Existence 
 Various Industries, even at an Expense, if we could 
 THUS Offer Employment to all Kinds of Artisans, 
 
 ETC., WHO MIGHT CoME TO US. 
 
 126. This would be only maintaining public workshops 
 at the expense of the taxpayers, and would be open to all 
 the objections which are conclusive against public work- 
 shops. The expense would be prodigious, and the return 
 little or nothing. This argument shows less sense of com- 
 parative cost and gain than any other which is ever pro- 
 posed. 
 
 (K) That we Want to be Complete in ourselves and 
 Sufficient to ourselves, and Independent, as a 
 Nation, which State of Things will be Produced 
 BY Protection. 
 
 127. I will only refer to what I have already said about 
 China and Japan (§ 69) as types of what this plan produces. 
 If a number of families from among us should be ship- 
 wrecked on an island, their greatest woe would be that 
 they could not trade with the rest of the world. They 
 might live there "self-contained" and "independent," ful- 
 filling the ideal of happiness which this proposition offers, 
 but they would look about them to see a surfeit of things 
 which, as they know, their friends at home would like to
 
 SUNDRY FALLACIES OF PROTECTIONISM 93 
 
 have, and they would think of all the old comforts which 
 they used to have, and which they could not produce on 
 their island. They might be contented to live on there 
 and make it their home, if they could exchange the former 
 things for the latter. If now a ship should chance that 
 way and discover them and should open communication 
 and trade between them and their old home, a protectionist 
 philosopher would say to them: "You are making a great 
 mistake. You ought to make everything for yourselves. 
 The wise thing to do would be to isolate yourselves again 
 by taxes as soon as possible." We sent some sages to the 
 Japanese to induct them into the ways of civilization, who, 
 as a matter of fact, did tell them that the first step in civili- 
 zation was to adopt a protective tariff and shut up again 
 by taxes the very ports which they had just opened. 
 
 (i) That Protective Taxes are Necessary to Pre- 
 vent A Foreign Monopoly from Getting Control op 
 OUR Market. 
 
 128. It is said that English manufacturers once com- 
 bined to lower prices in order to kill out American manu- 
 factures, and that they then put up their prices to monopoly 
 rates. If they did this, why did not then other customers 
 send to the United States and buy the goods here in the 
 first instance, and why did not the Americans go and buy 
 the goods of the Englishmen's other customers in the second 
 instance? If the Englishmen put down their prices for their 
 whole market in the first instance, why did they not incur 
 a great loss? and, if they raised it for their whole market 
 in the second instance, why did they not yield the entire 
 market to their competitors? The Englishmen are said 
 to be wonderfully shrewd, and are here credited with the 
 most stupid and incredible folly. 
 
 129. The protective system puts us certainly m the
 
 94 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 hands of a home monopoly for fear of the impossible chance 
 that we may fall into the hands of a foreign monopoly. 
 Before the war we made no first quality thread. We got 
 it at four cents a spool (retail) of an English monopoly. 
 Under the tariff we were saved from this by being put into 
 the hands of a home monopoly which charged five cents 
 a spool. In the meantime the foreign monopoly lowered 
 thread to three cents a spool (retail) for the Canadians, 
 who were at its mercy. Lest we should have to buy nickel 
 of a foreign monopolist. Congress forced us to buy it of the 
 owner of the only mine in the United States, and added 
 thirty cents a pound to any price the foreigner might ask. 
 
 (M) That Free Trade is Good in Theory but Impossi- 
 ble IN Practice; that it would be a Good Thing if 
 All Nations would have it. 
 
 130. That a thing can be true in theory and false in prac- 
 tice is the most utter absurdity that human language can 
 express. For, if a thing is true in practice (protectionism, 
 for instance) the theory of its truth can be found, and that 
 theory will be true. But it was admitted that free trade 
 is true in theory. Hence two things which are contradic- 
 tory would both be true at the same time about the same 
 thing. The fact is, that protectionism is totally impractica- 
 ble. It does not work as it is expected to work; it does not 
 produce any of the results which were promised from it; 
 it is never properly and finally established to the satisfac- 
 tion of its own votaries. They cannot let it alone. They 
 always want to "correct inequalities," or revise it one way 
 or another. It was they who got up the Tariff Commission 
 of 1882. Their system is not capable of construction so 
 as to furnish a normal and regular status for industry. One 
 of them said that the tariff would be all right if it could only 
 be made stable; another said that it ought to be revised
 
 SUNDRY FALLACIES OF PROTECTIONISM 95 
 
 every two years. One said that it ought to include every- 
 thing; another said that it would be good "if it was only 
 laid on the right things." 
 
 131. If all nations had free trade, no one of them would 
 have any special gain from it, just as, if all men were honest, 
 honesty would have no commercial value. Some say that 
 a man cannot afford to be honest unless everybody is hon- 
 est. The truth is that, if there was one honest man among 
 a lot of cheats, his character and reputation would reach 
 their maximum value. So the nation which has free trade 
 when the others do not have it gains the most by compari- 
 son with them. It gains while they impoverish themselves. 
 If all had free trade all would be better off, but then no one 
 would profit from it more than others. If this were not 
 true, if the man who first sees the truth and first acts wusely 
 did not get a special premium for it, the whole moral order 
 of the universe would have to be altered, for no reform or 
 improvement could be tried until unanimous consent was 
 obtained. If a man or a nation does right, the rewards of 
 doing right are obtained. They are not as great as could 
 be obtained if all did right, but they are greater than those 
 enjoy who still do wrong. 
 
 (N) That Trade is WAR, so that Free Trade Methods 
 ARE Unfit for it, and that Protective Taxes are 
 Suited to it. 
 
 132. It is evidently meant by this that trade involves a 
 struggle or contest of competition. It might, however, as 
 well be said that practicing law is war, because it is con- 
 tentious; or that practicing medicine is war, because doc- 
 tors are jealous rivals of each other. The protectionists do, 
 however, always seem to think of trade as commercial war. 
 One of them was reported to have said in a speech, in the 
 late campaign, that nations would not fight any more with
 
 96 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 guns but with taxes. The nations are to boycott each 
 other. One would think that the experience our Southern- 
 ers made of that notion in the Civil War, upon which they 
 entered in the faith that "cotton is king," would have 
 suflBced to banish forever that antique piece of imbecility, 
 a commercial war. If trade is war, all the tariff can do 
 about it is to make A fight B's battles, although A has his 
 own battles to fight besides. 
 
 (0) That Protection Brings into Employment Labor 
 AND Capital which would otherwise be Idle. 
 
 133. If there is any labor or capital which is idle, that 
 fact is a symptom of industrial disease; especially is this 
 true in the United States. If a laborer is idle he is in danger 
 of starving to death. If capital is idle it is producing noth- 
 ing to its owner, who depends on it, and is suffering loss. 
 Therefore, if labor or capital is idle, some antecedent error 
 or folly must have produced a stoppage in the industrial 
 organization. The cure is, not to lay some more taxes, but 
 to find the error and correct it. If then things are in their 
 normal and healthy condition, the labor and capital of the 
 country are employed as far as possible under the existing 
 organization. We are constantly trying to improve our 
 exchange and credit systems so as to keep all our capital 
 all the time employed. Such improvements are important 
 and valuable, but to make them cost more thought and 
 skillful labor than to invent machines. Hence Congress 
 cannot do that work by discharging a volley of taxes at 
 selected articles, and leaving those taxes to find out the 
 proper points to affect, and to exert the proper influence. 
 It takes intelligent and hard-working men to do it. The 
 faith that anything else can do it is superstition.
 
 SUNDRY FALLACIES OF PROTECTIONISM 97 
 
 (P) That a Young Nation Needs Protection and will 
 Suffer some Disadvantage in Free Exchange with 
 AN Old One. 
 
 134. The younger a nation is the more important trade 
 is to it (cf. §§ 127 ff.)- The younger a nation is the more it 
 wins by trade, for it offers food and raw materials which 
 are objects of greatest necessity to old nations. The things 
 England buys of us are far more essential to her than what 
 she buys of France or Germany. The strong party in an 
 exchange is not the rich party, or the old party, but the 
 one who is favored by supply and demand — the one who 
 brings to the exchange the thing which is more rare and 
 more eagerly wanted.^ If a poor woman went into Stewart's 
 store to buy a yard of calico, she did not have to pay more 
 because Stewart was rich. She paid less because he used 
 his capital to serve her better and at less price than any- 
 body else could. England takes 60 per cent of all our ex- 
 ports. We sell, first, wheat and provisions, prime articles 
 of food; second, cotton, the most important raw material 
 now used by mankind; third, tobacco, the most universal 
 luxury and the one for which there is the intensest demand; 
 fourth, petroleum, the lighting material in most universal 
 use. . These are things which are rare and of high demand. 
 We are, therefore, strong in the market. Protection only 
 robs us of part of our advantage (§ 116). 
 
 (Q) That we Need Protection to Get Ready for 
 
 War. 
 
 135. We have no army, or navy, or fortifications worth 
 mentioning. We are wasting more by protective taxes in 
 a year than would be necessary to build a first-class navy 
 
 ' See a fallacy under this point: Cunningham, "Growth of English Industry," 
 410 note.
 
 98 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 and fortify our whole seacoast. It is said that, in some way, 
 the taxes get us ready for war, and yet in fact we are not 
 ready for war. It is plain that this argument is only a 
 pretense put forward to try to cover the real motives of 
 protection. If we prefer to go without army, navy, and 
 fortifications, as we now do, then the best way to get ready 
 for war, consistently with that policy, is to get as rich as we 
 can. Then we can count on buying anything in the world 
 which anybody else has got and which we need. Protection, 
 then, which lessens our wealth, is only diminishing our 
 power for war. 
 
 (R) That Protectionism Produces some Great 
 Moral Advantages. 
 
 136. It is a very suspicious thing when a man who sets 
 out to discuss an economic question shifts over on the 
 "moral" ground. Not because economics and morals have 
 nothing to do with each other. On the contrary, they meet 
 at a common boundary line, and, when both are sound, 
 straight and consistent lines run from one into the other. 
 Capital is the first requisite of all human effort for goods 
 of any kind, and the increase of capital is therefore the 
 expansion of chances that intellectual, moral, and spiritual 
 good may be won. The moral question is: How will the 
 chances be used-f^ If, then, the economic analysis shows 
 that protective taxes lessen capital, it follows that those 
 taxes lessen the regular chances for all higher good. 
 
 137. It is argued that hardship disciplines a man and 
 is good for him; hence, that the free traders, who want 
 people to do what is easiest, would corrupt them, and that 
 protectionists, by "making work," bring in salutary dis- 
 cipline for the people. This is the effect upon those who 
 pay the taxes. The counter-operation on the beneficiaries 
 of the system I have never seen developed. Bastiat said
 
 SUNDRY FALLACIES OF PROTECTIONISM 99 
 
 that the model at which the protectionist was aiming was 
 Sisyphus, who was condemned in Hades to roll a stone to 
 the top of a hill, from which, as soon as he got it there, it 
 rolled down again to the bottom. Then he rolled it up 
 again, and so on to all eternity. Here then was infinity of 
 effort, zero of result; the ultimate type to which the pro- 
 tectionist system would come. Somebody pitied Sisyphus, 
 to whom he replied: "Thou fool! I enjoy everlasting 
 hope!" If Sisyphus could extract moral consolation from 
 his case, I am not prepared to deny but that a New Eng- 
 land farmer, ground between the upper millstone of free 
 competition, in his production, with the Mississippi Valley, 
 and the nether millstone of protective taxes on all his con- 
 sumption, may derive some moral consolation from liis 
 case. There are a great many people who are apparently 
 ready to inflict salutary chastisement on the American 
 citizen for his welfare — and their own advantage. 
 
 138. The protectionist doctrine is that ij my earnings are 
 taken from me and given to my neighbor, and he spends them on 
 himself, there will he important moral gains to the community 
 which loill he lost if I keep my own earnings, and spend them 
 on myself. The facts of experience are all to the contrary. 
 When a man keeps his own earnings he is frugal, temper- 
 ate, prudent, and honest. When he gets and lives on 
 another man's earnings, he is extravagant, wasteful, luxu- 
 rious, idle, and covetous. The effects on the community 
 in either case correspond. 
 
 139. The truth is that protectionism demoralizes and 
 miseducates a people (§§ 89, 153, 155). It deprives them 
 of individual self-reliance and energy, and teaches them 
 to seek crafty and unjust advantages. It breaks down the 
 skill of great merchants and captains of industry, and de- 
 velops the skill of lobbyists. It gives faith in monopoly, 
 combinations, jobbery, and restriction, instead of giving 
 faith in energy, free enterprise, public purity, and freedom.
 
 100 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 Illustrations of this occur all the time. Objection has been 
 made to the introduction of machines to stop the smoke 
 nuisance because they would interfere in the competition 
 of anthracite and bituminous coal. People have resisted 
 the execution of ordinances against gambling houses be- 
 cause said houses "make trade" for their neighbors. The 
 theater men recently made an attempt to get regulations 
 adopted against skating rinks — purely on moral grounds. 
 The industries of the country all run to the form of com- 
 binations.^ Our wisdom is developed, not in the great art 
 of production, but in the tactics of managing a combination, 
 and while we sustain all the causes and all the great prin- 
 ciples of this system of business we denounce "monopoly" 
 and "corporations." 
 
 (S) That a "Worker m.\y Gain More by Having his 
 Industry Protected than he will Lose by Having 
 TO Pay Dearly for what he Consumes. A System 
 which Raises Prices all round — like that in the 
 United States at present — is Oppressive to Con- 
 sumeirs, but is most disadvantageous to those who 
 Consume without Producing anything, and Does 
 Little, if Any, Injury to those who Produce More 
 THAN they Consume." 
 
 140. This is an English contribution to the subject 
 dropped in passing by a writer on economic history .^ It 
 is a noteworthy fact that the "historical economists" and 
 others who deride political economy as a science do not 
 desist from it, but at once set to work to make very bad 
 political economy of the "abstract" or "deductive" sort. 
 
 ^ See an interesting collection of illustrations in an article on "Lords of In- 
 dustry " in the North American Review for June, 1884. The futile criticisms at 
 the end of the article do not affect the value of the facts collected. 
 
 ^ Cunningham, "Growth of English Industry and Commerce," 316, note 2. 
 (See also §§ 114, 134.)
 
 SUNDRY FALLACIES OF PROTECTIONISM 101 
 
 The passage quoted involves three or four fallacies already 
 noticed, and an assumption of the truth of protectionism 
 as a philosophy. As we have abundantly established, 
 "workers" gain nothing by protection in their production 
 (§ 48). Also, "a system which raises prices all around" 
 must either lessen the demand and requirement for money, 
 i.e., restrict business and the supply of goods (§ 112), or 
 it must increase the amount of money. In the former case 
 it could not but injure "workers"; in the latter case we 
 should find ourselves dealing with a greenback fallacy. 
 But passing by that, who are they who consume more than 
 they produce.'' I can think only of (1) princes, pensioners, , 
 sinecurists, protected persons, and paupers, who draw sup- 
 port from taxes, and (2) swindlers, confidence men, and 
 others who live by their wits on the produce of others. 
 Those under (1), if they receive fixed money grants or sub- 
 sidies, find an advance in price most disadvantageous. So 
 the protected, of course, as consumers of others' products, 
 when they spend what they have received by protection, 
 suffer. Who are they who produce more than they con- 
 sume? I can think only of (1) taxpayers, and (2) victims 
 of fraud and of those economic errors which give one man's 
 earnings to another's use. Rise in price is just as advan- 
 tageous to this class as it was disadvantageous to the other, 
 on the same hypothesis, viz., if they pay fixed money taxes 
 to the parasites, and can sell their products for more money. 
 Evidently the writer did not understand correctly what his 
 two classes consisted of, and he put the protected "workers" 
 in the wrong one. If in industry a person should produce 
 more than he consumes, he could give it away, or it would 
 decay on his hands. If he should consume more than he 
 produced, he would run in debt and become bankrupt.^ 
 Protection has nothing to do with that. 
 
 ^ Mill, "Political Economy," Bk. I, ch. 5, § 5. Cairnes, "Leading Principles," 
 ch. I, § 5.
 
 102 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 (T) That "A Duty may at once Protect the Native 
 Manufacturer Adequately, and Recoup the Coun- 
 try FOR THE Expense of Protecting him." 
 
 141. This is Professor Sidgwick's doctrine.^ It has given 
 great comfort to our protectionists because it is put for- 
 ward by an Englishman and a Cambridge professor. It is 
 offered under the "art" of political economy. It is a new 
 thing; an a priori art. The "may" in it deprives it of 
 the character of a doctrine or dogma such as our less cul- 
 tivated protectionists give us — "Protective taxes come out 
 of the foreigner" — but it is not a maxim of art. It has the 
 air of a very astute contrivance (see § 3), and is therefore 
 very captivating to many people, and it is very diflBcult 
 to dissect and to expose in a simple and popular way. It 
 has therefore given great trouble and done great mischief. 
 It is, however, a complete error. It is not possible in any 
 way or in any degree to use duties so as to make the for- 
 eigner pay for protection. 
 
 142. Professor Sidgwick states the hypothetical instance 
 which he sets up to prove by illustration that there "may" 
 be such a case, as follows: "Suppose that a five per cent 
 duty is imposed on foreign silks, and that, in consequence, 
 after a certain interval, half the silks consumed are the prod- 
 uct of native industry, and that the price of the whole has 
 risen 2| per cent. It is obvious that, under these circum- 
 stances, the other half, which comes from abroad, yields 
 the state five per cent, while the tax levaed from the con- 
 sumers on the whole is only 2f per cent; so that the nation, 
 in the aggregate, is at this time losing nothing by protec- 
 tion, except the cost of collecting the tax, while a loss 
 equivalent to the whole tax falls on the foreign producer." 
 
 143. It is necessary, in the first place, to complete the 
 hypothesis which is included in this case. Let us assume 
 
 ^ "Political Economy," 491-492.
 
 SUNDRY FALLACIES OF PROTECTIONISM 103 
 
 that the consumption of silk, when all was imported, was 
 100 yards and that the price was $1 per yard. Then the 
 following points are taken for granted, although not stated 
 in the case as it is put: (1) That the state needs $5 revenue; 
 (2) that it has determined to get this out of the consumers 
 of silk; (3) that the advance in price does not diminish the 
 consumption; (4) that the tax forces a reduction of price 
 for the silk in the whole outside market; (5) that the 
 "silk'' in question is the same thing after the tax is laid 
 as before. Of these assumptions, 3, 4, and 5 are totally 
 inadmissible, but, if they be admitted in the first instance, 
 and if the doctrine of the case which is put be deduced, it 
 is this: If the part imported multiplied by the tax is equal 
 to the total consumption multiplied by the advance in 
 price, the consumers can pay the latter in protection, for 
 it is equal to the former, and the former, which is paid to 
 the government by the foreigner, is what the consumers 
 of silk must otherwise have paid. 
 
 144. Obviously this deduction is arithmetically incor- 
 rect, even on the hypothesis. In the first place, the govern- 
 ment has not obtained $5 revenue which it needed, but 
 $2..50 (5 cents on 50 yards). In the second place, the 
 foreigner sells at $1.02| (net 97|) the silk which he used to 
 sell for $1. He therefore gets back from the consumers 
 2^ cents per yard on 50 yards, or $1.25 out of the $2.50 
 which he has paid to the government. Also, the domestic 
 silk to compete must be equal to the dollar imported silk 
 which now sells for $1.02^. Hence, the consumers really 
 pay in protection only 2| cents on 50 yards, .i.e $1.25. 
 This case, then, is, that the foreigner pays $1.25 revenue, 
 and the consumers pay $1.25 revenue and $1.25 protec- 
 tion. Hence the result is not at all what is asserted, and 
 there is no such operation of the contrivance as was ex- 
 pected. But the government needs $2.50 more revenue, 
 the operation of its tax having been interfered with by
 
 104 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 protection. As there is no equivalence or compensation 
 in the case as it already stands, it is evident that the effect 
 of any further tax, instead of bringing about equivalence 
 or compensation, will be to depart from such a result still 
 further. 
 
 145. It is, however, impossible to admit assumptions 
 3, 4, and 5 above, or to deal with any economic problem 
 by any arithmetical process. The result above reached is 
 totally incorrect and only serves to clear the ground for a 
 correct analysis. The producer may have to bear part of 
 a tax, if he is under the tax jurisdiction, or if he has a monop- 
 oly. If he has no monopoly, and is not under the tax juris- 
 diction, and works for the world's market, he cannot lower 
 his price in order to assume part of the tax. Wliat he does 
 is that he differentiates his commodity. This is the fact 
 in the art of production which is established by abundant 
 experience. It is the explanation of the constant com- 
 plaint, under the protective system, of "fraud" and of 
 the constant demand for subclassification in the tariff 
 schedules. The protected product never is, at least at 
 first, as good in quality as the imported article which it 
 aims to supersede. Hence the foreigner, if he desires to 
 retain the protected market, can prepare a special quality 
 for that market. The "silk" after the tax is laid is not 
 the same silk as before. It nets to the foreign producer 
 97^ cents, and pays him business profits at that price. 
 Therefore when he sells it at $1,021 he gets back the whole 
 tax from the consumers. The domestic silk sold at $1.02^ 
 is no better than might have been obtained for 97| cents. 
 Hence the consumers are paying a tax for protection which 
 is full and equal to the revenue rate. The fact that the 
 price has fallen to $1.02|, and is not $1.05, evidently proves 
 that instead of disproving it, as many believe. 
 
 146. Thus this case falls to pieces. It gains a momen- 
 tary plausibility from the erroneous assumptions which
 
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 105 
 
 are implicit in it. The foreign producer may suffer a nar- 
 rowing of his market and a reduction of his aggregate prof- 
 its, but there is no way to make him tributary (unless he 
 has a monopoly) either to the treasury or the protected 
 interests of the taxing country.^ If it was true m general, 
 or in any limited number of cases, that a country which 
 lays protective taxes can make foreigners pay those taxes, 
 then England, which has had no protective taxes since 
 (say) 1850, and has been surrounded by countries which 
 have had more or less protective taxes, must have been 
 paying tribute to them all this time and must have been 
 steadily impoverished accordingly. 
 
 Chapter V 
 
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 
 
 147. I have now examined protectionism impartially on 
 its own grounds, assuming them to be true, and adversely 
 from ground taken against it, and have reviewed a series 
 of the commonest arguments put forward in its favor. If 
 now we return, with all the light we have obtained, to test 
 the assumptions which we found in protectionism, that the 
 people would not organize their industry wisely under 
 liberty, and that protective taxes are the correct device for 
 bringing about a better organization, we find that those 
 two assumptions are totally false and have no semblance 
 of claim upon our confidence. At every step the dogmas 
 of protectionism, its claims, its apparatus, have proved 
 fallacious, absurd, and impracticable. We can now group 
 together some general criticisms of protectionism which 
 our investigation suggests. 
 
 1 I published a criticism of this case in the London Economist, December 1. 1883.
 
 106 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 148. We have taken the protectionist's own definition 
 of a protective duty, and have found that such a duty, 
 instead of increasing national wealth, must, at every step, 
 and by every incident of its operation, waste labor and 
 capital, lower the eflficiency of the national industry, weaken 
 the country in trade, and consequently lower the standard 
 of comfort of the whole population. We have found that 
 protected industries, according to the statement of the 
 protectionists, do not produce, but consume. If then these 
 industries are the ones which make us rich, consumption is 
 production and destruction produces. The object of a pro- 
 tective duty is "to effect the diversion of a part of the 
 capital and labor of the people out of the channels in which 
 it would run otherwise, into channels favored or created 
 by law" (§ 13). We have seen that the channels into which 
 the labor and capital of the people are to be diverted are 
 offered by the industries which do not pay. Hence protec- 
 tionism is found to mean that national prosperity is to be 
 produced by forcing labor and capital into employments 
 where the capital cannot be reproduced with the same 
 increase which could be won by it elsewhere. If that is 
 so, then capital in those employments will be wasted, and 
 the final outcome of our investigation, which must be made 
 the primary maxim of the art of national prosperity under 
 protectionism, is that Waste makes Wealth. Such is its 
 outcome when regarded as an economic philosophy. 
 
 149. As regards the social and jural relations which are 
 established between citizen and citizen, protectionism is 
 proved by a half-dozen independent analyses of it to be 
 simply a device for forcing us to levy tribute on each other. 
 If the law brings a cent to A it must have taken it from B, 
 or else it must have produced it out of nothing, that is, it 
 must be magic. Every soul pays protective taxes. If, 
 then, anybody gets anything from them, he needs to re- 
 member what they cost him, and he should insist on casting
 
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 107 
 
 up both sides of the account. If anybody gets nothing from 
 them, then he pays the taxes and gets no equivalent. 
 
 150. During the anti-corn-law campaign in England, a 
 writer in the Westminster Review illustrated protectionism 
 by the story of the monkeys in a cage, each of whom re- 
 ceived for his dinner a piece of bread. Each monkey 
 dropped his own piece of bread and grabbed his neighbor's. 
 The consequence was that soon the floor of the cage was 
 strewn with fragments, and each monkey had to make the 
 best dinner he could from these. It is a good and fair illus- 
 tration. I saw a story recently in a protectionist newspaper 
 about the peasants in the Soudan. Each owns pigeons, 
 and at evening, when the pigeons come home, each tries 
 to entice as many of his neighbors' pigeons as he can into 
 his own pigeon house. "All of them do the same thing, 
 and therefore each gets caught in his turn. They know this 
 perfectly well, but no Egyptian fellah could resist the temp- 
 tation of cheating his neighbor." They ought to tax each 
 other's pigeons all around. Then they w^ould put them- 
 selves at once on the level of free and enlightened Ameri- 
 cans. The protectionist assures me that it is for the good 
 of the community and for my good that he should tax me. 
 I reply that, in his language, "these are fine theories," but 
 that whether it is good for the community or not, and 
 whether it is good for me or not, that he should tax me, I 
 can see that it is for his good that he should tax me. Then 
 he says: "Now you are abusive." 
 
 151. If protectionism is anything else than mutual trihutBy 
 then it is magic. The whole philosophy of it comes down to 
 questions like this: How much can I afford to pay a man 
 for hiring me? How much can I afford to pay a man for 
 trading with me.^ How much can I afford to pay a man to 
 cease to compete with me in my production.? How much 
 can I afford to pay a man to go and compete with those who 
 supply me my consumption? It is only an expensive way to
 
 108 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 get what we could get for nothing if it was worth having (§ 89). 
 It is admitted that one man cannot lift himself by his boot 
 straps. Suppose that a thousand men stand in a ring and 
 each takes hold of the other's boot straps reciprocally and 
 they all lift, can the whole group lift itself as a group? 
 That is what protection comes to just as soon as we have 
 drawn out into light the other side, the cost side of it. What- 
 ever we win on one side, we must pay for by at least equal 
 cost on another. The losses will all be distributed as net 
 pure injury to the community. The harm of protection lies 
 here. It is not measured by the tax. It is measured by the 
 total crippling of the national industry. We might as well 
 say that it would be a good thing to put snags in the rivers, 
 to fell trees across the roads, to dull all our tools, as to say 
 that unnecessary taxation could work a blessing. Men 
 have argued that to destroy machines was to do a beneficial 
 thing, and I have recently read an article in a Boston paper, 
 quoting a Massachusetts man who thinks that what we 
 need is another war in the United States. Such men may 
 beheve that protective taxes work a blessing, but to those 
 who will see the truth, it is plain that, when the whole 
 effect of the protective system is distributed, it benefits 
 nobody. It is a dead weight and loss upon everybody, 
 and those who think that they win by it would be far better 
 off in a community where no such system existed, but where 
 each man earned what he could and kept what he earned. 
 
 152. There is a school of political science in this country 
 in whose deed of foundation it is provided that the pro- 
 fessors shall teach how "by suitable tariff legislation, a 
 nation may keep its productive industry alive, cheapen the 
 cost of commodities, and oblige foreigners to sell to it at 
 low prices, while contributing largely toward defraying the 
 expenses of the government." ^ Is not that a fine thing? 
 Those professors ought to likewise provide us a panacea, 
 
 * Quoted by Taussig: "History of the Existing Tariff," 73.
 
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 109 
 
 the philosopher's stone, a formula for squaring the circle, 
 and all the other desiderata of universal happiness. It 
 would be only a trifle for them. The only fear is that they 
 may write the secret which they are to teach in books, and 
 that other nations to whom we are "foreigners," may 
 learn it. Then while Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Ger- 
 mans work for us at low prices and pay our taxes, we shall 
 be forced to work for them at low prices and pay their 
 taxes, and the old somber misery will settle down upon the 
 world again the same as ever. 
 
 153. Some years ago we were told that protection was 
 necessary because we had a big debt to pay. Well, we have 
 paid the debt until we have reduced it from $78.25 per 
 head to $28.41 per head. We, the people, have also raised 
 our credit until the annual debt charge has been reduced 
 from $4.29 per head to 95 cents per head. Now it is neces- 
 sary to keep up the debt in order to keep up the taxes, and 
 protectionism is now most efficient in forcing wasteful and 
 corrupting expenditures to get rid of revenue, lest a surplus 
 should furnish an argument for reducing taxation. This 
 is right on the doctrine that waste makes wealth. 
 
 154. They tell us that protection has produced prosper- 
 ity, and when we ask them to account for hard times in 
 spite of the tariff, they say that hard times are caused by 
 the free traders who will not keep still. Therefore the pros- 
 perity produced hy protection is so precarious that it can he 
 overthrown hy only talking about free trade. They denounce 
 laissez-faire, or "let alone," but the only question is when 
 to let alone, when to keep still. They do not let the tariff 
 alone if they want to revise it to suit them, or want to 
 make it "equitable." When they get it "equitable" they 
 will let it alone, but that insures agitation, and makes sure 
 that they will cause it, for an indefinite time to come. On 
 the other hand the victims of the tariff will not keep still. 
 Their time to "let alone" is when it is repealed. If the
 
 110 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 tariff did not hurt somebody somewhere it would not do 
 any good to anybody anywhere, and the victims will resist.^ 
 Mr. Lincoln used to tell a story about hearing a noise in 
 the next room. He looked in and found Bob and Tad 
 scuffling. "What is the matter, boys?" said he. "It is 
 Tad," replied Bob, "who is trying to get my knife." "Oh, 
 let him have it. Bob," said Mr. Lincoln, "just to keep him 
 quiet." "No!" said Bob, "it is my knife and I need it to 
 keep me quiet." Mr. Lincoln used the story to prove that 
 there is no foundation for peace save truth and justice. 
 Now, in this case, the man whose earnings are being taken 
 from him needs them to keep him quiet. Our fathers fought 
 for free soil, and if we are worthy to be their sons we shall 
 fight for free trade, which is the necessary complement of 
 free soil. If a man goes to Kansas to-day and raises corn 
 on "free soil," how does he get the good of it, unless he can 
 exchange that corn for any product of the earth that he 
 chooses on the best terms that the arts and commerce of 
 to-day can give him? 
 
 155. The history of civil liberty is made up of cam- 
 paigns against abuses of taxation. Protectionism is the 
 great modern abuse of taxation; the abuse of taxation 
 which is adapted to a republican form of government. 
 Protectionism is now corrupting our political institutions just 
 as slavery used to do, viz., it allies itself with every other 
 abuse which comes up. Most recently it has allied itself 
 
 ^ Illustrations of this are presented without number. Here is the most recent 
 one: "The [silk^ masters [of Lyons, France] look to the government for relief 
 by a reduction of the duty on cotton yarn, or the right to import all numbers duty 
 free for export after manufacture. With the present tariffs, they maintained, 
 which is no doubt true, that they cannot compete with the Swiss and German 
 makers. But the Rouen cotton spinners oppose the demand of the Lyons silk 
 manufacturers, and protest that they will be ruined if the latter are allowed to 
 procure their material from abroad. The Lyons weavers assert that they are 
 being ruined because they cannot." — {Econcmist, 1885, p. 815.) The cotton 
 men won in the Chamber of Deputies, July 23, 1885.
 
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 111 
 
 with the silver coinage, and it is now responsible, in a great 
 measure, for that calamity. The silver coinage law would 
 have been repealed three years ago if the silver mining 
 interest had not served notice on the protectionists that 
 that was their share of protection, and the price of their 
 cooperation. The silver coinage is the chief cause of the 
 "hard times" of the last two or three years. In a well- 
 ordered state it is the function of government to repress 
 every selfish interest which arises and endeavors to en- 
 croach upon the rights of others. The state thus main- 
 tains justice. Under protectionism the government gives a 
 license to certain interests to go out and encroach on others. 
 It is an iniquity as to the victims of it, a delusion as to its 
 supposed beneficiaries, and a waste of the pubhc wealth. 
 There is only one reasonable question now to be raised 
 about it, and that is: How can we most easily get rid of it?
 
 TARIFF REFORM
 
 TARIFF REFORM 1 
 
 A YEAR and a half ago a gentleman who had just 
 been reelected, by Republicans, to the Senate of the 
 United States, made a five-minute speech acknowledging 
 the honor. In respect to public affairs he uttered but one 
 opinion: that the people of the United States were con- 
 fronted by a most serious problem, viz., how to reduce 
 taxation. On the face of it, this was a most extraordinary 
 statement, and the chronicler or historian might well take 
 note of it as a new event in the life of the human race. 
 Statesmen and historians are familiar enough with the 
 diflSculty of raising more revenue, and laying more taxes, 
 but the solemn and calamitous position of a nation which 
 is forced to reduce its taxes, and finds itseK confronted by 
 industrial disaster if it does it, is something new. Students 
 of political economy are familiar with the question: WTiat 
 harm to industry may be done by levying taxes on it.!* 
 But the problem of how to avert the economic disaster 
 which may follow taking them off is new. Of course the 
 state of mind revealed by the formulation of the above 
 problem is the result of a long habit of regarding taxation 
 as an industrial force, or, at least, as an effective condition 
 of industrial success. 
 
 There is, however, a problem; in regard to that fact all 
 concur. It is also a rare problem, one for which the only 
 precedent is to be found in our own history, and when the 
 case occurred before, it proved to be fraught with calamity. 
 We are confronted by the dangers of a surplus revenue, and 
 no proposal to do away with the surplus in extravagant 
 
 * Independent, August 16, 1888. 
 115
 
 116 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 expenditures can stand before the common sense of the 
 people. 
 
 If the taxes are collecting more than the pubhc necessi- 
 ties require, then the simple and obvious, and, in fact, the 
 only solution, is not to collect the taxes; let the people 
 keep their own products and do what they please with 
 them. If we do not make a problem there will not be any; 
 if we simply do in the most straightforward manner what 
 the common sense of the situation demands, there will be 
 no difficulty; the consequences will all take care of them- 
 selves, and all the imaginary calamities will fail to appear. 
 If, however, we must have a grand scheme of national 
 prosperity established in advance, then the case is different. 
 
 During the war a notion grew up here that, through some 
 new dispensation of fate, it was possible for the American 
 people to make war and prosper by it. After the war the 
 notion grew up that the paper money was a condition of 
 success and that we should be ruined if we resumed specie 
 payments. Now we are met by the doctrine that we can- 
 not repeal the taxes which were laid during the war, partly 
 in order to carry it on, because our national prosperity is 
 bound up in them. These notions, in fact, are all consistent, 
 and all hang together; they all belong to a philosophy that 
 men prosper by discord and war, not by peace and har- 
 mony. According to that philosophy we touched unawares 
 the springs of prosperity when we engaged in a civil war, 
 incurred an immense debt, and laid crushing taxes. Now, 
 therefore, when we ask that the taxes which are no longer 
 necessary may be taken off, the men who have fallen under 
 the dominion of these fallacies tell us that it cannot be 
 done; that our prosperity would be undermined by it. 
 They have been assuring us for years past that the protec- 
 tive system was sure to produce a solid and stable prosper- 
 ity; now, by their own statement, it has produced a state 
 of things so weak and unstable that it must be maintained
 
 TARIFF REFORM 117 
 
 by heavy taxes. The industrial prosperity of the United 
 States proves to be as burdensome to it as the armaments 
 of the European nations are to them. 
 
 The notion seems to be that protective taxes, laid on 
 imports, are the particular kind of taxes which make na- 
 tional prosperity, and which therefore ought not to be 
 touched. It is proposed that internal taxes shall be re- 
 duced. If local taxes on real estate, etc., are reduced, 
 every one rejoices; that is supposed to be a clear and 
 simple gain. I have known the same man to exert him- 
 self very actively to scrutinize local expenditures, and 
 reduce local taxes, and to boil with rage against free traders 
 who want to reduce protective taxes. However, there is 
 probably no tax of any kind whatsoever which does not inter- 
 fere with the conditions of supply and demand, or indus- 
 trial competition, in such a way as to give "protection" 
 to somebody at the expense of somebody else. There are 
 persons who are now enjoying great advantages in their 
 business from the whisky and tobacco taxes which they 
 would lose if those taxes were repealed. This is one of the 
 incidental mischiefs of all taxation and one of the reasons 
 for insisting that taxation shall be as slight as possible, and, 
 to that end, that government functions shall be limited as 
 much as possible. 
 
 We are, therefore, face to face with the question whether 
 we are able to reduce our own taxes, and whether we are 
 free to do so. We may fairly ask: if not, why not? It is 
 plain that this is a question of domestic policy and of our 
 own interest altogether. All the attempts to prejudice it 
 by talking about "England" are impertinent, and all alle- 
 gations that those of us who want to reduce our own taxes 
 are trying "to give away our market," etc., belong to the 
 worst abuses of political discussion. What is true is that 
 we have built up a vast combination of vested interests, 
 which in a few cases have, and in nearly all cases think
 
 118 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 they have, an interest in maintaining the taxes. These are 
 among ourselves; what they gain, they gain from us; it 
 is with them that we have to contend. They have thus 
 far carried on the fight by all the methods dear to vested 
 interests; they have put forth plausible fallacies, sought 
 alliances, procured delays, appealed to prejudices. 
 
 Behind these selfish and sordid interests, however, there 
 is the strong and sincere prejudice which still prevails 
 among the civilized nations of to-day, and which is divid- 
 ing them into hostile parties, carrying on tariff wars with 
 each other. I call it "protectionism," because it is not 
 a policy, but a philosophy of national welfare. In the 
 United States it takes the form of various fallacies about 
 the home markets, diversification of industry, wages, etc. 
 As these are all questions of political economy, and as all 
 who talk on the subject at all are talking political economy 
 of some sort or other, it seems that a great work of educa- 
 tion is to be done here on the field of economic doctrine. 
 Hitherto the attempt of the politicians has been not to per- 
 form this work of education but to thrust it aside. 
 
 As soon as the issue is formed, however, and the protec- 
 tionists are forced to formulate their doctrine, as a doc- 
 trine, its absurdity becomes apparent. It is not capable of 
 statement. If we are to have temporary protection, in 
 order to start infant industries, then it will become impera- 
 tively necessary, so soon as public attention is occupied 
 by the subject, to say how, and how far, and how long, 
 the system is to be kept up, and the public will demand to 
 know how it is getting on, and at what rate it is approach- 
 ing its goal. For this reason those who have any logical 
 directness of thinking, have already advanced to a more 
 intense position; they advocate protectionism as a per- 
 manent and universal economic philosophy. In that form 
 it flies in the face of common sense and civilization; in 
 some of the latest forms which it has taken on in the hands
 
 TARIFF REFORM 119 
 
 of some professors of political economy, it is a kind of 
 economic mysticism. 
 
 If, however, the United States could be cut off from all 
 the rest of the world as regards trade and industry, then 
 at least it should be plain that whatever material prosper- 
 ity they could gain would be just what they, with their 
 energy, enterprise, and capital, are able to extract from 
 such soil and climate as nature has given to us here. What 
 would be the difference if, then, there were no tax barriers? 
 Certainly none whatever. The wealth which the American 
 people get they must produce by applying their labor and 
 capital to the natural advantages which they possess. 
 With foreign trade open to them, they will not make use of 
 it unless they find an advantage in it; that is, unless Ameri- 
 can labor and capital can attain more wealth through ex- 
 change than without it. The task of American producers 
 will still be to attain the greatest possible wealth by expend- 
 ing their labor and capital on American soil, either directly, 
 or with an intermediate step of exchange. Wages are only 
 a part of the product of the country; if then, trade increased 
 the amount of commodities at the disposition of the people, 
 it would increase the amount of each share in the distribu- 
 tion. This is the simplest common sense of the matter, 
 stripped of all technicalities, and to this the whole discus- 
 sion must again and again return. 
 
 If now we begin to reduce and abolish the taxes which 
 were laid during the war, we shall simply begin to free the 
 American people from a clog on their energies and a waste 
 of their industrial strength. Every step in this direction 
 is an emancipation under which we may be sure that the 
 national energy which is set free will spring up with the 
 quickest response. The guarantee of this is in the character 
 of the people, and in the natural advantages which they pos- 
 sess. Whatever chances we have, we have in the nature of 
 the case; the tariff could not give us any; it could only di-
 
 120 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 vert in one way or another those which nature has given us. 
 This diversion or perversion has now entered into the ex- 
 perience and education of our generation. We have no 
 idea of the welfare we should enjoy if we were only free to 
 use the chances which are within our reach) and a great 
 many of us have spun out a kind of political economy to 
 prove that the cords which bind us are the tools by which 
 we work.
 
 WHAT IS FREE TRADE?
 
 WHAT IS FREE TRADE?* 
 
 THERE never would have been any such thing to fight 
 for as free speech, free press, free worship, or free 
 soil, if nobody had ever put restraints on men in those mat- 
 ters. We never should have heard of free trade, if no re- 
 strictions had ever been put on trade. If there had been 
 any restrictions on the intercourse between the states of 
 this Union, we should have heard of ceaseless agitation to 
 get those restrictions removed. Since there are no restric- 
 tions allowed under the Constitution, we do not realize the 
 fact that we are enjoying the blessings of complete liberty, 
 where, if wise counsels had not prevailed at a critical mo- 
 ment, we should now have had a great mass of traditional 
 and deep-rooted interferences to encounter. 
 
 Our intercourse with foreign nations, however, has been 
 interfered with, because it is a fact that, by such interfer- 
 ence, some of us can win advantages over others. The 
 power of Congress to levy taxes is employed to lay duties 
 on imports, not in order to secure a revenue from imports, 
 biit to prevent imports — in which case, of course, no revenue 
 will be obtained. The effect which is aimed at, and which 
 is attained by this device, is that the American consumer, 
 when he wants to satisfy his needs, has to go to an Ameri- 
 can producer of the thing he wants, and has to give to him 
 a price for the product which is greater than that which some 
 foreigner would have charged. The object of this device, 
 as stated on the best protectionist authority, is: "To effect 
 the diversion of a part of the labor and capital of the people 
 out of the channels in which it would run otherwise, into 
 
 1 In Good Cheer for April, 1886, p. 7. 
 lis
 
 124 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 channels favored or created by law." This description is 
 strictly correct, and from it the reader will see that protec- 
 tion has nothing to do with any foreigner whatever. It is 
 purely a question of domestic policy. It is only a question 
 whether we shall, by taxing each other, drive the industry 
 of this country into an arbitrary and artificial development, 
 or whether we shall allow one another to employ each his 
 capital and labor in his own way. Note that there is for us 
 all the same labor, capital, soil, national character, climate, 
 etc., — that is, that all the conditions of production remain 
 unaltered. The only change which is operated is a wrench- 
 ing of labor and capital out of the lines on which they would 
 act under the impulse of individual enterprise, energy, and 
 interest, and their impulsion in another direction selected 
 by the legislator. Plainly, all the import duty can do is 
 to close the door, shutting the foreigner out and the Ameri- 
 cans in. Then, when an American needs iron, coal, copper, 
 woolens, cottons, or anything else in the shape of manu- 
 factured commodities, the operation begins. He has to 
 buy in a market which is either wholly or partially monopo- 
 lized. The whole object of shutting him in is to take ad- 
 vantage of this situation to make him give more of his 
 products for a given amount of the protected articles, than 
 he need have given for the same things in the world's mar- 
 ket. Under this system a part of our product is diverted 
 from the satisfaction of our needs, and is spent to hire 
 some of our fellow-citizens to go out of an employment 
 which would pay under the world's competition, into one 
 which will not pay under the world's competition. We, 
 therefore, do with less clothes, furniture, tools, crockery, 
 glassware, bed and table linen, books, etc., and the satis- 
 faction we have for this sacrifice is knowing that some of 
 our neighbors are carrying on business which according to 
 their statement does not pay, and that we are paying their 
 losses and hiring them to keep on.
 
 WHAT IS FREE TRADE? 125 
 
 Free trade is a revolt against this device. It is not a 
 revolt against import duties or indirect taxes as a means of 
 raising revenue. It has nothing to say about that, one way 
 or the other. It begins to protest and agitate just as soon 
 as any tax begins to act protectively, and it denounces any 
 tax which one citizen levies on another. The protectionists 
 have a long string of notions and doctrines which they put 
 forward to try to prove that their device is not a contriv- 
 ance by which they can make their fellow-citizens con- 
 tribute to their support, but is a device for increasing 
 the national wealth and power. These allegations must be 
 examined by economists, or other persons who are properly 
 trained to test their correctness, in fact and logic. It is 
 enough here to say, over a responsible signature, that no 
 such allegation has ever been made which would bear ex- 
 amination. On the contrary, all such assertions have the 
 character of apologies or special pleas to divert attention 
 from the one plain fact that the advocates of a protec- 
 tive tariff have a direct pecuniary interest in it, and that 
 they have secured it, and now maintain it, for that reason 
 and no other. The rest is all afterthought and excuse. If 
 any gain could possibly come to the country through 
 the gains of the beneficiaries of the tariff, obviously the 
 country must incur at least an equal loss through the 
 losses of that part of the people who pay what the pro- 
 tected win. If a country could win anything that way, it 
 would be like a man lifting himself by his boot straps. 
 
 The protectionists, in advocating their system, always 
 spend a great deal of effort and eloquence on appeals to 
 patriotism, and to international jealousies. These are all 
 entirely aside from the point. The protective system is a 
 domestic system, for domestic purposes, and it is sought 
 by domestic means. The one who pays, and the one who 
 gets, are both Americans. The victim and the beneficiary 
 are amongst ourselves. It is just as unpatriotic to oppress
 
 126 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 one American as it is patriotic to favor another. If we 
 make one American pay taxes to another American, it will 
 neither vex nor please any foreign nation. 
 
 The protectionists speak of trade with the contempt of 
 feudal nobles, but on examination it appears that they 
 have something to sell, and that they mean to denounce 
 trade with their rivals. They denounce cheapness, and 
 it appears that they do so because they want to sell dear. 
 WTien they buy, they buy as cheaply as they can. They 
 say that they want to raise wages, but they never pay 
 anything but the lowest market rate. They denounce 
 selfishness, while pursuing a scheme for their own selfish 
 aggrandizement, and they bewail the dominion of self- 
 interest over men who want to enjoy their own earnings, 
 and object to surrendering the same to them. They 
 attribute to government, or to "the state," the power 
 and right to decide what industrial enterprises each of us 
 shall subscribe to support. 
 
 Free trade means antagonism to this whole policy and 
 theory at every point. The free trader regards it as all 
 false, meretricious, and delusive. He considers it an in- 
 vasion of private rights. In the best case, if all that the 
 protectionist claims were true, he would be taking it upon 
 himself to decide how his neighbor should spend his earn- 
 ings, and — more than that — that his neighbor shall spend 
 his earnings for the advantage of the men who make the 
 decision. This is plainly immoral and corrupting; nothing 
 could be more so. The free trader also denies that the 
 government either can, or ought to regulate the way in 
 which a man shall employ his earnings. He sees that the 
 government is nothing but a clique of the parties in interest. 
 It is a few men who have control of the civic organization. 
 If they were called upon to regulate business, they would 
 need a wisdom which they have not. They do not do this. 
 They only turn the "channels" to the advantage of them-
 
 WHAT IS FREE TRADE? 127 
 
 selves and their friends. This corrupts the institutions of 
 government and continues under our system all the old 
 abuses by which the men who could get control of the 
 governmental machinery have used it to aggrandize them- 
 selves at the expense of others. The free trader holds 
 that the people will employ their labor and capital to the 
 best advantage when each man employs his own in his own 
 way, according to the maxim that "A fool is wiser in his 
 own house than a sage in another man's house"; — how 
 much more, then, shall he be wiser than a politician? And 
 he holds, further, that by the nature of the case, if any 
 governmental coercion is necessary to drive industry in 
 a direction in which it would not otherwise go, such coer- 
 cion must be mischievous. 
 
 The free trader further holds that protection Is all a mis- 
 take and delusion to those who think that they win by it, 
 in that it lessens their self-reliance and energy and exposes 
 their business to vicissitudes which, not being incident to a 
 natural order of things, cannot be foreseen and guarded 
 against by busmess skill; also that it throws the business 
 into a condition in which it is exposed to a series of heats 
 and chills, and finally, unless a new stimulus is applied, re- 
 duced to a state of dull decay. They therefore hold that 
 even the protected would be far better off without it.
 
 PROTECTIONISM TWENTY YEARS AFTER
 
 PROTECTIONISM TWENTY YEARS AFTER i 
 
 I THINK it must be now nearly twenty years since I 
 have made a free-trade speech or been able to take 
 share in a free-trade dinner. 
 
 When I was invited here this evening I thought I would 
 try to come for the pleasure of hearing the gentlemen, 
 especially the members of Congress, who were announced 
 to speak here. I have been so out of health that it has been 
 impossible for me to sit up evenings or to attempt public 
 speaking in the evenings, but things are going a little better 
 and I will make an attempt to say a little — not very 
 much, as the hour is now late. 
 
 Thirty-five or forty years ago I became a free trader for 
 two great reasons, as far as I can now remember. 
 
 One was because, as a student of political economy, my 
 whole mind revolted against the notion of magic that is 
 involved in the notion of a protective tariff. That is, there 
 are facts that are accounted for by protectionism through 
 assertions that are either plainly untrue or are entirely 
 inational. The other reason was because it seemed to 
 me that the protective tariff system nourished erroneous 
 ideas of success in business and produced immoral results 
 in the minds and hopes of the people. 
 
 I cannot say that I have got any more light on the mat- 
 ter within the last twenty years; it looks to me still as 
 if the great objections to protectionism were these two. No 
 man who enjoys the benefit of a protective tariff, as he 
 believes, can ever tell whether he gets back anything for 
 
 1 Address at a dinner of the committee on Tariff Reform of the Reform Club 
 in the city of New York, June i, 1906. 
 
 131
 
 132 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 the taxes which he pays or not. He never has any analysis 
 of the operation and never knows whether or not he really 
 recovers from the action of the tariff what he pays in. 
 
 I say now the taxes which he pays, because — let us not 
 make any mistake about this — the matter we are talking 
 about is one entirely of Americans and between Americans. 
 If the protective tariff operates so as to perform what is 
 attributed to it, it prevents things from being imported 
 into this country. That may be a disadvantage to the 
 foreigner, it may disappoint him in his hopes, but we may 
 leave him out of account. Then the increase of the cost of 
 these commodities for the American consumer at home is the 
 source from which the American protected manufacturer 
 must obtain his benefit, if he ever obtains any. Therefore 
 he has to pay also taxes to the other protected industries 
 on account of the operation of the system. Therefore he 
 is both paying and receiving, but whether or not he gets 
 back the part that he hoped to receive is a question which 
 he never can sift and never can know. 
 
 I should myself suppose that possibly the Pennsylvanian 
 on his coal and iron might stand a good chance of winning 
 something. The operation is direct and simple in that case, 
 and coal and iron are to-day the very first conditions of 
 industry. They must be obtained as raw material, be- 
 cause they enter into everything, and it is possible that 
 under those circumstances the game might be sufficiently 
 direct so that its effect could be felt and perceived. But 
 the Connecticut manufacturer has to pay taxes on coal and 
 iron and copper and the other metals, and he has to pay also 
 the taxes on wool and the other raw materials, and then 
 comes the question whether he ever gets it back again or 
 not. He never knows; he cannot know; he cannot feel 
 it and he cannot possibly know whether the operation of 
 the system is to bring him back a return for his outlay or 
 not.
 
 PROTECTIONISM TWENTY YEARS AFTER 133 
 
 We hear a great deal about a rightly adjusted tariff. It 
 is a constant ideal that is presented, whenever the tariff 
 subject comes up again for discussion in Congress, that it 
 ought to be rightly adjusted, and when it is, it is going to 
 perform its beneficial operation. 
 
 How can a tariff ever be rightly adjusted unless the in- 
 dustry will stand still ? The taxes stand still for years with- 
 out change. The industries never stand still. There are 
 new inventions in machinery, there are new raw materials 
 brought into use, there are new processes developed, and 
 all that changes the character of the industry. These in- 
 ventions and improvements and processes are all ignored 
 by the protective system. It contains no allowance for 
 them at all. But our people are full of enterprise, they are 
 fond of improvements, they like novelties, and they adopt 
 changes. The consequence is that the industry changes, 
 and then again the decisions that are made by somebody 
 or other as to the doubtful questions in the interpretation 
 of the law are also constantly changing, and then by and 
 by we find a lot of people who want the tariff changed. 
 They say it needs to be adapted to the time, it is out of 
 date, it has fallen behind, it does not fit the requirements 
 of the moment, and they would like to have a tariff re- 
 vision; but they are told then that they ought to keep 
 still and not make a disturbance which will bring up a dis- 
 cussion of the entire tariff system, and that they ought to 
 allow it to go on for the sake of the "system." 
 
 What is the system then? The system means that the 
 import duties that we have in this country have raised the 
 prices of all commodities in our market, I may say thirty 
 or forty per cent on a very low calculation. Is not that a 
 very extraordinary thing when you stand off and try 
 to realize it for a minute — that we have raised the prices 
 in the United States thirty or forty per cent — perhaps 
 more nearly fifty per cent — above the level of the prices
 
 134 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 for the same commodities in the other civiHzed countries 
 of our grade; and that we believe that we have done a grand 
 and noble thing by raising these prices, putting the whole 
 level of life in this country on an artificial plane that much 
 above the level of the world's market? In fact, if you 
 should listen to a protectionist he would make you believe 
 that this continent would not be habitable if it was not for 
 the protective tariff that is here working this operation all 
 the time on the American market. 
 
 I am of the opinion — I am not very confident about it — 
 but it looks to me as if it were true that a protective tariff 
 wears out in a little while — I mean, so far as its expected 
 beneficial effect is concerned. Its effects are distributed, 
 they are taken up and they are allowed for all around the 
 market until the expected benefit to the protected people is 
 lost and there remains nothing but the dead weight of the 
 system itself as an interference with the industries. There 
 is then a call for a new tariff in order to get another im- 
 pulse or another fillip, as I have heard it called, to give 
 things a new impulse, to start them on again. 
 
 That has been the history of our tariff now for one hun- 
 dred years, that it has been restarted, reinvigorated from 
 time to time in order to give a new impulse. Then in the 
 very nature of the case, therefore, it seems to me that a 
 new impulse is constantly required. 
 
 As I said at the outset, the tariff system seems to me to 
 teach us to believe that a man needs a "pull" of some 
 kind or other to make any industry a success. It is an 
 idea that there must always be a provision of easy profit 
 in connection with the industry that shall demand no labor 
 or no expediture of capital to get it. That is the pure doc- 
 trine of graft. The tariff teaches us to look for a fee or a 
 gratuity or a rake-off which will be a pure and net profit. 
 People are told that tariff taxes are a rightful gift to the 
 beneficiary. Those who do not get that gain seek another
 
 PROTECTIONISM TWENTY YEARS AFTER 135 
 
 one of the same kind somewhere, and when they do that 
 they have recourse to graft. 
 
 It is a shameful fact that this notion of graft, and this 
 word, should have come to us, as it has within the last four 
 or five years, and should have extended so far and become 
 so familiar to us in connection with a great many of the 
 operations of business. It is customary, as we have known 
 for a long time, in some nations, for instance in Russia, 
 China, and Turkey; and with us it has seemed to spread and 
 win acceptance and currency in a most astonishing manner. 
 I cannot believe but what the tariff system has educated 
 us in this direction and prepared us to tolerate and accept 
 the development of this idea. It also seems to me that 
 now, after one hundred years of this system, the tariff is 
 no longer properly an economic question. It is a practical 
 political question. The politics and the business are inter- 
 woven in it inextricably. There is no economic discussion 
 possible of the propositions that are made, economic in 
 form, in connection with the tariff system. There is only 
 a war of partial views and of superficial inferences. 
 
 Our American protectionism has grown out of the pecu- 
 liar circumstances of this country. It is an old idea that 
 has come down to us from Europe, and, indeed, from the 
 Middle Ages in Europe, and here it found a chance for a 
 new and very remarkable development. There were new 
 conditions here, and the chances were so big and grand 
 that, as a matter of fact, the protective system has never 
 done more than exact a certain tribute from us on these 
 chances. It has never really touched us in an acute and 
 sensible way, and in spite of it we have enjoyed marvelous 
 prosperity which is due really to the circumstances of ad- 
 vantage and favor which we have enjoyed here. 
 
 In the year 1892 we got an issue on this matter and went 
 to the electorate with it, with the result that we all know. 
 But the mandate of the people was neglected and disobeyed
 
 136 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 by the government and the purpose that the people showed 
 at that time was defied. 
 
 We have also had opportunity to notice the great power 
 of the protected interests in Congress. The fact is that we 
 are being governed at the present time by a combination 
 of these protected interests which have got control of the 
 machinery of government, and have control of the person- 
 nel of the government to such an extent that it is almost 
 impossible, practically, to make any breach in this system 
 at all. That is because the political combinations have 
 been so thoroughly wrought out and so ingeniously de- 
 veloped that they look at present as if they were impreg- 
 nable. 
 
 I look around to see if I can find some encouragement. 
 I thought that it was something of an encouragement when 
 Mr. Dalzell made this speech in Congress that Mr. Williams 
 has referred to, in which he poured such scorn on the idea 
 of "incidental protection." I have never said anything so 
 severe about any protectionist idea as that which he said 
 about incidental protection. But suppose that the people 
 of 1850, the middle of the nineteenth century, could come 
 to life again, the old protectionists of that time. WTiat 
 would they think to hear a man speak with scorn of inci- 
 dental protection.'* It was what they believed in; it was 
 the whole business to them. When an old protectionist 
 hke Mr. Dalzell can turn around and pour scorn upon 
 incidental protection I feel as if we never could tell what 
 they might throw overboard next time, in some paroxysm 
 of some kind or other, of fear or hope or something else, 
 and we might get a chance that we have not been able 
 to get in the past. 
 
 Then, as has been well said by other gentlemen to-night, 
 there has been within the last year or two a very great 
 revolt in the public mind against graft and political and 
 business corruption. How far will this go? We do not
 
 PROTECTIONISM TWENTY YEARS AFTER 137 
 
 know, but it is, at any rate, an opening in the public mind 
 that is full of chances. It may go very far; it may have 
 very great effects; it is certainly something to be noticed 
 and taken advantage of. 
 
 Then, again, there are new conflicts of interests arising. 
 We have become very great people in the world's com- 
 merce, with a billion dollars' worth of exports and imports 
 in a year, and we are so interwoven with the whole world 
 that it will not be possible for us to go on with our old 
 policy of discouraging commerce and rejecting it, and try- 
 ing to stop it, and paying no attention at all to the remon- 
 strances of our neighbors. In future we shall be obliged 
 to pay some attention to these remonstrances. They are 
 just, they are reasonable, and they will command our at- 
 tention; and then we shall have to make concessions to 
 them. In other words, we cannot any longer afford to 
 reject and neglect these remonstrances. 
 
 It may be, therefore, that in the time that is now before 
 us we shall have better chances for a practical war upon 
 this system than we have had hitherto. As long, however, 
 as I can remember, and as long as I have had any share in 
 it, we have got along without any encouragement in it at 
 all. We have done what we could without that. We got 
 so we did not expect it. We knew that we should be 
 neglected and treated as persons whose opinions in these 
 matters were not of any importance or worthy of any atten- 
 tion, and so we went on and kept up our arguments, as we 
 considered them, to the best of our ability and without 
 very much result. 
 
 Now, it may be that we are on the eve of a different 
 time, when the circumstances will be more favorable, more 
 hopeful, more full of opportunities, and I certainly, for 
 my part, most profoundly hope that that is so. 
 
 I have noticed with some discouragement the efforts 
 that Mr. Williams has made on the floor of Congress to get
 
 138 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 some modifications of the tariff made, or some argument 
 even opened up there that might give the matter activity and 
 life in the legislative domain. They did not seem any more 
 encouraging than what we used to see in the old times. 
 But it is certainly in the nature of things that the difficul- 
 ties and absurdities of this system must come out in prac- 
 tice more and more distinctly as we go on, and the need for 
 reform will therefore force itself in the shape of a play of 
 interests that will bring new and counteracting forces into 
 operation to which we may look for help in the overthrow 
 of the system.
 
 PROSPERITY STRANGLED BY GOLD
 
 s 
 
 PROSPERITY STRANGLED BY GOLD^ 
 
 OME of the silver fallacies were stated by Mr. St. 
 p^ John, in his address before the silver convention, w4th 
 such precision that his speech offers a favorable opportunity 
 for dealing with them. 
 
 He says that "it is amongst the first principles m finance 
 that the value of each dollar, expressed in prices, depends 
 upon the total number of dollars in circulation." There is 
 no such principle of finance as the one here formulated. 
 The "quantity doctrine" of currency is gravely abused by 
 all bimetallists, from the least to the greatest, and it is at 
 best open to great doubt. When the dollars in question 
 are dollars of some money of account which can circulate 
 beyond the territory of the State in which it is issued, the 
 quantity doctrine cannot be true within that territory. It 
 may be noted, in passing, that this is the reason why no 
 scheme of the silver people for manipulating prices in the 
 United States can possibly succeed. Silver and gold will be 
 exported and imported until their values conform through- 
 out the world, and prices fixed in one or the other of them 
 will conform to the world's prices, after all the trouble 
 and waste and loss of translating them two or three times 
 over have been endured. 
 
 The quantity doctrine, however, means that the value of 
 the currency is a question of supply and demand, and 
 everybody knows that to double or halve the supply does 
 not halve or double the value, or have any other effect 
 which is simple and direct. If it did have such effect spec- 
 ulation would not be what it is. 
 
 1 Leslie's WeeUy, August 20, 1896. 
 141
 
 142 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 Mr. St. John goes on to argue that our population in- 
 creases two millions every year, on account of which we 
 need more dollars; that the production of gold does not 
 furnish enough to meet this need, and that, therefore, 
 prices fall. This argumentation is very simple and very 
 glib. Prosperity and adversity are put into a syllogism of 
 three lines. But, if we can avert the fall in prices and ad- 
 versity by coining silver, it must be by adding the silver to 
 the gold which we now have. "High" and "low" prices 
 are only relative terms. They mean higher and lower than 
 at another time or place; higher and lower than we have 
 been used to. If misery depends on ten-cent corn we are 
 advised to cut the cents in two and we shall get twenty- 
 cent corn and prosperity. Corn will not be altered in value 
 in gold, or outside of the United States, and, as all other 
 things will be marked up at the same time and in the same 
 way, its value in other things will not be altered by this 
 operation. Wlien we get used to twenty-cent corn it will 
 seem just as low and just as "hard for the debtor" as ten- 
 cent corn is now. Then we can divide by ten and get two- 
 dollar corn, by adding free coinage of copper. When we 
 get used to that we shall be no better satisfied with it. We 
 can then make paper dollars and coin them without limit. 
 Million-dollar corn will then become as bitter a subject for 
 complaint as ten-cent corn is now. The fact that people 
 are discontented is no argument for anything. 
 
 The fact that prices are low is made the subject of social 
 complaint and of political agitation in the United States. 
 Prices have undergone a wave since 1850. They arose until 
 about 1872. They have fallen again. They are lower than 
 they were at the top of the wave all the world over. This 
 fact, the explanation of which would furnish a very com- 
 plicated task for trained statisticians and economists, is 
 made a topic of easy interpretation and solution in political 
 conventions and popular harangues, and it is proposed to
 
 PROSPERITY STRANGLED BY GOLD 143 
 
 adopt violent and portentous measures upon the basis of 
 the flippant notions which are current about it. But what 
 difference does it make whether the "plane" of prices is 
 high or low? If corn is at forty cents a bushel and calico 
 at twenty cents a yard, a bushel buys two yards. If corn 
 is at ten cents a bushel and calico at five cents a yard, a 
 bushel will buy two yards. So of everything else. If, then, 
 there has been a general fall, and that is the alleged griev- 
 ance, neither farmers nor any other one class has suffered 
 by it. 
 
 It is undoubtedly true that a period of advancing prices 
 stimulates energy and enterprise. It does so even when, if 
 all the facts were well known, it might be found that capi- 
 tal was really being consumed in successive periods of pro- 
 duction. Falling prices discourage enterprise, although, if 
 all facts were known to the bottom, it might be found 
 that capital was being accumulated in successive periods 
 of production. 
 
 It is also true that a depreciation of the money of ac- 
 count, while it is going on, stimulates exports and restrains 
 imports. 
 
 But who can tell how we are to make prices always go 
 up, unless by constant and unlimited inflation.^ Who can 
 tell how we are to avoid fluctuations in prices or eliminate 
 the element of contingency, risk, foresight, and speculation.'* 
 
 It is also true that, although high prices and low prices 
 are immaterial at any one time, the change from one to the 
 other, from one period of time to another, affects the burden 
 of outstanding time contracts. Men make contracts for 
 dollars, not for dollar's- worths. Selling long or short is one 
 thing; lending is another. Borrowers and lenders never 
 guarantee each other the purchasing power of dollars at a 
 future time. If the contracts were thus complicated they 
 would become impossible. Between 1850 and 1872 the 
 debtors made no complaint and the creditors never thought
 
 144 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 of getting up an agitation to have debts sealed up. The 
 debtors now are demanding that they be allowed to play 
 heads I win, tails you lose, and Mr. St. John and others 
 tell us that they have the votes to carry it; as if that made 
 any difference in the forum of discussion. 
 
 Increase in population does not prove an increased need 
 of money. It may prove the contrary. If the population 
 becomes more dense over a given area, a higher organiza- 
 tion may make less money necessary. If railroads and 
 other means of communication are extended, money is 
 economized. If banks and other credit institutions are 
 multiplied, and if credit operations are facilitated by public 
 security, good administration of law, etc., less money is 
 needed. If these changes are going on at the same time 
 that population is increasing (and such is undoubtedly 
 the case in the United States), who can tell whether the 
 net result is to make more or less currency necessary? 
 Nobody; and all assertions about the matter are wild and 
 irresponsible. 
 
 If it was true that an increase of two millions in the 
 population called for more dollars, how does anybody know 
 whether the current gold production is adequate to meet 
 the new requirement or not? The assertion is arithmet- 
 ical. It says that two quantities are not equal to each 
 other. The first quantity is the increase in the currency 
 called for by two million more people. How much more is 
 needed? Nobody knows, and there is no way to find out. 
 The silver men have put figures for it from time to time, 
 but the figures rested on nothing and were mere bald as- 
 sertions. The second quantity is the amount of new gold 
 annually available for coinage in the United States. How 
 much is this? Nobody knows, because if an attempt is 
 made to define what is meant it is found that there is no idea 
 in the words. The people of the United States buy and 
 coin just as much gold as they want at any time. Hence
 
 PROSPERITY STRANGLED BY GOLD 145 
 
 two things are said to be unequal to each other, when no- 
 body knows how big either one of them is. It may be 
 added that it makes no difference how big either one of 
 them is. How much additional tin is needed annually for 
 the increase of our population.^ Do the mines produce it? 
 Nobody knows or asks. The mines produce, and the people 
 buy, what they want. The case is the same as to gold. 
 
 We find, then, that Mr. St. John begins with a doctrine 
 which is untenable; then he asserts a relation between 
 population and the need of money which does not exist; 
 then he assumes that this need is greater than the amount 
 of new gold produced, although neither he nor anybody else 
 knows how big either one of these quantities is. This is 
 the argumentation by which he aims to show that prices 
 are reduced and misery produced by the single gold stand- 
 ard. It is the argumentation which is current among the 
 silver people. Not a step of it will bear examination. The 
 inference that we must restore the free coinage of silver, to 
 escape this strangulation of prosperity, falls to the ground.
 
 CAUSE AND CURE OF HARD TIMES
 
 CAUSE AND CURE OF HARD TIMES' 
 
 IT is an essential part of the case of the silver men that 
 the country is having "hard times." The bolters from 
 the Republican convention say, in their manifesto: "Dis- 
 content and distress prevail to an extent never before known 
 in the history of the country." This is an historical asser- 
 tion. It is distinctly untrue. There is no such discontent 
 and distress as there was in 1819, or in 1840, or in 1875, to 
 say nothing of other periods. The writers did not know 
 the facts of the history, and they made use of what is now- 
 adays a mere figure of speech. People who want to say 
 that a social phenomenon is big, and who do not know 
 what has been before, say that it is unparalleled in history. 
 There has been an advancing paralysis of enterprise and 
 arrest of credit ever since the Sherman act of 1890 was 
 passed. The bolters say that "No reason can be found for 
 such an unhappy condition of things save in a vicious mone- 
 tary system." The reason for it has been that the cumu- 
 lative effect of the silver legislation was steadily advancing 
 to a crisis. The efforts by which the effects of that legisla- 
 tion had been put off were no longer effective, and it was 
 evident that the country was on the verge of a cataclysm 
 in which the standard of value would be changed. What 
 man can fail to see the effect of such a fear on credit and 
 enterprise? And with such a fear in the market, how idle 
 it is to try to represent the trouble as caused by the fact 
 that the existing standard was of gold, or of silver, or of 
 anything else! Men will make contracts and go on with 
 business by the use of any medium, the terms of which can 
 be defined, understood, and maintained until the contract 
 
 ^ Leslie's Weekly, September 3, 1896. 
 149
 
 150 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 is solved, but uncertainty as to the terms, or danger of 
 change in them, makes credit and enterprise impossible. In 
 the whole history of finance no crisis can be found which 
 was so utterly unnecessary, and so distinctly caused by the 
 measures of policy which had gone before it, as that of 1893. 
 
 So much being admitted as to "hard times," it remains 
 true, however, that by far the greatest part of the current 
 declamation about hard times is false. Prosperity and ad- 
 versity of society are not capable of exact verification. At 
 all times some people, classes, industries, are less pros- 
 perous than others. The fashion has grown up among 
 politicians and stump orators of using assertions about 
 prosperity and distress as arguments for their purpose, 
 and parties come before the public with prosperity policies. 
 They have programs for "making the country prosper- 
 ous." If this country, with its population, its resources, 
 and its chances, is not prosperous by the intelligence, in- 
 dustry, and thrift of its population, does any sane man 
 suppose that politicians and stump orators have any de- 
 vices at their control for making it so? The orators of the 
 present day see prosperity where they need to see it for the 
 purposes of their argument. They say that all gold-stand- 
 ard countries in Europe are in distress. Mr. St. John says 
 that Mexico is prosperous. As to Canada, we have seen no 
 statement. According to some discussions which are cur- 
 rent, the bicycle rivals the gold standard as a calamity-pro- 
 ducer. As the bicycle has certainly gravely affected the 
 distribution of expenditure and the accumulation of capital, 
 its eflBciency as a crisis-maker, in its degree, whatever that 
 may be, can be rationally discerned, but nobody has ever 
 been able to show any rational grounds of belief that the 
 gold standard is a crisis-maker. 
 
 A crisis will also be produced whenever capital has been 
 invested on a large scale in any unproductive investment, 
 whereby it is not reproduced, but is lost. The enterprises
 
 CAUSE AND CURE OF HARD TIMES 151 
 
 are always made the basis of engagements and contracts. 
 When the enterprises fail, the engagements cannot be met; 
 other engagements based on these also fail, and so on 
 through the whole industrial organization. Such crises 
 are inevitable in a new country. Enterprises run in fash- 
 ions. At any one time great groups of producers tend to 
 one line of industry. That industry is sure to be overdone 
 and to come to a crisis. In a free country, where every 
 man is at liberty to direct his enterprise as he sees fit, what 
 is the sense, when it turns out that he has made a mis- 
 take, of trying to throw the losses on other people.'^ No one 
 would propose it as to an individual or a number, but when 
 there is a great interest it makes itself a political power and 
 produces a platform for the same purpose, generally with 
 inflated principles of humanity, justice, democracy, and 
 Americanism as wind-attachments to make it float. 
 
 Mr. St. John says that the farmers are spending ten 
 dollars an acre to get eight or nine dollars an acre. What 
 farmer in the United States can tell how many dollars 
 he spends on an acre.'' Wliat is the sense of these pre- 
 tendedly accurate figures.'' But, if they had sense, what 
 would be the gain of cutting the dollars in two.'' If the 
 farmer spent twenty silver dollars on an acre and got back 
 sixteen or eighteen, how would he be benefited.'' The dol- 
 lars of outlay are of the same kind as the dollars of return 
 in any case. If it is true that the return does not equal the 
 outlay, it must be on account of some facts of production, 
 and it requires but a moment's reflection to see that chang- 
 ing the currency in which outlay and income are reckoned 
 cannot change the relation between the two. 
 
 A dispassionate view of facts will go to prove that the 
 world is reasonably and ordinarily prosperous at the pres- 
 ent time, except where particular classes and industries are 
 affected by special circumstances, as some classes and in- 
 dustries are being affected at all times. The land-owners
 
 152 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 of western Europe are in distress on account of the com- 
 petition of new land, with cheapened means of transporta- 
 tion, but now we are told that the holders of the other side 
 of the competition, the land-owners of the new soil, are vic- 
 tims of distress. It must be, then, that too much labor and 
 capital are being expended on the soil the world over, and 
 that, too, in spite of all the protective tariffs drawing people 
 to the textile and metal industries. Our silver men say that 
 this is not the correct inference. They say that the people 
 on the new land suffer because the prices are set in coins 
 of gold and the debits and credits are kept in terms of those 
 coins. The prices are fixed in the world's market in gold. 
 They will be so fixed, whatever we may do with our coin- 
 age laws. If the proceeds, in being brought home, are con- 
 verted into silver value, a new opportunity for brokerage 
 and exchange gambling will be given to the hated bankers 
 and brokers of Wall Street. That is the only difference 
 which will be produced. It would be far more sensible to 
 say that distress is produced by doing the business on the 
 English system of weights and measures, in bushels and 
 pecks, and that prosperity would be produced by doing it 
 on the metric system, in litres and hectolitres, for that 
 charge would at least be harmless. Our distress could all 
 be dispelled in a week by an act of Congress making all 
 contracts, beyond political peradventure, that which they 
 are in law and fact, gold contracts. 
 
 There is, however, another cause of hard times for some 
 people which is far more important in our present case than 
 any other. That is the case of the boom which has col- 
 lapsed. We hear a great deal about "Wall Street gam- 
 bling." The gambling in Wall Street is insignificant 
 compared with the gambling in land, buildings, town sites, 
 and crops which goes on all over the country, and which is 
 participated in chiefly by the men who declaim about 
 Wall Street. For three hundred years our history has
 
 CAUSE AND CURE OF HARD TIMES 153 
 
 been marked by the alternations of "prosperity" and "dis- 
 tress" which are produced by the booms and their col- 
 lapses. When the collapse comes the people who are left 
 long of goods and land always make a great outcry and 
 start a political agitation. Their favorite device always is 
 to try to inflate the currency and raise prices again until 
 they can unload. 
 
 It is a very popular thing to tell men that they have a 
 grievance. That most of them find it hard to earn as much 
 money as they need to spend goes without saying. Now 
 comes the wily orator and tells them that this is somebody's 
 fault. In old times, if a man was sick, it was always as- 
 sumed that somebody had bewitched him. The witch was 
 to be sought. The medicine-man had to name somebody, 
 and then woe to the one who was named. Our medicine- 
 men say that it is the gold-bugs, Wall Street, England, who 
 are to blame for hard times. Whether there is any rational 
 proof of connection is as immaterial as it always was in 
 witchcraft. It is a case of pain and passion. The "gold 
 standard" has done it! There is something to hate and de- 
 nounce. All would be well if silver could be coined at four 
 hundred and twelve and a haK grains to the dollar. But 
 the assumption is that while the farmers would sell their 
 products for twice as many "dollars" as now, in silver, all 
 the prices of things which they want to buy would remain 
 at the same number of dollars and cents as now, in gold; 
 that is, it is believed that wheat would be at, say, one dol- 
 lar and fifty cents per bushel in silver, instead of seventy- 
 five cents in gold, but that cloth would remain at fifty 
 cents a yard in silver, if it is now fifty cents a yard in gold. 
 WTien this assumption is brought out into clear words, every 
 one knows that such can never be the result. The proposed 
 cure is like a witch cure. It lacks rational basis, and can- 
 not command the confidence of men of sense. If the times 
 were ever so bad, such a cure could only make them worse.
 
 THE FREE-COINAGE SCHEIVIE IS IMPRAC- 
 TICABLE AT EVERY POINT
 
 THE FREE-COINAGE SCHEME IS IMPRAC- 
 TICABLE AT EVERY POINTS 
 
 The Program. 
 
 IN two former articles I have discussed some points 
 which are presented by the advocates of the free coin- 
 age of silver, on the assumption that their project was 
 feasible and their conception of its operation correct. 
 They have laid out a program; free coinage, silver standard, 
 great demand for silver, rise of prices, rise in the value of 
 silver, cancellation of debts, prosperity. They now ad- 
 mit that this program would involve a panic, but it would 
 come out, they say, at the desired result in two or three 
 years. They denounce the gold standard as having caused 
 hard times, but they plan a program with a panic as an 
 incident on the way to a silver standard as if it was a trifle. 
 There is not a step in this program which could or would 
 be carried out as planned. 
 
 Free Silver Means Fiat Paper Money. 
 
 The amount of circulating cash of all kinds in the hands 
 of the people at the present time is about nine hundred 
 millions. If the dollar was reduced to half its present 
 value, and if allowance was made for reserves, two thou- 
 sand million silver dollars would be the specie requirement 
 of the country. We already have nearly five hundred 
 millions of such dollars. Hence the country could not use 
 at the utmost, if the new silver dollar was worth not more 
 than half the present gold dollar, and if the total circula- 
 
 1 Leslie's Weekly, September 10, 1896. 
 157
 
 158 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 tion consisted of silver without any paper, but three times 
 as many more silver dollars as we have now. But every 
 one knows that such a state of the currency never would 
 exist. We should have paper "based on silver"; that is 
 to say, the silver inflation never will be carried out. It 
 will turn to paper inflation at the first step. Who can be- 
 lieve that, if the silver standard was adopted, silver would 
 be bought and piled up dollar for dollar against the paper, 
 and that the paper would be issued only as fast as the silver 
 could be coined? In fact, silver would no doubt be dropped 
 and forgotten, and we should have plain and straightfor- 
 ward fiat money of paper. Such ought to be faced as the 
 only real sense and probable outcome of the present agita- 
 tion for the free coinage of silver. 
 
 Limit of the Amount of Silver which could be 
 Absorbed. 
 
 Let us, however, proceed upon the assumption that the 
 plan proposed is sincere, and that the attempt would be 
 made to carry it out in good faith. The circulation in the 
 hands of the people would be paper, for they would be- 
 come sick of silver and revolt against it. There would 
 then be two thousand million dollars in paper afloat, each 
 "dollar" being of silver and worth half a present gold one. 
 We have now five hundred million silver dollars. At the 
 utmost not more than another five hundred millions of 
 silver could be absorbed into the system. That would give 
 reserves of fifty per cent of the total currency, and that is 
 the maximum of the demand for silver which could be 
 created if the United States went over to the silver stand- 
 ard. The supply would come from all over the earth. Mr. 
 St. John is sure that none would come from Europe, be- 
 cause legal tender silver there is at a higher ratio than six- 
 teen to one. Not a nation in Europe which is now under
 
 FREE-COINAGE SCHEME IMPRACTICABLE 159 
 
 the yoke of silver would hesitate a moment to demonetize 
 it and send it here if we opened our mints to it at sixteen to 
 one. He also assures us that none would come here from 
 the East because the course of silver has always been from 
 West to East. The course of silver has turned from East 
 to West more than once when there was a profit on bring- 
 ing it back, and that is the only condition necessary to bring 
 it back again. Japan would adopt a gold currency the mo- 
 ment that the United States adopted a silver one. 
 
 It is Impossible Indefinitely to Increase the 
 Circulation. 
 
 The power of our currency to absorb silver is not un- 
 Hmited. People seem to believe that they can go on and 
 increase the monetary circulation indefinitely. This is 
 possible with paper, which has no commodity value and 
 cannot be exported, always understanding that the paper 
 will depreciate as issued, but it is not possible with any 
 money which has commodity value. When silver has been 
 put into circulation here to such an amount that all the 
 fictitious value given to it by the coinage law has been 
 eliminated — that is to say, when so many silver dollars, 
 or paper bearing the obligation of silver dollars, have been 
 issued as will equal in value the present circulation — then 
 there will be no profit in sending silver here from elsewhere, 
 and no more profit in minting silver here than in sendmg 
 it elsewhere. As we have seen, there is no reason to estimate 
 the amount of silver which would be absorbed in this op- 
 eration at more than five hundred millions. The miners 
 are making all this agitation for the sake of that share 
 which they could get in furnishing this sum. That share 
 would really not exceed the silver they had on hand when 
 the law was put in force.
 
 160 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 Antagonistic Interests of Miners and Populists. 
 
 What share, then, would the silver-miners get in the 
 results of the enterprise? They could get none unless the 
 new silver was bought only of them, and only bought grad- 
 ually as they produced it, and bought at a rising price as 
 the demand of debtors acted upon it. Not one of these 
 conditions would be fulfilled. The debtors and the silver- 
 miners really have antagonistic interests at every point. It 
 has been proposed that only American silver should be ac- 
 cepted at the mint. That plan is impracticable in any 
 case, but, when the Populists had their victory in hand, 
 does anybody suppose that they would wait eight or ten 
 years for the realization of their hopes while the mines 
 were producing new silver, being certain that that delay 
 would cause all they hoped for to slip through their fingers.'* 
 I repeat: The interests of the two factions are all antag- 
 onistic to each other, and one of them is destined inevit- 
 ably to be the dupe of the other. That destiny is reserved 
 for the miners who, besides, are paying all the expenses. 
 
 Already, so far as the campaign has proceeded, this an- 
 tagonism has begun to manifest itself. Mr. Bryan says 
 that his plan will make silver worth one dollar and twenty- 
 nine cents per ounce fine. He thus takes his position with 
 the miners' faction. Thereupon the organs of the repudi- 
 ators' faction have begun to remonstrate. That is not at 
 all what they are fighting for. They do not want their 
 scheme to raise silver at all. But if it does not, the miners 
 gain nothing. If it does, then again the repudiators take 
 to paper money and the miners win nothing. 
 
 The mechanical diflficulty of recoining the silver with the 
 necessary rapidity could probably be overcome. There are 
 machine-shops enough to do it if there was a party in power 
 which had that reckless determination to execute its will 
 which these people show. We may, therefore, go on to 
 consider the rise of prices.
 
 FREE-COINAGE SCHEME IMPRACTICABLE 161 
 
 The Rise of Prices. 
 
 The rise in prices would regularly occur only as the new 
 silver or paper was put out, but as the consequences wou d 
 all be discounted it would be sudden and rapid. It would 
 not, however, affect all things at the same time or to an 
 equal degree. It is here that one of the first disappomt- 
 ments would occur. It is not possible to put up prices 
 when and as one would like to do it, even when the rise is 
 due to inflation. The effect cannot all be distributed at 
 once An advance in price reacts on business relations, 
 that is, on the industrial organization. Many people and 
 many interests find that they cannot push agamst others 
 until long after they have been pushed against themselves. 
 The wages class and the farmers are the ones who are most 
 clearly in this position, at least as far as the latter do not 
 produce articles for export. It must be plain that m such 
 a convulsion of the market everybody will try to save him- 
 self at the expense of others. Who will succeed? Those 
 certainly who spend their lives in the market and already 
 possess the control of its machinery; not those whose time 
 is occupied in the details of production. 
 
 Where the Expected Gains would Go. 
 It is said that the farmer would sell his grain and cot- 
 ton, as now, for gold; that he would exchange the gold for 
 silver; would get the silver coined and would pay his 
 debts with it. Would any individual farmer do this^ 
 Would any one man go through the steps of this operation.'' 
 — see the buyer of his products, handle the gold and silver, 
 go to the mint? Certainly not. All these operations 
 would go on through the commercial and financial ma- 
 chinery. They would be executed by different mdividuals, 
 in the way of business, through the organization, and every
 
 162 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 one of them would be lost to view. Every operation would 
 have to be paid for. Every operation would give a new 
 chance for more middlemen and more charges. Would, 
 then, the gains of this grand scheme go to the farmer? 
 Not at all. They would go to the "brokers and specu- 
 lators of Wall Street." They would be lost in commissions 
 and charges. The type of operator whom the Populist 
 seems to think of when he talks about "Wall Street sharks," 
 exists, although his importance in Wall Street is not 
 as great as that of the political farmer in agriculture; but 
 this type of man does not care what the currency legisla- 
 tion is, except that he would like to have a great deal of it, 
 and to have it very mixed. Whatever it is, when it is 
 made and he sees what it is, he will proceed to operate 
 upon it. 
 
 Playing into the Hands of the Money Sharks. 
 
 We hear fierce denunciations of what is called the "money 
 power." It is spoken of as mighty, demoniacal, dangerous, 
 and schemes are proposed for mastering it which are futile 
 and ridiculous, if it is what it is said to be. Every one of 
 these schemes only opens chances for money-jobbers and 
 financial wreckers to operate upon brokerages and dif- 
 ferences while making legitimate finance hazardous and 
 expensive, thereby adding to the cost of commercial op- 
 erations. The parasites on the industrial system flourish 
 whenever the system is complicated. Confusion, disorder, 
 irregularity, uncertainty are the conditions of their growth. 
 The surest means to kill them is to make the currency ab- 
 solutely simple and absolutely sound. Is it not childish 
 for simple, honest people to set up a currency system which 
 is full of subtleties and mysteries, and then to suppose that 
 they, and not the men of craft and guile, will get the profits 
 of it?
 
 THE DELUSION OF THE DEBTORS
 
 THE DELUSION OF THE DEBTORS » 
 
 FIFTY years ago a political agitation was started for 
 the annexation of Texas. As the enterprise appeared 
 like a barefaced piece of land-grabbing, it was necessary to 
 invent some historical, political, and moral theories which 
 would give it another color. One such theory was that 
 Texas had properly belonged to us, but that it was given 
 away by Monroe and Adams in 1819. Therefore the project 
 was presented as one for the re-annexation of Texas. 
 
 The Re-monetization of Silver. 
 
 An attempt is now made to impugn the coinage act of 
 1873 under various points of view, in order to lay a founda- 
 tion for the claim that it is only sought now to re-monetize 
 silver. Not a single imputation on the act of 1873 has ever 
 been presented which will stand examination, but, if that 
 were not so, that act was like any other act of Congress 
 which has become the law of the land, and under which 
 we have all been obliged to live for twenty-five years. 
 We cannot go back and undo the law and live the twenty- 
 five years over again. All the mistakes and follies of the 
 past are gone into the past for all classes and all persons 
 amongst us. The men of the past must be assumed to have 
 acted according to their light, and we who inherit the con- 
 sequences of what they did must make the best of both the 
 good and ill of it, as the case may be, or as we think it is. 
 If now we make a new coinage law it must stand on its own 
 merits, and on the responsibility of the men who make it, 
 now and for the future. All references back to 1873 are 
 idle and irrelevant. 
 
 ^ Leslie's Weekly, September 17, 1896. 
 165
 
 166 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 The plain fact, therefore, to be faced without any dis- 
 guise, is that we are invited to debase the coinage and lower 
 the standard of value, now and for the future, as a free act 
 of political choice, to be deliberately adopted in a time of 
 profound peace, and that this is to be done with the inten- 
 tion and hope that it will perpetrate a bankruptcy at fifty 
 cents on the dollar for all existing debtors. Can this project 
 be executed? It cannot. The scheme and plan of it for 
 a nation of seventy million people is silly and wicked at 
 the same time, and is both, beyond the power of words to 
 express. The projectors of it deal with the economic phe- 
 nomena of a great nation as if they were talking about a 
 game at cards, and they plan to do this with prices and 
 that with debts, this with exports and that with banks, as 
 if they were planning a program for building a barn. If 
 we try to realize the operation proposed we shall see how 
 childish and absurd it is. 
 
 We must distinguish between three classes of debtors: 
 great financial institutions, small mortgagors, and partners 
 in collapsed booms. 
 
 Financial Institutions as Debtors. 
 
 The great financial institutions are intermediaries be- 
 tween debtors and creditors. They have received capital 
 from some people and lent it to others. They have to 
 recover it and pay it back. If they only recover it at fifty 
 cents on the dollar, they can only repay it in the same way. 
 What this would mean is that the creditors of those institu- 
 tions would be paid "dollars," but that when they tried to 
 re-invest them they would find that prices had risen to a 
 greater or less degree in those dollars for the things which 
 they wanted to buy. To this the Populists answer, tri- 
 umphantly, that now the debtors find that the prices of 
 their products have fallen, so that when they try to sell
 
 THE DELUSION OF THE DEBTORS 167 
 
 them they cannot get enough to pay their debts; but the 
 debtors are those who made contracts and undertook enter- 
 prises five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years ago, expecting to 
 make gains which they certainly would have kept. As 
 things have turned out they have not made the gains, and 
 their plan is to escape the loss by throwing it on some one 
 else. The institutions in question, however, are bound to 
 protect the interests of either body of their clients, bor- 
 rowers or depositors, when either is unjustly threatened, and 
 they are by no means destitute of means to do it. A law 
 to forbid specific coin contracts is but one step in the des- 
 perate policy of prostituting law and corrupting the ad- 
 ministration of justice, which would be necessary in the 
 attempt to force through the plan imder discussion. It 
 would fail at last, because the advocates of it would find 
 that, as the popular saying is, it would "fly up and hit 
 them in the face." It is not possible to throw society and 
 all its most important institutions into confusion without 
 ruining all the interests of everybody, and at last every- 
 body but the tramp or pauper has to ask himseK whether 
 it will pay. As for the institutions, many of them would 
 be ruined in the operation. It is not possible for them 
 simply to collect and repay in the debased dollars. The 
 operation would produce snarls and knots at every turn. 
 Lawsuits would multiply on all sides, and would so entan- 
 gle the affairs of the institution as to ruin it. The proof 
 of this is presented by the difficulties of liquidation in any 
 case, even when there is no question of currency revolu- 
 tion, and when general affairs are in a normal condition, 
 unless there is time and security for all the operations. In 
 this case the demands on the institution would be precipi- 
 tated at once, so far as the form of contract would allow.
 
 168 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 Small Mortgagors. 
 
 The small mortgagors are either wages-men or farmers. 
 As to the wages-men, their wages would undoubtedly go 
 up in time as prices went up, but in the paralysis of indus- 
 try which would be the first distinct effect of the plan, as 
 soon as it was known that the experiment was to be made, 
 immense numbers of wages-men would be thrown out of 
 employment, and all wages would fall on account of this 
 condition of the labor market. Later, when things began 
 to adjust themselves to the new basis, wages would be low 
 with prices high, both in silver. Advance of wages would 
 come, but it would have to be won through strikes and a 
 prolonged industrial war. In the state of things supposed 
 it would be every man for himself. The wages class would 
 be weakest of all under the circumstances, as they are in 
 every case of "hard times." How would mortgagors of 
 this class traverse such a time and keep up their interest .?* 
 As to the principal, which is to be halved, it cannot be 
 halved unless it is paid, and the mortgagor has nothing 
 to pay it with except the surplus which he can save from 
 his wages over the cost of living. The project promises woe 
 and ruin to the wages class, with industrial war and class 
 hatred as moral consequences of the most far-reaching 
 importance. 
 
 Farmer-Mortgagors . 
 
 The farmers expect to double the price of their products, 
 and so get silver to pay off their mortgages. It has 
 been shown elsewhere^ how illusory this expectation is as 
 regards prices. Prices would rise, indeed, in silver, but 
 irregularly and unequally. They would rise for all things 
 which a farmer buys as well as for all that he sells. If, as 
 the silver theorists generally say, all prices were to rise 
 
 1 Pp. 161-162.
 
 THE DELUSION OF THE DEBTORS 169 
 
 uniformly, the farmer would gain but little. For the only 
 means he would win toward paying off his mortgage would 
 be the surplus of his income over his outgo, and this he 
 could only apply year by year as he won it. If, then, the 
 whole scheme could be made to work smoothly provided the 
 victims of it would submit to it without resistance, does 
 this afford any probability of realizing the great hopes 
 which are built upon the scheme.^ 
 
 Social War the Consequence. 
 
 But victims would not submit without resistance, and 
 once more we come to the result that no effect can be ex- 
 pected from this undertaking but social war, and a con- 
 vulsion of the entire social system, whose consequences 
 defy analysis or prediction. If a man says that he "does 
 not see" what great difference going over to the silver stand- 
 ard will make, it must be that he is little trained to under- 
 stand the workings of the industrial system in which he 
 lives and on which he depends. It is a monstrous thing 
 that a free, self-governing people should join a political 
 battle, in this year of grace 1896, over the question whether 
 to debase their coinage or not. 
 
 The Exploded Booms. 
 
 The third class of debtors is by far the most important 
 in this matter — those who are caught in exploded booms. 
 The peaceful and honest mortgagors of farms and home- 
 steads are not the ones who have gotten up this political 
 agitation. The jobbers, speculators, and boom-promoters 
 have been one of the curses of this country from the earliest 
 colonial days. They are men of the "hustling" type, job- 
 bing in politics with one hand and in land or town lots 
 with the other. It is they who, at the worst periods of
 
 170 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 financial trouble in our history, have always appeared in 
 the lobby, eager for "relief," declaiming about the 
 "people," the "money power," the "banks," "England," 
 etc. They have always favored schemes for fraudulent 
 banks, or paper money, or state subsidies, or other plans 
 by which they could unload on the state or on their credi- 
 tors. Just now it is silver, because silver has fallen within 
 twenty-five years so much that it is what is called "cheap 
 money." This type of men have always used a dialect, 
 part of which is quoted above, which is so well marked 
 that it suflaces to identify them. The history of financial 
 distress in this country is full of it. No scheme which 
 has ever been devised by them has ever made a collapsed 
 boom go up again. With very few exceptions, they have, 
 on account of such expedients, only floundered deeper in 
 the mire. The exceptions have been those who have suc- 
 ceeded in making the state provide them with capital, al- 
 though by no means all of these have been hard-headed 
 enough to use it to "get out." Generally they believe in 
 themselves and their schemes, and use new capital only to 
 plunge in again still deeper. 
 
 It is men of this class and the silver-miners who have 
 brought the present trouble upon us, who have invented 
 and preached the notions about the crime of '73, the hard 
 times, the magical influence of silver, and all the rest. It 
 is they who have filled and engineered conventions. They 
 will gain no more now than in any former crisis, but they 
 insist on involving us all in turmoil, risk, and ruin by their 
 schemes to save themselves.
 
 THE CRIME OF 1873
 
 THE CRIME OF 1873^ 
 
 Legislative History of the Act of 1873. 
 
 IT is alleged that the law of 1873 was enacted surrep- 
 titiously. Mr. Bryan is quoted as having said that the 
 free-coinage men only ask for a restoration of "that system 
 that we had until it was stricken down in the dark without 
 discussion." Within the last ten years the facts of the leg- 
 islative history of that law have been published over and 
 over again. They are to be found in the report of the 
 Comptroller of the Currency for 1876, page 170; in "Mac- 
 pherson's Political Manual" for 1890, page 157, and in 
 "Sound Currency," Vol. Ill, No. 13. The bill was before 
 Congress three years, was explained and debated again and 
 again. The fact that the silver dollar was dropped was 
 expressly pointed out. It is not now justifiable for any 
 man who claims to be honest and responsible to assert that 
 it was passed "in the dark and without discussion." The 
 fact is that nobody cared about it. It is noteworthy that 
 the act is not in "Macpherson's Manual" for 1874. It was 
 not thought to be of any importance. It was not until 
 after the panic of 1873 that attention began to be given to 
 the currency. To that, I who write can testify, since I tried 
 in vain, before that time, to excite any interest in the sub- 
 ject. I was once in the gallery of the House of Representa- 
 tives when a question of coinage was before the House. I 
 counted those members who, as far as I could judge, were 
 paying any attention. There were six. WTiat is it neces- 
 sary to do in such a case in order to prevent the claim, 
 twenty-five years later, when countless interests have vested 
 
 * Leslie's Weekly, September 24, 1896. 
 173
 
 174 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 under the law, that the law is open to "reversal" because 
 it was passed "in the dark"? 
 
 Was it Passed Surreptitiously? 
 
 How can a law be passed through Congress surrep- 
 titiously? We have indeed heard of bills being "smug- 
 gled through" in the confusion attending the last hours 
 of the session, or as an amendment, or under a misleading 
 title. There are the rules of order, however, by which 
 all legislation is enacted. All laws which get through the 
 mill are equally valid. There never has been and never 
 can be any distinction drawn between them according to 
 their legislative history. In the present case there was not 
 the slightest manoeuvre or trick, nor is there even room to 
 trump up an allegation of the kind. 
 
 That the People Did Not Know of It. 
 
 It is said that "the people" did not know what was 
 being done. How do they ever know what is being done? 
 There is all the machinery of publicity, and it is all at 
 work. If people do not heed (and of course in nearly all 
 cases they do not), whose fault is it? ^Tio is responsible to 
 go to the ten million voters individually and make sure that 
 they heed, lest twenty-five years later somebody may say 
 that the fact that they did not heed lays down a justifica- 
 tion for a new project which certainly is "a crime" in the 
 new sense which is given to that word here? 
 
 Motive of the Law. 
 
 The act of 1873 did not affect any rights or interests. It 
 took away an option which had existed since 1834, but had 
 never been used, and, for ten years before this act was 
 passed, had sunk entirely out of sight under paper-money
 
 THE CRIME OF 1873 175 
 
 inflation. Secretary Boutwell, when he first brought the 
 matter to the attention of Congress in 1870, explained the 
 proposed legislation as a codification of existing coinage 
 laws. Later it took the shape of a complete simplification 
 of existing law, history, and fact, in order to put the coin- 
 age on the simplest and best system as a basis for resump- 
 tion. As we had then no coin, we had a free hand to put 
 the system on the best basis, there being no vested rights 
 or interests to be disturbed. That this was a wise and sound 
 course to pursue under the circumstances is unquestion- 
 able. Three years later, by the rise in greenbacks and the 
 fall in silver, it came about that four hundred twelve and 
 one-half grains of silver, nine-tenths fine, was worth a little 
 less than a greenback dollar. The old option would, there- 
 fore, if still existent, have been an advantage to debtors. 
 Complaint and clamor for the restoration of the option 
 then began, but to give such an option, after the market 
 had changed, would be playing with loaded dice. The 
 European countries which still retained the option abolished 
 it as soon as silver began to fall, and we, if we had retained 
 it open until that time, ought to have done the same. 
 
 Alternate Ruin to Debtors and Creditors. 
 
 The inflation of the Civil War had a direful effect upon 
 all creditors on contracts outstanding in 1862. The resump- 
 tion of specie payments had a similar effect on debtors under 
 contracts made between 1868 and 1878. Greenbackism 
 and silver debasement were produced by resistance to this 
 operation. The debtors of to-day are not those of that 
 period. The debts of that period are paid off. The pain 
 and strain have been borne. The credit of the United 
 States has been established, the currency restored, and the 
 whole business of the country for seventeen years has been 
 completely established on the gold dollar as the dollar of
 
 176 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 account for all transactions whatsoever. The population 
 of the country is now two and a half times what it was in 
 the war time, and its wealth is probably a much greater 
 multiple. The debts now outstanding have, with unim- 
 portant exceptions, been contracted since the resumption 
 of specie payments. WTiat is now proposed is to enter 
 upon a new period of these alternations of wrong and in- 
 justice, first to creditors, then to debtors, and so on, and 
 to do this in a time of peace, not from any political neces- 
 sity, but on the ground of some economic interpretations 
 of the facts of the market, which are incapable of verifica- 
 tion and proof, when they are not obviously erroneous and 
 partisan. The effect of the various compromises with 
 silver is that the currency is once more intricate and com- 
 plicated, excessive and confused, so that few can under- 
 stand it, and it offers all sorts of chances for perverse and 
 mischievous interpretations. 
 
 Demonetization Removed No Money from Use. 
 
 The law of 1873 never threw a dollar of silver or other 
 currency out of circulation. We hear it asserted that "de- 
 monetization" destroyed half the people's money. People 
 say this who know nothing of the facts, but infer that de- 
 monetization must mean that some silver dollars which 
 were money had that character taken from them. No one 
 of the other demonetizations, which took place in Europe 
 at about the same time, diminished the money in use. 
 The result of changes in 1873-1874 was that the amount 
 of silver coin in use in Europe was greatly increased, and 
 has remained so since. 
 
 The resumption of specie payments after 1873 by a 
 number of nations which had issued paper money in the 
 previous period, and the alternate expenditure and re-col- 
 lection of war-hoards of gold, had far greater importance 
 than the demonetizations.
 
 THE CRIME OF 1873 177 
 
 There has been no diminution of the world's coined 
 money within fifty years, but a steady and rapid increase 
 of it. There have been fluctuations in the production of 
 gold and silver such as belong to the production of all 
 m^etals and are inevitable. 
 
 The Alleged Scramble for Gold. 
 
 There has been no "scramble for gold." Those who do 
 not put any obstacle in the way of gold get more of it than 
 they want. The Bank of England has had lately the larg- 
 est stock of gold that it ever had, and complaints have 
 begun to be heard of a glut. The gold-production in the 
 last five years is the greatest ever known and there is no 
 fear of any lack of it, whatever may be the sense in which 
 any one chooses to speak of a "lack." There is not and 
 has not been any "scarcity of gold." There is no such thing 
 conceivable, except where paper has been issued in excess, 
 so that it is hard to keep enough gold to redeem it with. 
 
 Proof that there has been no Scarcity of Gold. 
 
 There is one proof that there has been no scarcity of 
 money for twenty-five years past which has not indeed 
 passed unnoticed, but which has not received the attention 
 which it deserves; that is the rate of interest. The rate 
 of interest is normally due to the supply and demand of 
 loanable capital, and has nothing to do with money. The 
 value of money is registered by prices, not by the rate of 
 interest. But whenever there is a special demand for 
 money of account — that is, for the solvent of debts — the 
 rate of interest on capital passes over into a rale for the 
 solvent of debts. Banks lend capital in its most universal 
 form, i.e., the currency or money of account, or bank 
 credits. If credit fails, as in a time of crisis and panic,
 
 178 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 actual cash in the money of account is wanted. This now 
 is loaned, under a rate, by the same persons and institu- 
 tions who formerly loaned capital, and the one phenome- 
 non passes into the other without any line of demarcation. 
 The transition, however, never takes place except in time 
 of crisis, and therefore at a high rate. From this it follows 
 certainly that never when the market rate is low can it be 
 a rate for the solvent of debts. Now, ever since 1873, with 
 the exception of periods of special stringency in 1884, 1890, 
 and 1893, we have had very low rates of interest; the rate 
 for call loans (which in this connection are the most im- 
 portant) has been about two per cent. This is a demon- 
 stration that the country has not been suffering from a 
 crisis on account of a lack of currency for the normal needs 
 of business. Proofs could be presented, on the other hand, 
 that the currency for the last six years has been constantly 
 in excess, excepting in 1893, when the credit of the currency 
 failed for a time. 
 
 How TO Get Poor and Rich at the Same Time. 
 
 Mr. St. John tries his hand at the relation between prices 
 and interest in connection with our subject. He says: 
 "If the dollar can be cheapened by increasing the number 
 of dollars, so that each dollar will buy less wheat, the in- 
 creasing price of wheat will increase the demand for dollars 
 to invest in its production." Evidently he fails to dis- 
 tinguish between the rise in price of wheat from one gold 
 dollar to two gold dollars per bushel, and the rise in wheat 
 from one gold dollar to two fifty-cent silver dollars per 
 bushel. The former would undoubtedly stimulate pro- 
 duction. The latter would do so also, among farmers who 
 shared Mr. St. John's confusion on this matter. There 
 would be many of them. They would imagine that they 
 were getting rich by raising wheat to sell at two silver dol-
 
 THE CRIME OF 1873 179 
 
 lars, or five, ten, fifteen, or twenty paper dollars, as depre- 
 ciation went on. Hence, as he says, they would pay a 
 banker eight, ten, twelve, or fifteen per cent, in the de- 
 preciated dollars, in order to get "money," as he calls it, 
 with which to raise wheat. Mr. St. John thinks that this 
 would mean that farmer and banker were both magnifi- 
 cently prosperous. It would mean that the real value 
 which came in was steadily growing less than that which 
 went out, so that the capital was being consumed. Hence 
 the high rates of inflation times, and the disaster which 
 follows when the truth is realized. They told a story in 
 Revolutionary times of a man who invested his capital in a 
 hogshead of rum which he sold out at an enormous ad- 
 vance — in Continental paper; but when he went to buy 
 a new supply, all his "money" would only buy a barrel. 
 This he retailed out at another enormous advance — in 
 Continental — but when he went to buy more he had only 
 enough money to buy a gallon. If he had borrowed his 
 first capital he might have paid twenty per cent for it — 
 in Continental — but the banker would hardly have made 
 a good affair. 
 
 Monopoly of the Money. 
 
 We hear it asserted that the gold standard gives the 
 owners of gold power to appropriate the money and make 
 it scarce, and that they have used this power. Why, then, 
 under silver or paper, may not the holders of silver or paper 
 do the same.^ That the holders of gold have not done it 
 has been shown above. But nobody can do it with any 
 kind of value money. There are no "holders of gold." 
 He who holds gold wins no gains on it. The bankers who 
 are supposed to hold it, if peace and security reign, put it 
 all out at loan in order to get gain on it. When peace and 
 security do not reign it is not safe to put it out, and bor- 
 rowers, fearing to engage in new enterprises, do not present
 
 180 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 a demand for it. Furthermore, the greatest gains can then 
 be won by holding money ready to buy property when the 
 crash comes. That is what those who own surpluses are 
 doing now. Hence there are no "holders of gold" until 
 monetary threats and dangers call them into existence. 
 Silver legislation has made a great many. The law of 1873 
 never made any. 
 
 There is not, therefore, a fact or deduction about the law 
 of 1873, or the history of the market since, which the silver 
 men have put forward, which will stand examination.
 
 A CONCURRENT CIRCULATION OF GOLD 
 AND SILVER
 
 A CONCURRENT CIRCULATION OF GOLD 
 AND SILVER 
 
 [1878] 
 
 IT seems as if the United States were destined to be the 
 arena for testing experimentally every fallacy in re- 
 gard to money which has ever been propounded. A few 
 years ago only a very few people here had ever heard of 
 the "double standard" or knew what it meant. In 1873 
 we became simply and distinctly a "gold country" in law, 
 as we had been for forty years in fact. Immediately after 
 that date silver began to fall in value relatively to gold, 
 so that, if we had been on the "double standard," and had 
 not been deterred by considerations of honor, morality, 
 and public credit, which considerations kept the double- 
 standard countries from taking that course, we could have 
 paid our debts in silver at an advantage. Forthwith all 
 those persons who had before been racking their brains to 
 devise some scheme for resumption without pain or sacri- 
 fice, turned their attention to silver, and began to devise 
 plans for getting back to the position which, as they thought, 
 we had unwisely abandoned. The consequence has been 
 that, for the last year, the country has produced number- 
 less editorials, essays, lectures, and speeches, full of the most 
 crude sophistry, and the most astonishing errors as to all 
 the elementary doctrines of coinage and money. The 
 favorite object of all these schemes is to find some means 
 of increasing the amount of money at the disposal of the 
 world, or of this nation, so as to raise prices and make it 
 easier to pay debts. These schemes have taken their 
 point of departure in the speculations of some European 
 
 183
 
 184 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 economists. In Europe the propositions of the economists 
 in question have never passed beyond the realm of specu- 
 lation and theoretical discussion amongst professional 
 economists. They have been regarded by some as prob- 
 ably sound, and capable of being made the basis of advan- 
 tageous legislation. By others, superior in number and 
 authority, they have been regarded as unsound. Inasmuch 
 as they involve an international coinage union between 
 all civilized countries and could be put to the experiment 
 only on a scale involving immeasurable risks, the over- 
 whelming judgment has been that they were out of the 
 question. Here, however, our amateurs and empirics are 
 in hot haste to make the experiments, without any coinage 
 convention, or with the cooperation of only a few and the 
 less important nations, that is to say under circumstances 
 which even the most extreme bimetallists condemn as 
 ruinous. 
 
 It must be observed then that there lies back of all this 
 popular discussion a scientific and technical question of 
 great delicacy. I might even say that it is a speculative 
 question, or a question in speculative economics, for we 
 have no experience of an international coinage union, or of 
 a concurrent circulation, of the metals. We have to im- 
 agine the state of things proposed and reason a priori as 
 to what must be the result. There is a postulate to all 
 these schemes which has never been expressed and never 
 been discussed, but which is assumed to be true. It has 
 two different forms: (1) A concurrent circulation of gold 
 and silver may be established in any country: (2) A con- 
 current circulation of gold and silver may be established 
 by a coinage union of all civilized nations. These postu- 
 lates, or we may say this postulate, for the latter includes 
 the former, I have now to bring in question. If the science 
 of money teaches that there cannot be a concurrent cir- 
 culation of the metals, then the schemes which I have re-
 
 CIRCULATION OF GOLD AND SILVER 185 
 
 f erred to are all condemned. The question, moreover, has 
 won such an immediate and practical significance in the 
 country that it is no longer a subject for academical dis- 
 cussion amongst economists, about whom opinions may 
 differ without importance. 
 
 The Senate of the United States has just passed a bill 
 containing the following provision: 
 
 *'Sec. 2. That immediately after the passage of this act 
 the President shall invite the governments of the countries 
 composing the Latin Union, so called, and of such other 
 European nations as he may deem advisable, to join the 
 United States in a conference to adopt a common ratio be- 
 tween gold and silver for the purpose of establishing in- 
 ternationally the use of bimetallic money and securing a 
 fixity of the relative value between those metals; such 
 conference to be held at such a place in Europe or in the 
 United States at such a time within six months as may be 
 mutually agreed upon by the executives of the governments 
 joining in the same. Whenever the governments so in- 
 vited, or any three of them, shall have signified their willing- 
 ness to unite in the same, the President shall, by and with 
 the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint three com- 
 missioners who shall attend such conference on behalf of 
 the United States, and shall report the doings thereof to 
 the President, who shall transmit the same to Congress." 
 
 The conception which governed this legislation is plain 
 enough. It proposes to secure a concurrent circulation of 
 the two metals at a fixed ratio by an international agree- 
 ment. The proposition is to put the experiment at work 
 when only three nations besides ourselves consent and in 
 the meantime to remonetize silver here at sixteen to one 
 when the market ratio is seventeen and one-half to one. 
 This adds to the absurdity of the bill, but has no 
 bearing on my present controversy. I challenge the 
 postulate which is assumed, which has never been dis-
 
 186 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 cussed, much less proved, that a concurrent circulation 
 is possible if an international union can be made. Any- 
 body who concedes this concedes, as I view it, the 
 fundamental and controlling error in the silver craze. If 
 this premise is conceded, there can be no further contro- 
 versy on the arena of science. It remains only to try to 
 overcome practical difficulties. Such is the issue I raise 
 with those who, under any reservations whatsoever, con- 
 cede that a concurrent circulation is possible. In a body 
 of scientific gentlemen I need only refer to the mischief 
 done in science by assuming the truth of postulates with- 
 out examination, and I need make no apology for bringing 
 forward with all possible force and vigor a controversy on 
 a point so essential. It is my duty to say that I may be in 
 error, and I have the misfortune to differ here with gentle- 
 men from whom I dissent seldom and unwillingly, but it 
 will not be denied that, while there is controversy on a 
 point so essential, and at a moment when practical meas- 
 ures of high importance to every person in this country 
 are proposed, based on certain views of the matter, I am 
 right in promoting discussion. I wish to be understood as 
 paying full respect to everybody, but I address myself, 
 without compliments, to the question in hand. I shall be 
 satisfied if I make it appear that I have some strong grounds 
 for the position I take in a long, careful, and mature study 
 of this question in all its bearings. 
 
 It will economize time and space, if, before entering on 
 my subject, I try to clear up two points: (1) what is an 
 economic force or an economic law, and how ought we to 
 go about the study of economic phenomena.'^ (2) What is 
 a legal tender? 
 
 (1) What should be our conception of an economic 
 force or an economic law, and how ought we to study 
 economic phenomena? Some people seem to think that 
 economic phenomena constitute a domain of arbitrary and
 
 CIRCULATION OF GOLD AND SILVER 187 
 
 artificial action. They think that social phenomena of 
 every kind are subject to chance or to control. They see 
 no sequence between incidents of this kind. They have 
 no conception of social forces. They think economic laws 
 are only formulae established by grouping a certain num- 
 ber of facts together, like a rule in grammar, and they are 
 prepared for a list of exceptions to follow. This concep- 
 tion, in its grosser forms, is now banished from the science, 
 but it still has strong hold on popular opinion. It also 
 still colors a great many scientific discussions, those, namely, 
 who seek to carry forward the science by following out the 
 complicated cases produced by the combined action of 
 economic forces in our modern industrial life, and describ- 
 ing them in detail. In my opinion such efforts are all 
 mistaken. 
 
 I regard economic forces as simply parallel to physical 
 forces, arising just as spontaneously and naturally, follow- 
 ing a sequence of cause and effect just as inevitably as 
 physical forces — neither more nor less. The perturba- 
 tions and complications which present themselves in social 
 phenomena are strictly analogous to those which appear in 
 physical phenomena. The social order is, to my mind, 
 the product of social forces tending always towards an 
 equilibrium at some ideal point, which point is continually 
 changing under the ever-changing amount or velocity of the 
 forces or under their new combinations. Consequently, I 
 do not believe that the advance of economic science depends 
 upon fuller and more minute description of complicated 
 social phenomena as they present themselves in experience, 
 but on a stricter analysis of them in order to get a closer 
 and clearer knowledge of the laws by which the forces pro- 
 ducing them operate. If this can be attained, all the com- 
 plications which arise from their combined action will be 
 easily solved. Of course we have peculiar difficulties to 
 contend with, inasmuch as we cannot constitute experi-
 
 188 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 ments, and it is necessary to rely largely upon historical 
 cases which present now one and now another force or set 
 of forces in peculiar prominence. The facts which show 
 the difficulty of the task, however, have nothing to do 
 with its nature. 
 
 According to this view of the matter there is no more 
 reason to be satisfied with generalities in economics than 
 in physics. Some writers on economic subjects, who 
 pride themselves upon scientific reluctance, remind me of 
 Mr. Brooks, in "Middlemarch." They believe in things 
 up to a certain point, and are always afraid of going too 
 far. They would be careful about the multiplication table, 
 and not bear down too hard on the rule of three. They 
 do not discriminate between care in the application of rules, 
 and confidence in scientific results; or between harshness 
 in personal relations and firm convictions in science. The 
 more we come to understand economic science the more 
 clear it is that we are dealing with only another presentation 
 of matter and force, that is to say, with quantity and law, 
 so that we have mathematical relations, and have every 
 encouragement to severity and exactitude in our methods. 
 When, therefore, it is said that the economists do not pay 
 sufficient heed to the power of legislation, that is no stop- 
 ping place for the argument any more than it would be in 
 physics to say that sufficient heed was not paid to friction. 
 The question would then arise: What is the force of legis- 
 lation .f* Let us study it, just as we would go on to study 
 friction in mechanics. When it is loosely said (as if that 
 dismissed the subject) that men have passions and emo- 
 tions and do not act by rule, the objection is not pertinent 
 at all. It is connected with another wide and common, 
 but very erroneous notion, that economic laws involve 
 some stress of obligation on men to do or abstain from 
 doing certain things. I suppose this notion arises from the 
 classification of political economy amongst the moral
 
 CIRCULATION OF GOLD AND SILVER 189 
 
 sciences Economic laws only declare relations of cause and 
 effect which will follow, if set in motion. Wiether a man 
 sets the sequence in motion at all or not, and if he does so, 
 whether he does it from passion or habit or upon reaection 
 is immaterial. Such is the case, as I understand it, wnth 
 all sciences. They simply instruct men as to the laws of 
 this world in which we live that they may know what to 
 expect it they take one course or another, or they instruct 
 men so that they may understand the relations of phe- 
 nomena of forces beyond our control so that we may fore- 
 see and guard ourselves against harm. It follow-s from all 
 this that I demand and aim at just as close thinking in 
 political economy as in any other science. I thmk we must 
 trv to get as firm hold of principles and fundamental laws 
 as we can, and that, especially in the face of speculative 
 propositions, we ought to cling to and trust the firmly es- 
 tablished laws of the science. 
 
 (o) As to legal tender, it seems to me that the public 
 mind has been sadly confused under the regime of paper 
 money. Money is any commodity which is set apart by 
 comnfon consent to serve as a medium of exchange. If 
 it is a commodity, it will exchange by the laws of value, 
 and will therefore serve to measure value. It must there- 
 fore be a commodity, an object of desire requiring onerous 
 exertion to get it. In theory, it may be any commodity. 
 The question as to what commodity is a question ot con- 
 venience - that one which will answer the purpose best. 
 Through a long period ot experiments we have come to use 
 gold or silver, simply because we found them the best^ 
 Convenience here gave rise to custom, and money of go d 
 or silver owes its existence to custom entirely, and not to 
 law at all. Law has only in very few inst^vnces even se- 
 lected that one of the two metals which should be used. 
 Even that has come about through custom Law, there- 
 fore here as elsewhere where it has been beneficent and
 
 190 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 not arbitrary, has followed custom, recognized it, rati- 
 fied it, and given it sanctions. (1) A legal tender law, 
 therefore, where customary money is used, simply declares 
 that the parties to a contract shall not vex each other by 
 arbitrarily departing from the custom. The creditor shall 
 not demand, and the debtor shall not offer, out of spite 
 or malice, anything but the customary money of the na- 
 tion. Such a legal tender law has no significance whatever. 
 No one thinks of it or speaks of it or takes it into account, 
 unless he be one of those whose idle malice it prevents. 
 
 (2) A legal tender law is used where a subsidiary token 
 currency is employed as a part of the system, to prevent 
 debtors from using it in payment, and to prevent the system 
 from bringing about a depreciation of the money. In this 
 case it is part of the device for using a token currency, and 
 is open to no objection. It would check the debtor when 
 he meant to perpetrate a wrong. It would not enable 
 him to do one. 
 
 (3) A legal tender law has been used very often, how- 
 ever, to give forced circulation to a depreciated currency 
 of little or no value as a commodity. In that case the legal 
 tender act enables the debtor to discharge his obligations 
 with less commodities than he and the creditor understood 
 and expected when the contract was made. If the creditor 
 appeals to the courts, they are obliged to rule that the 
 debtor has discharged his obligation, when he has not, 
 and they give the creditor no relief. Hence it appears 
 that a legal tender act giving forced circulation to depre- 
 ciated currency amounts simply to this: it withdraws the 
 protection of the courts from one party to a contract, and 
 leaves him at the mercy of the other party to the extent 
 of the depreciation of the currency. Obviously no other 
 act of legislation more completely reverses the whole 
 proper object of legislation, or more thoroughly subverts 
 civil order. The English passed two or three acts of this
 
 CIRCULATION OF GOLD AND SILVER 191 
 
 nature, although they were not specifically acts for making 
 banknotes legal tender, during the bank suspension at the 
 beginning of this century. It would have been interesting 
 to see what English courts would have made of an act 
 which reversed the whole spirit of English law by diminish- 
 ing the rights of one party under a contract, and which 
 made the courts an instrument for his oppression instead 
 of an institution to provide a remedy, but no case came up. 
 The twelve judges on appeal overturned the sentence of a 
 man convicted of buying and selling gold at a premium. 
 Some few persons demanded and obtained gold payments 
 throughout the suspension but the paper circulation was 
 really sustained by public opinion and consent, it being 
 believed that the bank suspension was necessary. This 
 form of legal tender, therefore, is totally different from 
 that first described. I call it, for the sake of discrimina- 
 tion, a forced circulation. When a legal tender act giving 
 forced circulation to a depreciated currency is first passed, 
 if it applies to existing contracts it transfers a percentage 
 of all capital engaged in credit operations from the creditor 
 to the debtor. In its subsequent action it subjects either 
 party to the fluctuations which may occur in the forced 
 circulation, robbing first one and then another. Hence 
 the debtor interest is that the depreciation once begun 
 shall go on steadily, because any recovery would rob 
 debtors as creditors were robbed in the first place. 
 
 Having disposed of these two points I now take up the 
 question I proposed at the outset: Is a concurrent circula- 
 tion of gold and silver possible under an international 
 coinage union? 
 
 Here we have to make a radical distinction between two 
 different propositions for an international coinage union. 
 The first is that of M. Wolowski. He pointed to the com- 
 paratively small fluctuations of the precious metals and to 
 the effect which France had exerted by the double standard.
 
 192 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 and inferred that if all civilized nations would join France 
 in her system they might arrest the fall of either metal 
 before it became important. If the coinage union fixed 
 upon a ratio of one to fifteen and one-half, then, if silver fell 
 all would use silver, which would arrest its fall. If gold 
 should fall, all would use gold. As the metal in use would 
 always be the one which was cheaper than the legal ratio, 
 the other would be above it, if I may so express it. Hence 
 neither would be permanently demonetized, because neither 
 could fall so low as to go out of use. Only one would be 
 used at a time but the other would be within reach, and if 
 either should rise relatively to commodities, debtors would 
 not suffer but might even be benefited by being enabled 
 to turn to the falling metal. This system would require of 
 the law nothing except to prescribe that the mint should 
 coin either metal indifferently which people might bring, 
 silver coins being made fifteen and one-half times as heavy 
 as gold coins of the same denomination, both being of the 
 same fineness. This is Wolowski's plan, and these are the 
 advantages he expected from it. He thought that it 
 would hold the alternative open between the two metals. 
 He feared that silver, if universally demonetized, would 
 fall so low as to go out of use entirely for money. He 
 thought that France and, later, the Latin Union ought not 
 to bear alone the cost of keeping up the value of silver. 
 He thought the debtor ought not to be oppressed by being 
 forced to rely on one metal alone which might rise relatively 
 to commodities. He did not propose to give the debtor 
 the use of the whole mass of both metals at the same time. 
 Indeed that arrangement would defeat Wolowski's purpose, 
 for if the whole mass of both metals could be brought into 
 use at once prices would rise. Those who are indebted 
 now would win, but when prices and credit had adjusted 
 themselves to the bimetallic money the effect would be 
 exhausted. Debts contracted after that would be relatively
 
 CIRCULATION OF GOLD AND SILVER 193 
 
 just as heavy to pay as they are now, and if the precious 
 metals taken together rose relatively to commodities, 
 debtors would have no recourse to anything else. Now 
 this chance of recourse, when the standard of value rose, 
 was just what Wolowski wanted. His language is very 
 guarded and scientific. He never went further than to 
 say that his scheme would restrain and limit the fluctua- 
 tions of the metals — how far he did not know and did not 
 pretend to say. He thought the fluctuations would be so 
 narrow that the transition from one metal to the other 
 would be a relief to debtors without any appreciable in- 
 justice to creditors. All this is very clear and very sensible. 
 On theory it is open to no radical objection. The discus- 
 sion of it turns upon considerations of practicability and 
 expediency. It is much to be wished that this plan should 
 be called by its proper name: the alternative standard, 
 or, better still, the alternate standard. It counts among 
 its adherents a number of strong men, and many others 
 have signified assent to it on theoretical grounds. 
 
 The term "bimetallism" ought to be restricted to 
 another theory of which Cernuschi is the advocate, 
 which has for its purpose to unite the two metals at once 
 in the circulation and give debtors the whole mass of both 
 metals as a means of payment. Cernuschi believes that 
 the international coinage union could arrest the fluctua- 
 tions of the metals entirely; or that there is some narrow 
 limit of fluctuation within which both would remain in 
 use, and that the coinage union could hold the value- 
 fluctuations of the metals within these limits. The Ameri- 
 can schemes are numerous and so crude that it is diflScult 
 to analyze or classify them. They are also of many dif- 
 ferent grades. They all, however, seem to have this in 
 common, that they want to secure to the debtor the use 
 of both metals at once, and that they aim at a concurrent 
 circulation. They must, therefore, be classed under bi-
 
 194 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 metallism. These schemes all involve not simply what 
 Wolowski said — that legislation and union could limit the 
 fluctuations — but the proposers know how much it would 
 limit them, and they can control the results. This view 
 has very few adherents in Europe. It has not been dis- 
 cussed there save by one or two writers. It is passed by 
 in silence for reasons which I shall soon show. 
 
 The opinion has been expressed that these two proposi- 
 tions differ only in degree. From this opinion I must ex- 
 press my earnest dissent. It is the very cardinal point of 
 my present argument. Wolowski's alternate standard seems 
 to me to rest upon the belief that legislation of the kind 
 proposed would restrict the fluctuations in value of the 
 metals. It affirms that legislation would have a certain 
 tendency. Any plan for a concurrent circulation giving 
 debtors the use of the whole mass of both metals pretends 
 to say how far the tendency would go and what its results 
 would be. To my mind the difference between those two 
 propositions is that between a scientific and an unscientific 
 proposition. We have a parallel case before us. Some 
 say re-monetization would cause an advance in silver. 
 Others say re-monetization would make a four hundred and 
 twelve and one-half grain silver dollar equal in value to a 
 gold one. Are those two propositions the same save in 
 degree.'^ It seems to me that only a very superficial 
 consideration of them could so declare. Obviously they 
 differ in quality more than in degree. The former of 
 these propositions is not false in principle; the question 
 in regard to it must be decided by circumstances. The 
 second is false and erroneous from beginning to end, 
 and would be false even if temporarily and by force of 
 circumstances the silver dollar should become equal to 
 the gold dollar, because it rests, like the old doctrine that 
 nature abhors a vacuum, upon false views of all the forces 
 involved. Just so with regard to a concurrent circulation or
 
 CIRCULATION OF GOLD AND SILVER 195 
 
 bimetallism as compared with the alternate standard. 
 The latter predicts tendencies to arise from the play of 
 certain forces. Those tendencies are the true effect of 
 those forces. The question may be raised whether the 
 means proposed would bring those forces into action, 
 whether they would be as great as is expected, whether 
 they would be counteracted by others, but there is no 
 error as to the nature and operation of economic forces. 
 Bimetallism predicts results, not tendencies. It assumes 
 to measure the consequences and say what will result as 
 a permanent state of things. It therefore involves the 
 doctrine that legislation can control natural forces for 
 definite results. If legislation cannot so control natural 
 forces, then we cannot secure a concurrent circulation, 
 giving the debtor the use of the whole mass of both metals 
 with which to pay his debts. At a time like this, when the 
 silver craze seems to be asserting itself as a mania, by 
 sweeping away some who ought to be most staunch in their 
 adherence to economic laws and most clear in their percep- 
 tion of economic truths, I may be pardoned for insisting 
 most strenuously upon this distinction and upon its im- 
 portance. Many of the American writers have been be- 
 trayed into error by not having examined these two plans 
 and discriminated between them with suflScient care. It 
 is very common to see arguments based upon the alternate 
 standard and inferences drawn as to bimetallism which 
 are entirely fallacious because they cross the gulf between 
 the two theories without recognizing it. Bimetallism is so 
 plainly opposed to fundamental doctrines of political 
 economy that few European economists have felt called 
 upon to discuss it. Here the case is different, and the more 
 ground it wins, and the more danger there is that it will 
 affect legislation, the more urgent is the necessity to resist 
 every form of it. 
 
 Now my proposition is that a concurrent circulation.
 
 196 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 that is a permanent union of the two metals in the coinage, 
 so that the debtor can use both or either, is impossible. 
 Permanent stability of the metals in the coinage, whether 
 with or without an international coinage union, is just as 
 impossible in economics as perpetual motion is in physics. 
 Against perpetual motion the physicist sets a broad and 
 complete negation, because action and reaction are equal. 
 He does not care what the principle may be on which any 
 one may try to construct perpetual motion. If any one 
 brings to him a perpetual motion perhaps he will spend 
 time to examine and analyze it and show how it contra- 
 venes the great law of motion. I claim that a concurrent 
 circulation is impossible on any scheme or under any cir- 
 cumstances because it contravenes the law of value. Value 
 fluctuates under supply and demand at a limit fixed by 
 what Cairnes calls cost of production, or Jevons calls the 
 final increment of utility, or Walras calls scarcity, all of 
 which on analysis will be found to be the same thing. 
 Bimetallism affirms that, under legislation, although sup- 
 ply and demand may vary, value shall not. In order to 
 test this let us next examine the influence of legislation on 
 value. 
 
 The cases in which legislation acts on value are all cases 
 of monopoly. Such is the case with token money; such is 
 the case with irredeemable paper. As with every other 
 monopoly, the successful manipulation of these monop- 
 olies consists in controlling supply, to fit the supply to the 
 demand at the price which the monopolist wants to get. 
 The history of every monopoly shows the great difficulty, 
 I might say, in the long run, the impossibility, of doing 
 this. The bimetallists propose not to act on the supply, 
 and so create a monopoly, but to act upon the demand. 
 This is a new exercise of legislation, different from any 
 yet tried, and not guaranteed by any experience. Now to 
 act upon the demand is, in the phrase of the stock brokers.
 
 CIRCULATION OF GOLD AND SILVER 197 
 
 to make a corner, that is to buy all that is offered at a price. 
 Stock gamblers do this so as to sell out again at an advance 
 to those who are forced to buy. If there are none who are 
 forced to buy, then those who bought above the market 
 have lost their capital. The propositions of the advocates 
 of the alternate standard and of bimetallism are alike in 
 proposing that all civilized nations shall combine to make 
 a corner on the falling metal. Whether that is a worthy 
 undertaking or not I will not stop to inquire. It is evident 
 that the nations of the coinage union would have no one on 
 whom to unload after they had bought, and that there would 
 be an inevitable loss and waste of capital in the transaction. 
 This, however, is not all. A corner is effective or not ac- 
 cording to its scope. It must embrace the whole object to 
 be raised in price, and above all it must act upon a limited 
 amount which is not fed from any new source of supply. 
 A corner on the precious metals is not to be made effective 
 even by a combination of all civilized nations. In my 
 opinion there is a grand fallacy in the notion that a coinage 
 union would do what France did, only on a larger scale. 
 Wolowski saw France, lying between Germany, a silver 
 nation, and England, a gold nation, carry out the com- 
 pensatory operation, and he inferred that all nations could 
 agree to do the same, more widely, more easily, and with 
 wider distribution of the loss. It seems to me that there 
 was an action and reaction here between members of the 
 group of nations which one can easily understand, but that 
 if all nations joined in the system, the alternation would 
 not work at all for want of a point of reaction. If all na- 
 tions agreed to join the corner on the falling metal, they 
 could not all bring their new demand to bear on the new « 
 supply at the same time. As the mines are limited and 
 local, a new supply would touch the market only at one 
 point. Hence the coinage union implies no aggregation of 
 force at all. Make the union embrace the whole world.
 
 198 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 and the effect is just the same as if there were none at 
 all, the matter standing simply on the natural laws for 
 the distribution of the precious metals. Control of demand 
 by a corner or of supply by a monopoly acts more efficiently 
 the smaller and closer the market is, and, conversely, the 
 larger and wider the transaction, the less the eflSciency. 
 Furthermore, a corner to succeed must make sure that 
 there is no source of supply, and that it has to deal only 
 with an amount which can be computed. The gold corner 
 on Black Friday, 1869, was ruined when the Secretary of 
 the Treasury ordered sales of gold. A monopoly in like 
 manner, must be able to count on steady and uniform de- 
 mand. The coal combination failed when the hard times 
 suddenly contracted the demand for coal. Hence the 
 movement towards a wider market, embracing a larger 
 quantity, is always a movement towards less, and not 
 towards greater control by artificial expedients. 
 
 Applying these observations to the matter before us, I 
 have to say (1) that I consider the inference that a coinage 
 union would do what France did under the double standard, 
 only more surely and efficiently, quite mistaken; (2) as to 
 the alternate standard, I do not believe that the alterna- 
 tion would work on a worldwide scale at all. I regard its 
 operation in France as fully accounted for by the relations 
 of the three countries, England, France, and Germany; 
 (3) as to bimetallism, the coinage union, instead of gaining 
 more stringent control to counteract and nullify the effect 
 of changes in supply of either metal, would have less effect 
 in that direction the larger it was. 
 
 Having thus examined the nature of artificial interfer- 
 ences with value, and their limitations, I return to my 
 proposition that to establish a concurrent circulation is 
 just as impossible as to square the circle or to invent per- 
 petual motion. No doubt it is difficult, perhaps impossible, 
 to make a demonstration of a negative proposition like
 
 CIRCULATION OF GOLD AND SILVER 199 
 
 this. The burden of proof lies upon those who bring for- 
 ward attempts to solve the problem, and I can justly be 
 held only to examine and refute such attempts. No proof 
 has ever been offered by any of the persons in question. 
 No one of them has attempted as much of an analysis of 
 the effect of artificial expedients on value as the one I 
 have just offered. No one of them has attempted to an- 
 alyze the operation of the proposed coinage union, to show 
 how or why they expect it to act as they say. They pass 
 over this assumption as lightly as our popular advocates 
 of silver assume that re-monetization would put an end to 
 the hard times. They content themselves with analogies, 
 or with loose and general guesses that such and such things 
 would result from a coinage union. We all know what 
 dangers lurk in the argument from analogy. The further 
 you follow it the further you are from the point. An an- 
 alogy has no proper use save to set in clearer light an opin- 
 ion or a proposition which must rest for its merits on an 
 appropriate demonstration. Thus the attempt has been 
 made to illustrate the power of governments to control 
 the fluctuations of the metals by the analogy of a man 
 driving two horses. It is said that this is "controlling 
 natural forces for definite results," and it is asked, "if one 
 man in his sphere can do this, why may not the collective 
 might of the nation do this in its sphere?" My answer is 
 that it is in the sphere of man to tame horses, but it is not 
 in the sphere of nations to control value, and therefore 
 the analogy is radically false. I cannot be held to argue 
 both sides of the question. I am not bound to put all the 
 cases of the adversaries into proper shape for discussion 
 and then to refute them. I plant myself squarely upon 
 the fundamental principles of the science of which I am a 
 student and deny that any concurrent circulation is possible 
 except under temporary and accidental circumstances, be- 
 cause it involves the proposition that legislation can control
 
 200 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 value to bring about desired results. A concurrent circula- 
 tion must mean one which is concurrent, and if it is to 
 offer debtors the whole mass of both metals to pay their 
 debts with, it must be permanent. If both metals should be 
 used for a time until prices and contracts were adjusted to 
 them, and then one should rise so much as to go out of use, 
 the consequences would be disastrous to debtors beyond 
 anything now apprehended. 
 
 I proceed then to criticize the notions of a concurrent 
 circulation, as to their common features. The error with 
 them all is that they try to corner commodities the supply 
 of which is beyond their control or knowledge. That is a 
 fatal error in any corner, as I have already shown. If it 
 were proposed that each nation should have a certain 
 amount of circulation, composed of the two metals in equal 
 parts, and then that the circulation should be closed, then 
 the corner might work and there would be some sense in 
 it. Suppose that a nation had two hundred millions of 
 fixed circulation, half gold and half silver, and that this 
 sum was not in excess of its requirement for money. Then 
 I do not see how either half of the coinage should fall rela- 
 tively to the other; but if silver did fall, every dollar of silver 
 which was sought would involve the relinquishment of a 
 dollar in gold and this exchange would act on equal and 
 limited amounts of each metal. It would then depress 
 one metal and raise the other to an exactly equal degree. 
 The balance might, in that case, be retained. The hy- 
 pothesis of a closed circulation is, however, preposterous. 
 No one thinks of it. 
 
 The plan of a concurrent circulation with a free mint 
 strikes, upon close examination, at every step, against diffi- 
 culties of that sort which warn a scientific man that he is 
 dealing with an empirical and impossible delusion. How is 
 it to be brought about? The movement towards a bime- 
 tallic circulation would never begin unless the ratio of the
 
 CIRCULATION OF GOLD AND SILVER 201 
 
 coinage was the market ratio. It would not go on unless 
 the mint ratio followed every fluctuation of the market. 
 It would not be accomplished unless the mint ratio at last 
 was that of the market. It would not remain unless the 
 market ratio remained fixed. But the mint ratio cannot 
 be changed from time to time. If it were, the result would 
 be inextricable confusion in the coins, driving us back to the 
 use of scales and weights with which to treat the coins as 
 bullion. 
 
 If we pass over this difficulty, and suppose, for the sake 
 of argument, that the system had been brought into activ- 
 ity, the reasons why it could not stand present themselves 
 in numbers. They all come back to this, that the supply is 
 beyond our knowledge and control. If the supply of either 
 metal increased, it would overthrow the legal rating at the 
 point at which it was put into the market, and would 
 destroy the equality there. Its effects would spread ac- 
 cording to the amount of the new supply and the length of 
 time it continued. The bimetallists seem to forget that an 
 increased demand counteracts an increased supply only by 
 absorbing it under a price fluctuation. The same error is 
 familiar in the plans for perpetual motion. Speculations 
 to that end often overlook the fact that we cannot employ 
 a force in mechanics without providing an escapement 
 which is always exhausting the force at our disposal. So 
 the bimetallists seem to think of their enhanced demand 
 as acting on value without an actual action and reaction 
 which consist in absorbing supply under a price fluctua- 
 tion. The new metal would therefore pass into the circula- 
 tion and would destroy the equilibrium of the metals in 
 the coinage. If this new addition were only a mathe- 
 matical increment it would suffice to establish the prin- 
 ciple for which I contend and to overthrow the bimetallic 
 theory, for if I see that any force has a certain effect I must 
 infer that the same force increased or continued would go
 
 202 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 on to greater effects; and if the final effect is not reached 
 it is because the force is not suflScient, not because there is 
 an act of the legislature in the way. If then, silver entered 
 the circulation, gold would leave it and be exported, if the 
 exchanges allowed of any export, or would be hoarded and 
 melted. The silver-producing countries would therefore 
 gravitate towards a silver circulation only, and other coun- 
 tries towards a gold circulation. 
 
 Here another assumption of the bimetallists is involved. 
 They assume that the metal to be exported would be the 
 one which falls. Thus, if all nations had a bimetallic cir- 
 culation, and if the supply of silver in the United States 
 increased, it would be necessary that this silver should be 
 proportionately distributed among all the nations in order 
 to keep up the bimetallic system. No bimetallist has ever 
 faced this question. They assume that Americans would 
 pay their foreign debts with silver in that case, and they 
 rely on the international legal tender law to secure this. 
 This is one of the fallacies of legal tender referred to at 
 the outset. Rates of exchange and prices would at once 
 vary to counteract any such operation, just as they always 
 counteract the injustice of a forced circulation and throw 
 it back on those who try to perpetrate it. It may suflBce 
 to put the case this way. If we had both metals circulating 
 together so that a merchant obtained both in substantially 
 equal proportions, and if silver should fall ever so little in 
 our markets, owing to increased production, and if a foreigner 
 were selling his products here, intending to carry home his 
 returns in metal, which metal would he retain to carry 
 away.f^ Obviously that one which at the time and prospec- 
 tively had the higher value. Rates of exchange and prices 
 would adjust themselves so as to bring about the same 
 result through the mechanism of finance. This is one of 
 the most subtle questions involved in the general issue, 
 but it is vital to the bimetallic theory.
 
 CIRCULATION OF GOLD AND SILVER 203 
 
 Some writers have satisfied themselves with general 
 opinions — guesses, I am obliged to call them — that if the 
 fluctuations were kept within certain limits the concurrent 
 circulation would stand. They probably rely on an ele- 
 ment analogous to friction which unquestionably acts in 
 economy and finance. This element consists of habit, prej- 
 udice, passion, dislike of trouble. It acts with great force 
 in retail trade, and in individual cases, and in small trans- 
 actions. Its force diminishes as we go upwards towards the 
 largest transactions, where the smallest percentages give 
 very appreciable sums. It seems to me that the bimetallic 
 system reduces this friction to a minimum. If a man has 
 to spend a dollar he does not go to a broker to buy a trade 
 dollar with a greenback dollar, and save a cent or two, but 
 if he has both a gold dollar and a silver dollar in his pocket 
 (and, under the bimetallic system, the chances are that 
 when he has two dollars he will have one of each), it needs 
 only the lightest shade of difference in value to determine 
 him which to give and which to hold. A bank of issue, 
 holding equal amounts of the two metals with which to 
 redeem its notes, would find an appreciable profit in giving 
 one and holding the other, and it would require nothing 
 but a word of command to the proper oflScer, involving no 
 ri«k at all. Hence I say this friction would be reduced to 
 its minimum under the bimetallic system. It is astonish- 
 ing what light margins of profit suflBce to produce financial 
 movements nowadays; and the tendency is to make the 
 movements turn on smaller and smaller margins. Five 
 in the thousand above par carries gold out of this country. 
 Four in the thousand carries it from England to France. 
 When the French suspended specie payments a depreciation 
 of two in the thousand on the paper sufiiced to throw gold 
 out of circulation. A variation in the ratio of metals from 
 15.5:1 to 15.6: 1 is a variation of six and one-half in the 
 thousand. I do not see how small a variation must be in
 
 204 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 order to justify any one in saying that a bimetallic circula- 
 tion could exist in spite of it. Therefore it seems to me 
 that the more accurately the bimetallic system was estab- 
 lished the more delicate and more easily overthrown it 
 would be, while if it was not accurately established it 
 would not come about at all. I submit that such a result 
 is one of the notes of an absurdity in any science. 
 
 An analogy has been suggested in illustration and sup- 
 port of the bimetallic theory that two vessels of water 
 connected by a tube tend to preserve a level. I have al- 
 ready indicated my suspicion of all analogies, but I will 
 alter this one to make it fit my idea of bimetallism. Sup- 
 pose two vessels capable of expansion and contraction to 
 a considerable degree, under the operation of forces which 
 act entirely independently of each other, so that the varia- 
 tions in shape and capacity of each may have all conceiv- 
 able relations to the corresponding variations of the other. 
 Suppose further that each is fed by a stream of water, each 
 stream being variable in its flow and the variations of each 
 having all possible relations to the variations of the other. 
 The fluctuations in capacity may represent fluctuations of 
 demand, and the fluctuations of inflow, fluctuations of 
 supply. Would the water in the two vessels stand at the 
 same level except temporarily and accidentally, even 
 though the two vessels were connected by a tube? The 
 analogy of the connecting tube could not be admitted even 
 then, because it brings into play the natural law of the 
 equilibrium of fluids, to which the legal tie between the 
 metals is not analogous. If we desire to make the analogy 
 approximately just, in this respect, we may suppose that 
 each vessel has an outlet and that a man is stationed to 
 open the outlet of the vessel in which the water is at the 
 higher point so as to try to keep them both at a level. It 
 is evident that his utmost vigilance would be unavailing to 
 secure the object proposed. I do not borrow the analogy
 
 CIRCULATION OF GOLD AND SILVER 205 
 
 or adopt it. I only show how inadequate it is, in the form 
 proposed. 
 
 There is another group of propositions which have many- 
 advocates amongst us, of which something ought to be 
 said — propositions of those who want to use silver as a legal 
 tender at its value, under some scheme or other. Some 
 want a public declaration, by appointed persons, from time 
 to time, of the market value. Any such plan would throw 
 on the officers in question a responsibility which would be 
 onerous in the extreme, so much so that no one could or 
 would discharge it; and it would introduce a mischievous 
 element of speculation into the payment of all debts. It 
 is, besides, open to the objections which may be adduced 
 against the other plan, which is to have either coins or bars 
 of silver, assayed and stamped, legal tender for debts at 
 the market quotation. Here we need to remember the 
 definition of legal tender given at the outset. If these silver 
 coins and bars are convenient for the purpose they will 
 come into use by custom and consent at their value. If 
 they really pass at their market value, there will be no ad- 
 vantage to the debtor. One who has silver and wants to 
 pay a debt can do so at its value by selling the silver. In 
 this sense every man who produces wheat, cotton, iron, or 
 personal services, pays his debts with them at their value. 
 One who produced something else than silver would have no 
 object in selling it for silver, to pay his debt with at the value 
 of silver. He would have the trouble of another transac- 
 tion, he would have to buy silver at its selling price, and the 
 creditor to whom he paid it would have to sell it for money 
 at the broker's buying price, with no advantage to either, 
 but only to the broker. If silver passes at its value, legal 
 tender has no force for it; if it is to have forced circulation 
 in some way, it will help the debtor, as all forced circulation 
 does, by enabling him to keep part of what he borrowed. 
 If then these schemes really mean that silver shall pass at
 
 206 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 its value, they are of no use. It does so now. If they mean 
 that silver shall be enabled to pay debts in some other way 
 than iron, wheat, cotton, etc., then we know what we are 
 dealing with. There is just as much reason why the gov- 
 ernment should pay for elevators and issue certificates of 
 the amount and quality of grain, which should be legal 
 tender, as there is why it should assay and stamp sUver for 
 that purpose, and issue notes for it. These cases only serve 
 to bring out the distinction between money and merchan- 
 dise, and to show that the perfection of money does not lie 
 in the direction of a multiple legal tender, but of a single 
 standard, as sharp and definite as possible. Such a stand- 
 ard has the same advantages in exchange as the most ac- 
 curate measures of length and weight have in surveying or 
 in chemistry, and it is turning backward the progress of 
 monetary science to introduce fluctuations and doubt into 
 the standard of value, just as it would be to cultivate inac- 
 curacy in weights and measures. 
 
 Here I am forced to notice another hasty and mischievous 
 analogy. Some devices for composite measures of length 
 have been adopted to avoid contraction and expansion, 
 and it is urged that bimetallic money is a step in the same 
 direction. I by no means assert that science can do 
 nothing to reach a better standard of value than gold is. 
 What progress in that direction may lie in the future no 
 one can tell, and he would be rash who should ever presume 
 to deny that progress can be made; but when any proposition 
 is presented it will have to show what composite measures 
 of length show, viz., that its action is founded on natural 
 laws. Heat and cold act oppositely on the components 
 of the composite measures of length, or the arrangement 
 is such that the action of the natural forces neutralizes. 
 No such scientific principle underlies bimetallic money. 
 The forces determining the value of gold and silver 
 act independently of each other and are not subject
 
 CIRCULATION OF GOLD AND SLLVER 207 
 
 to common influences. They are complex, moreover, and 
 their effects are not uniform in their different degrees. 
 Therefore this analogy also fails. 
 
 The opinion that a concurrent circulation is not possible 
 has led several of the leading nations of Europe (and, at 
 the time of writing such is still the system of the United 
 States) to adopt the plan of a permanently false rating of 
 gold and silver, so as to use silver as a subsidiary coinage. 
 Silver is permanently overrated, so that it obtains currency 
 above its bullion value. If the civilized nations want to 
 use silver for money, so that the total amount of metallic 
 money in the Western world shall be greater than the 
 amount of gold, and if they are not satisfied with the use 
 of it as subsidiary, then there is only one way left, and that 
 is for some nations to use gold and some to use silver. This 
 was the solution of the bimetallic difficulty which China 
 was forced to adopt a thousand years ago. Some provinces 
 used iron and some copper. The question then arises 
 as to who will take silver. This brings me to the last 
 point of which I have to speak. 
 
 I have discussed my subject as if gold and silver stood 
 on the same level of desirability for money, and as if there 
 were no choice of convenience between them. Such is not 
 the case in fact. It will be observed that gold and silver 
 never have been used together. Gold has generally been 
 subsidiary, being employed for large transactions. With the 
 advance of prices and the increase in variety of commodi- 
 ties, as well as in the magnitude of transactions, nations 
 have passed from copper money to silver and from silver 
 to gold. This advance is dictated by convenience. Silver 
 is no longer as convenient a money for civilized industrial 
 and commercial nations as gold. We therefore see them 
 gradually abandoning silver, and we saw the Latin Union 
 set up a bar against silver so soon as the operation of the 
 double legal tender threatened to take away gold and give
 
 208 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 it silver. Whether this movement from silver to gold 
 can be accomplished without financial convulsions I am 
 not prepared to say, especially in view of the extent to 
 which the nations have depreciated gold by paper issues, 
 but I regard the movement as one which must inevitably 
 go forward. The nations which step into the movement 
 first will lose least on the silver they have to sell. The 
 nations which use silver until the last will lose most upon 
 it, because they will find no one to take it off their hands. 
 If we now abandon the gold standard and buy the cast-off 
 silver of the nations which have been using it and are 
 now anxious to get rid of it, we voluntarily subject our- 
 selves to that loss, which we are in no respect called upon 
 to share. The Dutch at New York kept up the use of 
 wampum longer than the English in New England. When 
 the Yankees were trying to get rid of it, they carried it 
 to New York, adding some which they manufactured for 
 the purpose, and they carried the goods of the Dutchmen 
 away. The latter then found that they held a currency 
 which they could only get rid of at great loss and delay to 
 the Indians north and west of them. The Yankees thus 
 early earned a reputation for smartness. The measure 
 now proposed is a complete parallel, only that now this 
 nation proposes to take the role of the Dutch. We shall 
 have to give our capital for silver, and after we have 
 suffered from years of experience with a tool of exchange 
 inferior to that which our neighbors are using, we shall 
 have to get rid of it and buy the best. Then we shall 
 incur the loss — to all those who have anything — of the dif- 
 ference between the capital we gave and that which we 
 can get for the silver. The dreams of getting silver and 
 keeping gold too, so as to have a concurrent circulation, are 
 all vain. At the rating proposed there is no difference of 
 opinion on this point amongst any persons at all qualified 
 to give an opinion. The real significance of the proposi-
 
 CIRCULATION OF GOLD AND SILVER 209 
 
 tions before the country is to make us one of the nations 
 to take silver in the distribution I have described. The 
 notion of a coinage union is impracticable. It would be 
 easier to get up an international union to do away with 
 war. England is perfectly satisfied with her money. She 
 appreciates the peril of monetary experiments and will 
 make none. Germany, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and 
 Holland have just changed from silver to gold, and will 
 not enter on any new changes for a long period, if ever. 
 The coinage union is therefore out of the question. The 
 issue before us is simply whether we, being a gold 
 nation, will, under these circumstances, abandon gold and 
 take up silver. No doubt the nations which want gold 
 would be very glad to have us do it. We should render 
 them a great service; we should, however, do ourselves 
 great harm, as much so as if we should buy a lot of cast-off 
 machinery from them. They are waiting to see whether 
 we are ignorant and foolish enough to put ourselves in this 
 position; and when they have seen, we shall hear no more 
 of the coinage union. 
 
 I have now presented the views to which my study of 
 this question has led me. It will be perceived that I direct 
 my attack against the postulate of all the bimetallic theo- 
 ries. I have carefully discriminated between the alternate 
 standard and bimetallism. I have said little about the 
 former. It is very much a matter of opinion whether it 
 would work or not. I do not believe that it would, under a 
 coinage union, but I should not feel forced to take strong 
 ground against any one who held the contrary opinion. 
 My subject has been a concurrent circulation of gold and 
 silver, and I have tried to controvert the notion that any 
 such thing is possible, with or without a coinage union, 
 because that notion contradicts the first great law of eco- 
 nomic science. If that notion is true, then there is no 
 science of political economy at all; there are no laws to
 
 210 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 be found out, a professional economist has nothing to 
 teach, and he might better try to find some useful occupa- 
 tion. If that notion is true, we have no ground on which 
 to criticize the Congressmen who are trying to pass the 
 silver bill. We cannot predict any consequences or draw 
 any inferences from past experience. If legislation can 
 control value for definite results, then the whole matter is 
 purely empirical. In that case, the Congressional experi- 
 ment may turn out well for all the grounds we have to 
 assert the contrary; its success would only be question- 
 able, not impossible; if it failed it would not be because its 
 supporters had attempted the impossible, but because they 
 had not used sufficient means. They could go on to try 
 the experiment again and again in other forms and with 
 other means, and they would indeed be doing right to 
 proceed with their experiments, like the old alchemists, 
 in the hope of hitting it at last. No economist would 
 have any ground upon which to step in and define the 
 limits of the possible, or to prescribe the conditions of 
 success, or to set forth the methods which must be pur- 
 sued — if he could not appeal with confidence to the laws 
 of his science as something to which legislature as well 
 as individuals must bend. Therefore one who holds the 
 views I have expressed in regard to economic forces, 
 laws, and phenomena is compelled, as well by his faith 
 in his science as by the public interests now at stake in 
 the question, to maintain that a concurrent circulation 
 of gold and silver, either with or without a coinage union, 
 is impossible.
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF COMMERCIAL CRISES 
 
 ON OPINIONS ABOUT ECONOMIC 
 
 DOCTRINES
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF COMMERCIAL CRISES 
 
 ON OPINIONS ABOUT ECONOMIC 
 
 DOCTRINES 
 
 [1879] 
 
 ANY ONE who follows the current literature about 
 economic subjects will perceive that it is so full of 
 contradictions as to create a doubt whether there are any 
 economic laws, or whether, if there are any, we know any- 
 thing about them. No body of men ever succeeded in 
 molding the opinions of others by wrangling with each 
 other, and that is the present attitude in which the econ- 
 omists present themselves before the public. Like other 
 people who engage in wrangling, the economists have also 
 allowed their method to degenerate from argument to 
 abuse, contempt, and sneering disparagement of each 
 other. The more superficial and self-suflBcient the opinions 
 and behavior of the disputants, the more absolutely they 
 abandon sober arguments and devote themselves to the 
 method I have described. As I have little taste for this 
 kind of discussion and believe that it only degrades the 
 science of which I am a student, I have taken no part in it. 
 In answer to your invitation, now, what I propose to do 
 is to call your attention to some features of the economic 
 situation of civilized nations at the present time with a 
 view to establish two points: 
 
 1. To explain the vacillation and feebleness of opinions 
 about economic doctrine which mark the present time, and 
 
 2. To show the necessity, just at this time, of calm and 
 sober apprehension of sound doctrine in political economy. 
 
 At the outset let me ask you to notice the effects which 
 
 213 '
 
 214 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 have been produced during the last century by the de- 
 velopments of science and of the industrial arts. Formerly, 
 industry was pursued on a small scale, with little or no 
 organization. Markets were limited to small districts, and 
 commerce was confined to raw materials and colonial prod- 
 ucts. Producer and consumer met face to face. The con- 
 ditions of the market were open to personal inspection. 
 The relations of supply and demand were matters of per- 
 sonal experience. Production was carried on for orders 
 only in many branches of industry, so that supply and 
 demand were fitted to one another, as we may say, phys- 
 ically. Disproportionate production was, therefore, pre- 
 vented and the necessity of redistributing productive 
 effort was made plain by the most direct personal experi- 
 ence. Under such a state of things, much time must elapse 
 between the formation of a wish and its realization. 
 
 Within a cenfury very many and various forces have 
 been at work to produce an entire change in this system 
 of industry. The invention of the steam engine and of the 
 machines used in the textile fabrics produced the factory 
 system, with a high organization of industry, concentrated 
 at certain centers. The opening of canals and the improve- 
 ment of highways made possible the commerce by which 
 the products were distributed. The cheapening of printing 
 and the multiplication of means of advertising widened the 
 market by concentrating the demand which was widely 
 dispersed in place, until now the market is the civilized 
 world. The applications of steam power to roads and ships 
 only extended further the same development, and the tele- 
 graph has only cheapened and accelerated the means of 
 communicating information to the same end. 
 
 What have been the effects on industry? 
 
 1. The whole industry and commerce of the world have 
 been built up into a great system in which organization 
 has become essential and in which it has been carried forward
 
 COMMERCIAL CRISES 215 
 
 and is being carried forward every day to new developments. 
 Industry has been growing more and more impersonal as far 
 as the parties to it are concerned. Our wants are satisfied 
 instantaneously and regularly by the cooperation of thou- 
 sands of people all over the world whom we have never seen 
 or heard of; and we earn our living daily by contributing to 
 satisfy the wants of thousands scattered all over the world, 
 of whom we know nothing personally. In the place of 
 actual contact and acquaintance with the persons who are 
 parties to the transactions, we now depend upon the regu- 
 larity, under the conditions of earthly life, of human wants 
 and human efforts. The system of industry is built upon 
 the constancy of certain conditions of human existence, 
 upon the certainty of the economic forces which thence 
 arise, and upon the fact that those forces act with perfect 
 regularity under changeless laws. If we but reflect a mo- 
 ment, we shall see that modern industry and commerce 
 could not go on for a day if we were not dealing here with 
 forces and laws which may properly be called natural be- 
 cause they come into action when the conditions are ful- 
 filled, because the conditions cannot but exist if there is a 
 society of human beings collected anywhere on earth, and 
 because, when the forces come into action, they work them- 
 selves out, according to their laws, without possible escape 
 from their effects. We can divert the forces from one 
 course to another; we can change their form; we can 
 make them expend themselves upon one person or interest 
 instead of upon another. We do this all the time, by bad 
 legislation, by prejudice, habit, fashion, erroneous notions 
 of equity, happiness, the highest good, and so on; but we 
 never destroy an economic force any more than we destroy 
 a physical force. 
 
 2. Of course it follows that success in the production 
 of wealth under this modern system depends primarily on 
 the correctness with which men learn the character of
 
 216 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 economic forces and of the laws under which those forces act. 
 This is the field of the science of political economy, and it 
 is the reason why it is a science. It investigates the laws 
 of forces which are natural, not arbitrary, artificial, or con- 
 ventional. Some communities have developed a great 
 hatred for persons w^ho held different religious opinions 
 from themselves. Such a feeling would be a great social 
 force, but it would be arbitrary and artificial. Many com- 
 munities have held that all labor, not mental, was slavish 
 and degrading. This notion, too, was conventional, but 
 it was a great social force where it existed. Such notions, 
 either past or present, are worth studying for historical 
 interest and instruction, but they do not afford the basis 
 for a science whose object is to find out what is true in 
 regard to the relations of man to the world in which he 
 lives. The study of them throws a valuable sidelight on 
 the true relations of human life, just as the study of error 
 always throws a sidelight upon the truth, but they have 
 no similarity to the law that men want the maximum of 
 satisfaction for the minimum of effort, or to the law of the 
 diminishing return from land, or to the law of population, 
 or to the law of supply and demand. Nothing can be 
 gained, therefore, by mixing up history and science, valu- 
 able as one is to the other. If men try to carry on any 
 operation without an intelligent theory of the forces with 
 which they are dealing, they inevitably become the vic- 
 tims of the operation, not its masters. Hence they always 
 do try to form some theory of the forces in question and 
 to plan the means to the end accordingly. The forces of 
 nature go on and are true only to themselves. They never 
 swerve out of pity for innocent error or well-intentioned 
 mistakes. This is as true of economic forces as of any 
 others. What is meant by a good or a bad investment, 
 except that one is based on a correct judgment of forces 
 and the other on incorrect judgment? How would sagacity,
 
 COMMERCIAL CRISES 217 
 
 care, good judgment, and prudence meet their reward if 
 the economic forces swerved out of pity for error? We 
 know that there is no such thing in the order of nature. 
 
 I repeat, then, that the modern industrial and commer- 
 cial system, dealing as it does with vast movements which 
 no one mind can follow or compass in their ramifications 
 and which are kept in harmony by natural laws, demands 
 steadily advancing, clear, and precise knowledge of eco- 
 nomic laws; that this knowledge must banish prejudices 
 and traditions; that it must conquer baseless enthusiasms 
 and whimsical hopes. If it does not accomplish this, we 
 can expect but one result — that men will chase all sorts 
 of phantoms and impossible hopes; that they will waste 
 their efforts upon schemes which can only bring loss; and 
 that some will run one way and some another until society 
 loses all coherence, all unanimity of judgment as to what 
 is to be sought and how to attain to it. The destruction 
 of capital is only the least of the evils to be apprehended 
 in such a case. I do not believe that we begin to appreciate 
 one effect of the new civilization of the nineteenth century, 
 viz., that the civilized world of to-day is a unit, that it 
 must move as a whole, that with the means we have de- 
 vised of a common consent in regard to the ends of human 
 life and the means of attaining them has come also the 
 necessity that we should move onward in civilization by a 
 common consent. The barriers of race, religion, language, 
 and nationality are melting away under the operation of 
 the same forces which have to such an extent annihilated 
 the obstacles of distance and time. Civilization is con- 
 stantly becoming more uniform. The conquests of some 
 become at once the possession of all. It follows that our 
 scientific knowledge of the laws which govern the life of 
 men in society must keep pace with this development or 
 we shall find our social tasks grow faster than our knowl- 
 edge of social science, and our society will break to pieces
 
 218 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 under the burden. How, then, is this scientific knowledge 
 to grow? Certainly not without controversy, but certainly 
 also not without coherent, steady, and persistent effort, 
 proceeding on the lines already cut, breaking new ground 
 when possible, correcting old errors when necessary. 
 
 3. It is another feature of the modern industrial system 
 that, like every high organization, it requires men of suita- 
 ble ability and skill at its head. The qualities which are 
 required for a great banker, merchant, or manufacturer are 
 as rare as any other great gifts among men, and the quali- 
 ties demanded, or the degree in which they are demanded', 
 are increasing every day with the expansion of the modern 
 industrial system. The qualities required are those of the 
 practical man, properly so called: sagacity, good judg- 
 ment, prudence, boldness, and energy. The training, both 
 scientific and practical, which is required for a great master 
 of industry is wide and various. The great movements of 
 industry, like all other great movements, present subordi- 
 nate phenomena which q,re apparently opposed to, or in- 
 consistent with their great tendencies and their general 
 character. These phenomena, being smaller in scope, more 
 directly subject to observation and therefore apparently 
 more distinct and positive, are well calculated to mislead 
 the judgment, either of the practical man or of the scientific 
 student. In nothing, therefore, does the well-trained man 
 distinguish himself from the ill-trained man more than in 
 the balance of judgment by which he puts phenomena in 
 their true relative position and refuses to be led astray by 
 what is incidental or subsidiary. If, now, the question is 
 asked, whether we have produced a class of highly trained 
 men, competent to organize labor, transportation, com- 
 merce, and banking, on the scale required by the modern 
 system, as rapidly as the need for them has increased, I 
 believe no one will answer in the affirmative. 
 
 4. Another observation to which we are led upon notic-
 
 COMMERCIAL CRISES 219 
 
 ing the character of the modern industrial system is that 
 ^nv errors or folUes committed in one portion of t «ill 
 ;Zdu ^effects which will ramify through *« who e sys- 
 tem We have here an industrial organism, not a mere 
 
 ^chanical combination, and any d-'-''-- ^ ^^ Th 
 of it will derange or vitiate, more or less the whole Ihe 
 phenomena which here appear belong to what l^^s been 
 calledTructifying causation. One economic error produces 
 ir^U w^Tch combine with those of another economic error 
 and the product of the two is not their sum, nor even the^ 
 tple pLuct, but the eva may ll^f^^^^^-Jt 
 -tC thVmir "easJi —2.^ Currency and 
 fri^'errors constantly react upon each o^her and -U^^^ 
 ply and develop -^ other >n^™^^/^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 r^a io^ "m:erce\::l%:edit which are now so 
 W There is no limit to the interest which civilized 
 n:^ns h^in'each other's economic and PoUtica^ wis om 
 for thev all bear the consequences of each other s toines. 
 Hence 'when we have to deal with that ^0- °f -— 
 disease which we call a commercial crisis, we m.,t^e 
 its origin to special errors in one country and m another 
 and mav trace out the actions and reactions by which the 
 !fflrhave been communicated from one to another unti 
 f d hv aU but no philosophy of a great commercial 
 Ss'r^'ate nowadays unless it embraces i. its s.pe 
 
 the whole civilized world. A ---7';;^ "^^^.^'J ^heZ- 
 bance in the Ha~us opera ."^^^^ the^ pa ts c,l th^^^_^ 
 
 rrsSrandrinlously^e^^^^^^^^ 
 
 A u= l^Pnlth and vigor are denoted by its growth, tnat s, 
 Ty ^e atlut::' of capital, which ^t'-^l^^^fj 
 turn the hope, energy, -^ .^terpnse of men Jndustrial 
 disease is produced by disproportionate production,
 
 220 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 wrong distribution of labor, erroneous judgment in enter- 
 prise, or miscalculations of force. These all have the same 
 effect, viz,, to waste and destroy capital. Such causes 
 disturb, in a greater or less degree, the harmonious work- 
 ing of the system, which depends upon the regular and exact 
 fulfillment of the expectations which have been based on 
 cooperative effort throughout the whole industrial body. 
 The disturbance may be slight and temporary, or it may 
 be very serious. In the latter case it will be necessary to 
 arrest the movement of the whole system and to proceed 
 to a general liquidation, before starting again. Such was 
 the case from 1837 to 1842, and such has been the case for 
 the last five years. It is needless to add that this arrest 
 and liquidation cannot be accomplished without distress 
 and loss to great numbers of innocent persons, and great 
 positive loss of capital, to say nothing of what might have 
 been won during the same period but must be foregone. 
 
 The financial organization is the medium by which the 
 various parts of the industrial and commercial organism 
 are held in harmony. It is by the financial organization 
 that capital is collected and distributed, that the friction 
 of exchanges is reduced to a minimum, and that time is 
 economized, through credit, between production and con- 
 sumption. The financial system furnishes three indicators — 
 prices, the rate of discount, and the foreign exchanges — 
 through which we may read the operation of economic 
 forces now that their magnitude makes it impossible to 
 inspect them directly. Hence the great mischief of usury 
 laws which tamper with the rate of discount, and of fluc- 
 tuating currencies which falsify prices and the foreign 
 exchanges. They destroy the value of the indicators, and 
 have the same effect as tampering with the scales of a 
 chemist or the steam-gauge of a locomotive. 
 
 In the matter of prices we have another difficulty to 
 contend with, which is inevitable in the nature of things.
 
 COMMERCIAL CRISES 221 
 
 We must choose some commodity to be the denominator 
 of value. We can find no commodity which is not itself 
 subject to fluctuation in its ratio of exchange with other 
 things. Great crises have been caused in past times by 
 fluctuations in the value of the commodities chosen as 
 money, and such an element is, no doubt, at hand in the 
 present crisis, although it had nothing to do with bringing 
 it about. It follows that any improvement in the world's 
 money is worth any sacrifice which it can possibly cost, if 
 it tends to secure a more simple, exact, and unchanging 
 standard of value. 
 
 The next point of which I wish to speak is easily intro- 
 duced by the last remark; that point is the cost of all improve- 
 ment. The human race has made no step whatever in 
 civilization which has not been won by pain and distress. 
 It wins no steps now without paying for them in sacrifices. 
 To notice only things which are directly pertinent to our 
 present purpose: every service which we win from nature 
 displaces the acquired skill of the men who formerly per- 
 formed the service; every such step is a gain to the race, 
 but it imposes on some men the necessity of finding new 
 means of livelihood, and if those men are advanced in 
 life, this necessity may be harsh in the extreme. Every 
 new machine, although it saves labor, and because it saves 
 labor, serves the human race, yet destroys a vested 
 interest of some laborers in the work which it performs. 
 It imposes on them the necessity of turning to a new occu- 
 pation, and this is hardly ever possible without a period of 
 distress. It very probably throws them down from the 
 rank of skilled to that of unskilled labor. Every new ma- 
 chine also destroys capital. It makes useless the half- 
 worn-out machines which it supersedes. So canals caused 
 capital which was invested in turnpikes and state coaches 
 to depreciate, and so railroads have caused the capital 
 invested in canals and other forms to depreciate. I see no
 
 222 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 exception to the rule that the progress won by the race 
 is always won at the expense of some group of its members. 
 
 Any one who will look back upon the last twenty-five 
 years cannot fail to notice that the changes, advances, and 
 improvements have been numerous and various. We are 
 accustomed to congratulate each other upon them. There 
 can be no doubt that they must and will contribute to the 
 welfare of the human race beyond what any one can now 
 possibly foresee or measure. I am firmly convinced, for 
 my opinion, that the conditions of wealth and civilization 
 for the next quarter of a century are provided for in excess 
 of any previous period of history, and that nothing but 
 human folly can prevent a period of prosperity which we, 
 even now, should regard as fabulous. We can throw it 
 away if we are too timid, if we become frightened at the 
 rate of our own speed, or if we mistake the phenomena of 
 a new era for the approach of calamity, or if the nations 
 turn back to mediaeval darkness and isolation, or if we 
 elevate the follies and ignorances of the past into elements 
 of economic truth, or if, instead of pursuing liberty with 
 full faith and hope, the civilized world becomes the arena 
 of a great war of classes in which all civilization must be 
 destroyed. But, such follies apart, the conditions of pros- 
 perity are all provided. 
 
 We must notice, however, that these innovations have 
 fallen with great rapidity upon a vast range of industries, 
 that they have accumulated their effects, that they have 
 suddenly altered the currents of trade and the methods of 
 industry, and that we have hardly learned to accommodate 
 ourselves to one new set of circumstances before a newer 
 change or modification has been imposed. Some inven- 
 tions, of which the Bessemer steel is the most remarkable 
 example, have revolutionized industries. Some new chan- 
 nels of commerce have been opened which have changed 
 the character and methods of very important branches of
 
 COMMERCL\L CRISES 223 
 
 commerce. We have also seen a movement of several 
 nations to secure a gold currency, which movement fell 
 in with a large if not extraordinary production of silver 
 and altered the comparative demand and supply of the 
 two metals at the same time. This movement had nothing 
 arbitrary about it, but proceeded from sound motives and 
 reasons in the interest of the nations which took this step. 
 There is here no ground for condemnation or approval. 
 Such action by sovereign nations is taken under liberty 
 and responsibility to themselves alone, and if it is taken 
 on a sufficiently large scale to form an event of importance 
 to the civilized world, it must be regarded as a step in 
 civilization. It can only be criticized by history. For the 
 present, it is to be accepted and interpreted only as an 
 indication that there are reasons and motives of self-interest 
 which can lead a large part of the civilized world to this 
 step at this time. 
 
 The last twenty-five years have also included political 
 events which have had great effects on industry. Our Civil 
 War caused an immense destruction of capital and left a 
 large territory with millions of inhabitants almost entirely 
 ruined in its industry, and with its labor system exposed to 
 the necessity of an entire re-formation. Part of the expendi- 
 tures and losses of the war were postponed and distributed 
 by means of the paper currency which, instead of imposing 
 industry and economy to restore the losses and waste, 
 created the foolish belief that we could make war and get 
 rich by it. The patriotic willingness of the nation to be 
 taxed was abused to impose taxes for protection, not for 
 revenue, so that the industry of the country was distorted 
 and forced into unnatural development. The collapse of 
 1873, followed by a fall in prices and a general liquidation, 
 was due to the fact that every one knew in his heart that 
 the state of things which had existed for some years before 
 was hollow and fictitious. Confidence failed because every
 
 224 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 one knew that there were no real grounds for confidence. 
 The Franco-Prussian war had, also, while it lasted, pro- 
 duced a period of false and feverish prosperity in England. 
 It was succeeded by great political changes in Germany 
 which, together with the war indemnity, led to a sudden 
 and unfounded expansion of speculation, amounting to a 
 mania. Germany undoubtedly stands face to face with a 
 new political and industrial future, but she has postponed 
 it by a headlong effort to realize it at once. In France, too, 
 the war was followed by a hasty, and, as we are told, unwise 
 extension of permanent capital, planned to meet the ex- 
 traordinary demand of an empty market. In England the 
 prosperity of 1870-1872 has been followed as usual by de- 
 velopments of unsound credit, bad banking, and needless 
 investments in worthless securities. 
 
 Here then we have, in a brief and inadequate statement, 
 circumstances in all these great industrial nations peculiar 
 to each, yet certainly suflBcient to account for a period of 
 reaction and distress. We have also before us great fea- 
 tures of change in the world's industry and commerce 
 which must ultimately produce immeasurable advantages, 
 but which may well, operating with local causes, produce 
 temporary difficulty; and we have to notice also that the 
 local causes react through the commercial and credit rela- 
 tions of nations to distribute the evil. 
 
 It is not surprising, under such a state of things, that 
 some people should lose their heads and begin to doubt the 
 economic doctrines which have been most thoroughly es- 
 tablished. It belongs to the symptoms of disease to lose 
 confidence in the laws of health and to have recourse to 
 quack remedies. I have already observed that certain 
 phenomena appear in every great social movement which 
 are calculated to deceive by apparent inconsistency or 
 divergence. Hence we have seen the economists, instead 
 of holding together and sustaining, at the time when it
 
 COMMERCIAL CRISES 225 
 
 was most needed, both the scientific authority and the 
 positive truth of their doctrines, break up and run hither 
 and thither, some of them running away altogether. Many 
 of them seem to be terrified to find that distress and misery 
 still remain on earth and promise to remain as long as the 
 vices of human nature remain. Many of them are fright- 
 ened at liberty, especially under the form of competition, 
 which they elevate into a bugbear. They think that it 
 bears harshly on the weak. They do not perceive that 
 here "the strong" and "the weak" are terms which admit 
 of no definition unless they are made equivalent to the 
 industrious and the idle, the frugal and the extravagant. 
 They do not perceive, furthermore, that if we do not like 
 the survival of the fittest, we have only one possible alter- 
 native, and that is the survival of the unfittest. The former 
 is the law of civilization; the latter is the law of anti- 
 civilization. We have our choice between the two, or we 
 can go on, as in the past, vacillating between the two, but 
 a third plan — the socialist desideratum — a plan for 
 nourishing the unfittest and yet advancing in civilization, 
 no man will ever find. Some of the crude notions, however, 
 which have been put forward surpass what might reason- 
 ably have been expected. These have attached themselves 
 to branches of the subject which it is worth while to notice. 
 - 1. As the change in the relative value of the precious 
 metals is by far the most difficult and most important of 
 the features of this period, it is quite what we might have 
 expected that the ill-trained and dilettante writers should 
 have pounced upon it as their special prey. The dabblers 
 in philology never attempt anything less than the problem 
 of the origin of language. Every teacher knows that he 
 has to guard his most enthusiastic pupils against precipi- 
 tate attempts to solve the most abstruse difficulties of the 
 science. The change in the value of the precious metals 
 which is going on will no doubt figure in history as one of
 
 226 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 the most important events in the economic history of this 
 century. It will undoubtedly cost much inconvenience and 
 loss to those who are in the way of it, or who get in the way 
 of it. It will, when the currency changes connected with it 
 are accomplished, prove a great gain to the whole commer- 
 cial world. The nations which make the change do so 
 because it is important for their interests to do it. Now, 
 suppose that it were possible for those who are frightened 
 at the immediate and temporary inconveniences, to arrest 
 the movement — the only consequence would be that they 
 would arrest and delay the inevitable march of improve- 
 ment in the industrial system. 
 
 2. The second field, which is an especial favorite with 
 the class of writers which I have described, is that of prog- 
 nostications as to what developments of the economic 
 system lie in the future. Probably every one has notions 
 about this and every one who has to conduct business or 
 make investments is forced to form judgments about it. 
 There is hardly a field of economic speculation, however, 
 which is more barren. 
 
 3. The third field into which these writers venture by 
 preference is that of remedies for existing troubles. The 
 popular tide of medicine is always therapeutics, and the 
 less one knows of anatomy and physiology the more sure 
 he is to address himself exclusively to this department, 
 and to rely upon empirical remedies. The same procedure 
 is followed in social science, and it is accompanied by the 
 same contempt for scientific doctrine and knowledge and 
 remedies. To bring out the points which here seem to me 
 important, it will be necessary to go back for a moment 
 to some facts which I have already described. 
 
 One of the chief characteristics of the great improvements 
 in industry, which have been described, is that they bring 
 about new distributions of population. If machinery dis- 
 places laborers engaged in manufactures, these laborers are
 
 COMMERCIAL CRISES 227 
 
 driven to small shopkeeping, if they have a little capital; 
 or to agricultural labor, if they have no capital. Improve- 
 ments in commerce will destroy a local industry and force 
 the laborers to find a new mdustry or to change their abode. 
 AMien forces of this character cooperate on a grand scale, 
 they may and do produce very important redistributions 
 of population. In like manner legislation may, as tariff 
 legislation does, draw population to certain places, and its 
 repeal may force them to unwelcome change. We may 
 state the fact in this way: let us suppose that, in 1850, 
 out of every hundred laborers in the population, the eco- 
 nomical distribution was such that fifty should be engaged 
 in agriculture, thirty in manufacturing, and the other 
 twenty in other pursuits. That is to say that, with the 
 machinery and appliances then available, thirty manu- 
 facturing laborers could use the raw materials and food 
 produced by fifty agricultural laborers so as to occupy all 
 to the highest advantage. Now suppose that, by improve- 
 ments in the arts, twenty men could, in 1880, use to the 
 best advantage the raw materials and food produced by 
 sixty in agriculture. It is evident that a redistribution 
 would be necessary by which ten should be turned from 
 manufacturing to land. That such a change has been pro- 
 duced within the last thirty years and that it has reached 
 a point at which is setting in the counter movement to the 
 former tendency from the land to the cities and towns, 
 seems to me certain. There are even indications of great 
 changes going on in the matter of distribution which will 
 correct the loss and waste involved in the old methods of 
 distribution long before any of the fancy plans for correct- 
 ing them can be realized, and which are setting free both 
 labor and capital in that department. Now if we can 
 economize labor and capital in manufacturing, transporta- 
 tion, and distribution, and turn this labor and capital back 
 upon the soil, we must vastly increase wealth, for that
 
 228 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 movement would enlarge the stream of wealth from its 
 very source. 
 
 Right here, however, we need to make two observations. 
 
 1. The modern industrial system which I have described, 
 with its high organization and fine division of labor, has one 
 great drawback. The men, or groups of men, are dissev- 
 ered from one another, their interests are often antagonis- 
 tic, and the changes which occur take the form of conflicts 
 of interest. I mean this: if a shoemaker worked alone, 
 using a small capital of his own in tools and stock, and 
 working for orders, he would have directly before him 
 the facts of the market. He would find out without effort 
 or reflection when "trade fell off," when there was risk of 
 not replacing his capital, when the course of fashion or 
 competition called upon him to find other occupation, and 
 so on. When a journeyman shoemaker works for wages, 
 he pays no heed to these things. The employer, feeling 
 them, has no recourse but to lower wages. It is by this 
 measure that, under the higher organization, the need of 
 new energy, or of a change of industry, or of a change of 
 place is brought home to the workman. To him, however, 
 it seems an arbitrary and cruel act of the master. Hence 
 follow trade wars and strikes as an especial phenomenon 
 of the modern system. It is just because it is a system, or 
 more properly still, an organism, that the readjustments 
 which are necessary from time to time in order to keep its 
 parts in harmonious activity, and to keep it in harmony 
 with physical surroundings, are brought about through this 
 play of the parts on each other. 
 
 2. A general movement of labor and capital towards land, 
 throughout the civilized world, means a great migration 
 towards the new countries. This does not by any means 
 imply the abandonment or decay of older countries, as 
 some have seemed to believe. On the contrary, it means 
 new prosperity for them. When I read that the United
 
 COMMERCIAL CRISES 229 
 
 States are about to feed the world, not only with wheat 
 and provisions, but with meat also, that they are to fur- 
 nish coal and iron to mankind, that they are to displace all 
 the older countries as exporters of manufactures, that they 
 are to furnish the world's supply of the precious metals, 
 and I know not what all besides, I am forced to ask what 
 is the rest of the world going to do for us? What are they 
 to give us besides tea, coffee, and sugar? Not ships, for 
 we will not take them and are ambitious to carry away all 
 our products ourselves. Certainly this is the most remark- 
 able absurdity into which we have been led by forgetting 
 that trade is an exchange. Neither can any one well ex- 
 pect that all mankind are to come and live here. The con- 
 ditions of a large migration do, however, seem to exist. A 
 migration of population is still a very unpopular idea in 
 all the older states. The prejudice against it is apparent 
 amongst Liberals and Tories, economists and sentimen- 
 tahsts. There is, however, a condition which is always 
 suppressed in stating the social problem as it presents itseff 
 in hard times. That problem, as stated, is: "How are the 
 population to find means of support?" and the suppressed 
 condition is: "if they insist on staying and seeking support 
 where they are and in pursuits to which they are accus- 
 tomed." The hardships of change are not for one moment 
 to be denied, but nothing is gained by sitting down to whine 
 about them. The sentimental reasons for clinging to one's 
 birthplace may be allowed full weight, but they cannot be 
 allowed to counterbalance important advantages. I do not 
 see that any but land owners are interested to hold popula- 
 tion m certain places, unless possibly we add governing 
 classes and those who want military power. When I read 
 declamations about nationality and the importance of 
 national divisions to political economy (observe that I do 
 not say to political science), I never can find any sense in 
 them, and 1 am very sure that the writers never put any 
 sense into them.
 
 230 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 We may now return to consider the remedies proposed 
 for hard times. We shall see that although they are quack 
 remedies, and although they set at defiance all the eco- 
 nomic doctrines which have been so laboriously established 
 during the last century, they are fitted to meet the diffi- 
 culty as it presents itself to land owners, governments, 
 military powers, socialists, and sentimentalists. The tend- 
 ency is towards an industrial system controlled by a 
 natural cooperation far grander than anybody has ever 
 planned, towards a community of interest and welfare far 
 more beneficent than any universal republic or fraternity 
 of labor which the Internationalists hope for, and towards 
 a free and peaceful rivalry amongst nations in the arts of 
 civilization. It is necessary to stop this tendency. What 
 are the means proposed? 
 
 1. The first is to put a limit to civil liberty. By civil 
 liberty (for I feel at once the need of defining this much- 
 abused word) I mean the status which is created for an 
 individual by those institutions which guarantee him the 
 use of his own powers for his own development. For three 
 or four centuries now, the civilized world has been strug- 
 gling towards the realization of this civil liberty. Progress 
 towards it has been hindered by the notion that liberty 
 was some vague abstraction, or an emancipation from some 
 of the hard conditions of human life, from which men never 
 can be emancipated while they live on this earth. Civil 
 liberty has also been confused with political activity or 
 share in civil government. Political activity itself, how- 
 ever, is only a means to an end, and is valuable because it 
 is necessary to secure to the individual free exercise of his 
 powers to produce and exchange according to his own choice 
 and his own conception of happiness, and to secure him 
 also that the products of his labor shall be applied to his 
 satisfaction and not to that of any others. When we come 
 to understand civil liberty for what it is, we shall probably
 
 COMMERCIAL CRISES 231 
 
 go forward to realize it more completely. It will then 
 appear that it begins and ends with freedom of production, 
 freedom of exchange, and security of property. It will 
 then appear also that governments depart from their prime 
 and essential function when they undertake to transfer 
 property instead of securing it, and it may then be under- 
 stood that legal tender laws, and protective tariffs as 
 amongst the last and most ingenious devices for transferring 
 one man's product to another man's use, are gross viola- 
 tions of civil liberty. At present the attempt is being 
 made to decry liberty, to magnify the blunders and errors 
 of men in the pursuit of happiness into facts which should 
 be made the basis of generalizations about the functions 
 of government, and to present the phenomena of the com- 
 mercial crisis as reasons for putting industry once more in 
 leading strings. It is only a new foe with an old face. Those 
 who have held the leading strings of industry in time past 
 have always taken rich pay for their services, and they will 
 do it again. 
 
 2. The second form of remedy proposed is quite con- 
 sistent with the last. It consists in rehabilitating the old 
 and decaying superstition of government. It is called 
 the state, and all kinds of poetical and fanciful attributes 
 are ascribed to it. It is presented, of course, as a superior 
 power, able and ready to get us out of trouble. If an in- 
 dividual is in trouble, he has to help himself or secure the 
 help of friends as best he can, but if a group of persons are 
 in trouble together, they constitute a party, a power, and 
 begin to make themselves felt in the state. The state 
 has no means of helping them except by enabling them to 
 throw the risks and losses of their business upon other people 
 who already have the burdens and losses of their own 
 business to bear, but who are less well organized. The 
 "state" assumes to judge what is for the public interest and 
 imposes taxes or interferes with contracts to force individuals
 
 232 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 to the course which will realize what it has set before itself. 
 When, however, all the fine phrases are stripped away, 
 it appears that the state is only a group of men with human 
 interests, passions, and desires, or, worse yet, the state is, 
 as somebody has said, only an obscure clerk hidden in some 
 corner of a governmental bureau. In either case the 
 assumption of superhuman wisdom and vu'tue is proved 
 false. The state is only a part of the organization of 
 society in and for itself. That organization secures certain 
 interests and provides for certain functions which are 
 important but which would otherwise be neglected. The 
 task of society, however, has always been and is yet, to 
 secure this organization, and yet to prevent the man in 
 whose hands public power must at last be lodged from 
 using it to plunder the governed — that is, to destroy liberty. 
 This is what despots, oligarchs, aristocrats, and democrats 
 always have done, and the latest development is only a 
 new form of the old abuse. The abuses have always been 
 perpetrated in the name of the public interest. It was for 
 the public interest to support the throne and the altar. 
 It was for the public interest to sustain privileged classes, 
 to maintain an established church, standing armies, and 
 the passport and police system. Now, it is for the public 
 interest to have certain industries carried on, and the holders 
 of the state power apportion their favor without rule or 
 reason, without responsibility, and without any return 
 service. In the end, therefore, the high function of the 
 state to regulate the industrial organization in the public 
 interest is simply that the governing group interferes to 
 make some people give the products of their labor to other 
 people to use and enjoy. Every one sees the evils of the 
 state meddling with his own business and thinks that he 
 ought to be let alone in it, but he sees great public interests 
 which would be served if the state would interfere to make 
 other people do what he wants to have them do.
 
 COMMERCIAL CRISES 233 
 
 Now if these two measures could be carried out — if 
 liberty could be brought into misapprehension and con- 
 tempt, and if the state-superstition could be saved from 
 the decay to which it is doomed, the movements of popu- 
 lation and the changes in industry, commerce, and finance, 
 could be arrested. The condemnation of all such projects 
 is, once and for all, that they would arrest the march of civili- 
 zation. The joy and the fears which have been aroused on 
 one side and on the other by the reactionary propositions 
 which have been made during the last five years are both 
 greatly exaggerated. Such reactionary propositions are in 
 the nature of things at such a time. It must be expected 
 that the pressure of distress and disappointed hopes will 
 produce passionate reaction and senseless outcries. From 
 such phenomena to actual practical measures is a long step. 
 Every step towards practical realization of any reactionary 
 measures will encounter new and multiplying obstacles. 
 A war of tariffs at this time would so fly in the face of all 
 the tendencies of commerce and industry that it would 
 only hasten the downfall of all tariffs. Purely retaliatory 
 tariffs are a case of what the children call "cutting off your 
 nose to spite your face." Some follies have become physically 
 impossible for great nations nowadays. Germany has been 
 afflicted: first, by too eager hopes, second, by the great 
 calamity of too many and top pedantic doctors, third, 
 by a declining revenue, and fourth, by socialistic agitation 
 amongst the new electors. It appears that she is about to 
 abandon the free-trade policy although she does not embrace 
 protection with much vigor. The project already comes in 
 conflict with numerous and various difficulties which had 
 not been foreseen, and, in its execution, it must meet with 
 many more. The result remains to be studied. France 
 finds that the expiration of each treaty of commerce pro- 
 duces consequences upon her industry which are unendur- 
 able, and while the task of adjusting rival and contending
 
 234 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 interests so as to create a new system drags along, she is 
 compelled to ward off, by temporary arrangements, the 
 revival of the general tariff which the treaties had super- 
 seded. In the meantime her economists, who are the most 
 sober and the best trained in the world, are opening a 
 a vigorous campaign on the general issue. If England 
 should think of reviving protection, she would not know 
 what to protect. If she wanted to retaliate, she could only 
 tax raw materials and food. The proposition, as soon as it is 
 reduced to practical form, has no footing. As for ourselves 
 we know that our present protective system never could 
 have been fastened upon us if it had not been concealed 
 under the war legislation, and if its effects had not been 
 confused with those of the war. It could not last now if 
 the public mind could be freed from its absorption in sec- 
 tional politics, so that it would be at liberty to turn to this 
 subject. 
 
 In conclusion, let me refer again to another important 
 subject on which I have touched in this paper — what we 
 call the silver question. It would, no doubt, be in the power 
 of civilized nations to take some steps which would alle- 
 viate the inconveniences connected with the transition of 
 several important nations from a silver to a gold currency. 
 For one nation, wliich has no share in the trouble at all, 
 to come forward out of "magnanimity" or any other motive 
 to save the world from the troubles incident to this step, 
 is quixotic and ridiculous. It might properly leave those 
 who are in the trouble to deal with it amongst themselves. 
 Either they or all might, however, do much to modify the 
 effects of the change. The effort to bring about an inter- 
 national union to establish a bimetallic currency at a fixed 
 ratio is quite another thing. It will stand in the history 
 of our time as the most singular folly which has gained 
 any important adherence. As a practical measure the 
 international union is simply impossible. As a scientific
 
 COMMERCIAL CRISES 235 
 
 proposition, bimetallism is as absurd as perpetual motion. 
 It proposes to establish perpetual rest in the fluctuations 
 of value of two commodities, to do which it must extinguish 
 the economic forces of supply and demand of those com- 
 modities upon which value depends. The movement of 
 the great commercial nations towards a single gold currency 
 is the most important event in the monetary history of our 
 time, and one which nothing can possibly arrest. It produces 
 temporary distress, and the means of alleviating that 
 distress are a proper subject of consideration; but the advan- 
 tages which will be obtained for all time to come immeasur- 
 ably surpass the present loss and inconvenience. 
 
 I return, then, to the propositions with which I set out. 
 Feebleness and vacillation in regard to economic doctrine 
 are natural to a period of commercial crisis, on account of 
 the distress, uncertainty, and disorder which then prevail in 
 industry and trade; but that is just the time also when 
 a tenacious grasp of scientific principles is of the highest 
 importance. The human race must go forward to meet 
 and conquer its problems and difficulties as they arise, to 
 bear the penalties of its follies, and to pay the price of its 
 acquisitions. To shrink from this is simply to go back 
 and to abandon civilization. The path forward, as far 
 as any human foresight can now reach, lies in a better under- 
 standing and a better realization of liberty, under which 
 individuals and societies can work out their destiny, subject 
 only to the incorruptible laws of nature.
 
 THE PHILOSOPHY OF STRIKES
 
 THE PHILOSOPHY OF STRIKES » 
 
 THE progress in material comfort which has been 
 made during the last hundred years has not produced 
 content. Quite the contrary: the men of to-day are not 
 nearly so contented with life on earth as their ancestors 
 were. This observation is easily explainable by familiar 
 facts in human nature. If satisfaction does not reach to 
 the pitch of satiety, it does not produce content, but dis- 
 content; it is therefore a stimulus to more effort, and is 
 essential to growth. If, however, we confine our study of 
 the observation which we have made to its sociological 
 aspects, we perceive that all which we call ''progress" is 
 limited by the counter-movements which it creates, and 
 we also see the true meaning of the phenomena which have 
 led some to the crude and silly absurdity that progress 
 makes us worse off. Progress certainly does not make 
 people happier, unless their mental and moral growth 
 corresponds to the greater command of material comfort 
 which they win. All that we call progress is a simple en- 
 largement of chances, and the question of personal happiness 
 is a question of how the chances will be used. It follows that 
 if men do not grow in their knowledge of life and in their 
 intelligent judgment of the rules of right living as rapidly 
 as they gain control over physical resources, they will not 
 win happiness at all. They will simply accumulate chances 
 which they do not know how to use. 
 
 The observation which has just been made about indi- 
 vidual happiness has also a public or social aspect which 
 is important. It is essential that the political institutions, 
 
 ^ Harper's Weekly, September 15, 1883 
 239
 
 240 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 the social code, and the accepted notions which constitute 
 pubhc opinion should develop in equal measure with the 
 increase of power over nature. The penalty of failure to 
 maintain due proportion between the popular philosophy 
 of life and the increase of material comfort will be social 
 convulsions, which will arrest civilization and will subject 
 the human race to such a reaction toward barbarism as 
 that which followed the fall of the Roman Empire. It 
 is easy to see that at the present moment our popular 
 philosophy of life is all in confusion. The old codes are 
 breaking down; new ones are not yet made; and even 
 amongst people of standing, to whom we must look to 
 establish the body of public opinion, we hear the most 
 contradictory and heterogeneous doctrines about life and 
 society. 
 
 The growth of the United States has done a great deal 
 to break up the traditional codes and creeds which had 
 been adopted in Europe. The civilized world being divided 
 into two parts, one old and densely populated and the other 
 new and thinly populated, social phenomena have been, 
 produced which, although completely covered by the same 
 laws of social force, have appeared to be contradictory. 
 The effect has been to disturb and break up the faith of 
 philosophers and students in the laws, and to engender 
 numberless fallacies amongst those who are not careful 
 students. The popular judgment especially has been dis- 
 ordered and misled. The new country has offered such 
 chances as no generation of men has ever had before. It 
 has not, however, enabled any man to live without work, 
 or to keep capital without thrift and prudence; it has not 
 enabled a man to "rise in the world" from a position of 
 ignorance and poverty, and at the same time to marry 
 early, spend freely, and bring up a large family of children. 
 
 The men of this generation, therefore, without distinc- 
 tion of class, and with only individual exceptions, suffer
 
 THE PHILOSOPHY OF STRIKES 241 
 
 from the discontent of an appetite excited by a taste of 
 luxury, but held far below satiety. The power to appre- 
 ciate a remote future good, in comparison with a present one, 
 is a distinguishing mark of highly civilized men, but if it 
 is not combined with powers of persevering industry 
 and self-denial, it degenerates into mere day-dreaming and 
 the diseases of an overheated imagination. If any number 
 of persons are of this character, we have morbid discontent 
 and romantic ambition as social traits. Our literature, 
 especially our fiction, bears witness to the existence of 
 classes who are corrupted by these diseases of character. 
 We find classes of persons who are whining and fault-finding, 
 and who use the organs of public discussion and deliberation 
 in order to put forth childish complaints and impossible 
 demands, while they philosophize about life like the Arabian 
 Nights. Of course this whole tone of thought and mode 
 of behavior is as far as possible from the sturdy manliness 
 which meets the problems of life and wins victories as much 
 by what it endures as by what it conquers. 
 
 Our American life, by its ease, exerts another demor- 
 alizing efl^ect on a great many of us. Hundreds of our 
 young people grow up without any real discipline; life 
 is made easy for them, and their tastes and wishes are 
 consulted too much; they grow to maturity with the notion 
 that they ought to find the world only pleasant and easy. 
 Every one knows this type of young person, who wants to 
 find an occupation which he would "like," and who dis- 
 cusses the drawbacks of difiiculty or disagreeableness in 
 anything which offers. The point here referred to is, of 
 course, entirely different from another and still more lamen- 
 table fact, that is, the terrible inefficiency and incapability 
 of a great many of the people who are complaining and 
 begging. If any one wants a copyist, he will be more 
 saddened than annoyed by the overwhelming applications 
 for the position. The advertisements which are to be found
 
 242 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 in the newspapers of widest circulation, offering a genteel 
 occupation to be carried on at home, not requiring any 
 previous training, by which two or three dollars a day may 
 be earned, are a proof of the existence of a class to which 
 they appeal. How many thousand people in the United 
 States want just that kind of employment! What a beauti- 
 ful world this would be if there were any such employment! 
 
 Then, again, our social ambition is often silly and mis- 
 chievous. Our young people despise the occupations which 
 involve physical effort or dirt, and they struggle "up" 
 (as we have agreed to call it) into all the nondescript and 
 irregular employments which are clean and genteel. Our 
 orators and poets talk about the "dignity of labor," and 
 neither they nor we believe in it. Leisure, not labor, is 
 dignified. Nearly all of us, however, have to sacrifice our 
 dignity, and labor, and it would be to the purpose if, instead 
 of declamation about dignity, we should learn to respect, 
 in ourselves and each other, work which is good of its kind, 
 no matter what the kind is. To spoil a good shoemaker 
 in order to make a bad parson is surely not going "up"; 
 and a man who digs well is by all sound criteria superior 
 to the man who writes ill. Everybody who talks to 
 American schoolboys thinks that he does them and his 
 country service if he reminds them that each one of them 
 has a chance to be President of the United States, and our 
 literature is all the time stimulating the same kind of sense- 
 less social ambition, instead of inculcating the code and the 
 standards which should be adopted by orderly, sober, and 
 useful citizens. 
 
 The consequences of the observations which have now 
 been grouped together are familiar to us all. Population 
 tends from the country to the city. Mechanical and 
 technical occupations are abandoned, and those occu- 
 pations which are easy and genteel are overcrowded. Of 
 course the persons in question must be allowed to take their
 
 THE PHILOSOPHY OF STRIKES 243 
 
 own choice, and seek their own happiness in their own way, 
 but it is inevitable that thousands of them should be dis- 
 appointed and suffer. If the young men abandon farms 
 and trades to become clerks and bookkeepers, the conse- 
 quence will be that the remuneration of the crowded 
 occupations will fall, and that of the neglected occupations 
 will rise; if the young women refuse to do housework, and 
 go into shops, stores, telegraph offices and schools, the 
 wages of the crowded occupations will fall, while those of 
 domestic servants advance. If women in seeking occu- 
 pation try to gain admission to some business like tele- 
 graphing, in competition with men, they will bid under the 
 men. Similar effects would be produced if a leisure class 
 in an old country should be compelled by some social 
 convulsion to support themselves. They would run down 
 the compensation for labor in the few occupations which 
 they could enter. 
 
 Now the question is raised whether there is any remedy 
 for the low wages of the crowded occupations, and the 
 question answers itself: there is no remedy except not to 
 continue the causes of the evil. To strike, that is, to say 
 that the workers will not work in their chosen line, yet 
 that they will not leave it for some other line, is simply 
 suicide. Neither can any amount of declamation, nor even 
 of law-making, force a man who owns a business to submit 
 the control of it to a man who does not own it. The teleg- 
 raphers have an occupation which requires training and 
 skill, but it is one which is very attractive in many respects 
 to those who seek manual occupation; it is also an occu- 
 pation which is very suitable, at least in many of its branches, 
 for women. The occupation is therefore capable of a 
 limited monopoly. The demand that women should be 
 paid equally with men is, on the face of it, just, biit its real 
 effect would be to keep women out of the business. It 
 was often said during the telegraphers' strike that the
 
 244 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 demand of the strikers was just, because their wages were 
 less than those of artisans. The argument has no force at 
 all. The only question was whether the current wages 
 for telegraphing were sufficient to bring out an adequate 
 supply of telegraphers. If the growing boys prefer to be 
 artisans, the wages of telegraphers will rise. If, even at 
 present rates, boys and girls continue to prefer telegraphing 
 to handicraft or housework, the wages of telegraphers will 
 fall. Could, then, a strike advance at a blow the wages 
 of all who are now telegraphers? There was only one 
 reason to hope so, and that was that the monopoly of the 
 trade might prove stringent enough and the public incon- 
 venience great enough to force a concession — which would, 
 however, have been speedily lost again by an increased 
 supply of telegraphers. 
 
 Now let us ask what the state of the case would be if it 
 was really possible for the telegraphers to make a successful 
 strike. They have a very close monopoly; six years ago 
 they nearly arrested the transportation of the country 
 for a fortnight; but they were unable to effect their object. 
 More recently the freight-handlers struck against the com- 
 petition of a new influx of foreign unskilled laborers, and 
 in vain. The printers might make a combination, and try 
 to force an advance in wages by arresting the publication 
 of all the newspapers on a given day, but there are so many 
 persons who could set type, in case of need, that such an 
 attempt would be quite hopeless. In any branch of ordi- 
 nary handicraft there would be no possibility of creating a 
 working monopoly or of producing a great public calamity 
 by a strike. If we go on to other occupations we see that 
 bookkeepers, clerks, and salesmen could not as a body 
 combine and strike; much less could teachers do so; still 
 less could household servants do so. Finally, farmers and 
 other independent workers could not do it at all. In short, 
 a striker is a man who says: "I mean to get my living by
 
 THE PHILOSOPHY OF STRIKES 245 
 
 doing this thing and no other thing as my share of the social 
 effort, and I do not mean to do this thing except on such 
 and such terms." He therefore proposes to make a con- 
 tract with his fellow-men and to dictate the terms of it. 
 Any man who can do this must be in a very exceptional 
 situation; he must have a monopoly of the service in 
 question, and it must be one of which his fellow-men have 
 great need. If, then, the telegraphers could have suc- 
 ceeded in advancing their wages fifteen per cent simply 
 because they had agreed to ask for the advance, they must 
 have been far better off than any of the rest of their fellow- 
 men. 
 
 Our fathers taught us the old maxim: Cut your coat 
 
 according to your cloth; but the popular discussions of 
 
 social questions seem to be leading up to a new maxim: 
 
 Demand your cloth according to your coat. The fathers 
 
 thought that a man in this world must do the best he 
 
 could with the means he had, and that good training and 
 
 education consisted in developing skill, sagacity, and 
 
 thrift to use resources economically; the new doctrine 
 
 seems to be that if a man has been born into this world he 
 
 should make up his mind what he needs here, formulate his 
 
 demands, and present them to "society" or to the "state." 
 
 He wants congenial and easy occupation, and good pay for 
 
 it. He does not want to be hampered by any limitations 
 
 such as come from a world in which wool grows, but not 
 
 coats; in which iron ore is found, but not weapons and 
 
 tools; in which the ground will produce wheat, but only 
 
 after hard labor and self-denial; in which we cannot eat 
 
 our cake and keep it; in which two and two make only four. 
 
 He wants to be guaranteed a "market," so as not to suffer 
 
 from "overproduction." In private life and in personal 
 
 relations we already estimate this way of looking at things 
 
 at its true value, but as soon as we are called upon to deal 
 
 with a general question, or a phenomenon of industry in
 
 246 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 which a number of persons are interested, we adopt an 
 entirely conventional and unsound mode of discussion. 
 The sound gospel of industry, prudence, painstaking, and 
 thrift is, of course, unpopular; we all long to be emancipated 
 from worry, anxiety, disappointment, and the whole train 
 of cares which fall upon us as we work our way through 
 the world. Can we really gain anything in that struggle 
 by organizing for a battle with each other? This is the 
 practical question. \s there any ground whatever for 
 believing that we shall come to anything, by pursuing this 
 line of effort, which will be of any benefit to anybody.'^ 
 If a man is dissatisfied with his position, let him strive to 
 better it in one way or another by such chances as he can 
 find or make, and let him inculcate in his children good 
 habits and sound notions, so that they may live wisely and 
 not expose themselves to hardship by error or folly; but 
 every experiment only makes it more clear that for men to 
 band together in order to carry on an industrial war, instead 
 of being a remedy for disappointment in the ratio of satis- 
 faction to effort, is only a way of courting new calamity.
 
 STRIKES AND THE INDUSTRIAL 
 ORGANIZATON
 
 STRIKES AND THE INDUSTRIAL 
 ORGANIZATION 1 
 
 ANYONE who has read with attention the current 
 discussion of labor topics must have noticed that 
 writers start from assumptions, in regard to the doctrine 
 of wages, which are as divergent as notions on the same 
 subject-matter well can be. It appears, therefore, that 
 we must have a dogma of wages, that we cannot reason 
 correctly about the policy or the rights of the wages system 
 until we have such a dogma, and that, in the meantime, 
 it is not strange that confusion and absurdity should be 
 the chief marks of discussion carried on before this prime 
 condition is fulfilled. 
 
 Some writers assume that wages can be raised if the 
 prices of products be raised, and that no particular diffi- 
 culty would be experienced in raising prices; others assume 
 that wages could be raised if the employers would be satis- 
 fied with smaller profits for themselves; still others assume 
 that wages could be raised or lowered according as the 
 cost of living rises or falls. These are common and popular 
 assumptions, and have nothing to do with the controversies 
 of professional economists about the doctrine of wages. 
 The latter are a disgrace to the science, and have the especial 
 evil at this time that the science cannot respond to the chief 
 demand now made upon it. 
 
 If the employer could simply add any increase of wages 
 to his prices, and so recoup himself at the expense of the 
 consumer, no employer would hold out long against a 
 strike. Why should he? Why should he undertake loss, 
 
 * Popular Science News, JiJy, 1887. 
 249
 
 250 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 worry, and war, for the sake of the consumers behind him? 
 If an employer need only submit to a positive and measur- 
 able curtailment of his profits, in order to avoid a strike 
 and secure peace, it is probable that he would in almost 
 every case submit to it. But if the employees should de- 
 mand five per cent advance, and the employer should grant 
 it, adding so much to his prices, they would naturally and 
 most properly immediately demand another five per cent, 
 to be charged to the consumers in the same way. There 
 would be no other course for men of common sense to pursue. 
 They would repeat this process until at some point or other 
 they found themselves arrested by some resistance which 
 they could not overcome. Similarly, if wages could be 
 increased at the expense of the employer's gains, the 
 employer who yielded one increase would have to yield 
 another, until at some point he decided to refuse and re- 
 sist. In either case, where and what would the limit be.^* 
 WTienever the point was reached at which some uncon- 
 querable resistance was encountered, the task of the econo- 
 mist would begin. 
 
 There is no rule whatever for determining the share which 
 any one ought to get out of the distribution of products 
 through the industrial organization, except that he should 
 get all that the market will give him in return for what he 
 has put into it. Whenever, therefore, the limit is reached, 
 the task of the economist is to find out the conditions by 
 which this limit is determined. 
 
 Now it is the character of the modern industrial system 
 that it becomes more and more impersonal and automatic 
 under the play of social forces which act with natm-al 
 necessity; the system could not exist if they did not so 
 act, for it is constructed in reliance upon their action accord- 
 ing to ascertainable laws. The condition of all social 
 actions and reactions is therefore set in the nature of the 
 forces which we have learned to know on other fields of
 
 STRIKES AND INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION 251 
 
 scientific investigation, and which are different here only 
 inasmuch as they act in a different field and on different 
 material. The relations of parties, therefore, in the indus- 
 trial organism is such as the nature of the case permits. 
 The case may permit of a variety of relations, thus pro- 
 viding some range of choice. 
 
 A person who comes into the market, therefore, with 
 something to sell, cannot raise the price of it because he 
 wants to do so, or because his "cost of production" has 
 been raised. He has already pushed the market to the 
 utmost, and raised the price as high as supply and demand 
 would allow, so as to w4n as large profits as he could. How, 
 then, can he raise it further, just because his own circum- 
 stances make it desirable for him so to do.? If the market 
 stands so that he can raise his price, he will do it, whether 
 his cost of production has increased or not. Neither can 
 an employer reduce his own profits at will; he will imme- 
 diately perceive that he is going out of business, and dis- 
 tributing his capital in presents. 
 
 The difficulty with a strike, therefore, is, that it is an 
 attempt to move the whole industrial organization, in which 
 all the parts are interdependent and intersupporting. 
 It is not, indeed, impossible to do this, although it is very 
 difficult. The organization has a great deal of elasticity 
 in its parts — an aggressive organ can win something at 
 the expense of others. Everything displaces everything 
 else; but if force enough is brought to bear, a general dis- 
 placement and readjustment may be brought about. An 
 organ which has been suffering from the aggression of 
 others may right itself. It is only by the collision of social 
 pressure, constantly maintained, that the life of the organ- 
 ism is kept up, and its forces are developed to their full 
 effect. 
 
 Strikes are not necessarily connected with violence to 
 either persons or property. Violence is provided for by
 
 252 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 the criminal law. Taking strikes by themselves, therefore, 
 it may be believed that they are not great evils; they are 
 costly, but they test the market. Supply and demand does 
 not mean that the social forces will operate of themselves; 
 the law, as laid down, assumes that every party will struggle 
 to the utmost for its interests — if it does not do so, it will 
 lose its interests. Buyers and sellers, borrowers and lenders, 
 landlords and tenants, employers and employees, and all 
 other parties to contracts, must be expected to develop 
 their interests fully in the competition and struggle of 
 life. It is for the health of the industrial organization 
 that they should do so. The other social interests are in 
 the constant habit of testing the market, in order to get all 
 they can out of it. A strike, rationally begun and rationally 
 conducted, only does the same thing for the wage-earning 
 interest. 
 
 The facts stare us plainly in the face, if we will only 
 look at them, that the wages of the employees and the 
 price of the products have nothing to do with each other; 
 that the wages have nothing to do with the profits of the 
 employer; that they have nothing to do with the cost of 
 living or with the prosperity of the business. They are 
 really governed by the supply and demand of labor, as 
 every strike shows us, and by nothing else. 
 
 Turning to the moral relations of the subject, we are 
 constantly exhorted to do something to improve the re- 
 lations of employer and employee. I submit that the 
 relation in life which has the least bad feeling or personal 
 bitterness in it is the pure business relation, the relation 
 of contract, because it is a relation of bargain and consent 
 and equivalence. WTiere is there so much dissension and 
 bitterness as in family matters, where people try to act 
 by sentiment and affection.'^ The way to improve the re- 
 lation of employer and employee is not to get sentiment 
 into it, but to get sentiment out of it. We are told that
 
 STRIKES AND INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION 253 
 
 classes are becoming more separated, and that the poor 
 are learning to hate the rich, although there was a time when 
 no class hatreds existed. I have sought diligently in his- 
 tory for the time when no class hatreds existed between rich 
 and poor. I cannot find any such period, and I make bold 
 to say that no one can point to it.
 
 TRUSTS AND TRADES-UNIONS
 
 TRUSTS AND TRADES-UNIONS i 
 
 I HAVE attempted to show, in foregoing essays,^ what 
 an immense role is played by monopoly throughout 
 the whole social life of mankind in all its stages. There 
 would not be any struggle for existence if it were not true 
 that the supply in nature of the things necessary for human 
 existence is niggardly. The struggle for existence consists 
 in a contest against the constraints by which human life 
 is surrounded; the process by which men have won some- 
 thing in that contest, in the course of time, has consisted in 
 playing off one of nature's monopolies against another — the 
 process, namely, which we call "employing natural agents." 
 On its social and political side, the advance has consisted 
 in securing for the individual a chance in some degree to 
 control his own destiny; not to be at the sport of natural 
 and social forces, but to bring his own energy to bear to 
 enlarge his own conditions of enjoyment and survival. 
 
 At every stage of history, however, the natural mo- 
 nopolies have formed the basis of social and political 
 monopolies. The possession of those powers which, under 
 the circumstances, were most efficient for the acquisition 
 of "what men want has always given superiority and domin- 
 ion in human society, whether those powers were physical 
 force, beauty, learning, virtue, capital, or anything else. 
 Where does any one find ground to believe that the fact 
 will ever be different, and that those who have the powers 
 which are most potent in the society in which they live 
 will use those powers, not to get the things which all men 
 want for themselves, but to get those same things for other 
 people? 
 
 1 The Independent, April 19, 1888. 
 * "Earth Hunger, and Other Essays," pp. 217-270. 
 267
 
 258 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 The fashion has always been in the past for those who 
 possessed the essential powers to take control of the state 
 and realize their monopoly in that way. If plutocracy 
 should now prevail it would be simply a repetition of that 
 experience. The only device which has ever given promise 
 of wider and more humane organization of the state is 
 constitutional liberty, which compels, by the intervention 
 of institutions created to serve this purpose, the ruling 
 class, whoever they were, to respect the recognized and 
 defined rights of all the rest. 
 
 Now, democracy having sapped and dissolved all the 
 inherited forms of social organizaton and reduced the social 
 body to atoms, it is most interesting to observe the in- 
 evitable recurrence of all the old tendencies, in new forms 
 fitted to the times. Some of us thought that liberty was 
 won forever, and that the race was nevermore to be dis- 
 turbed by its old problems, but it is already apparent that, 
 when a society is resolved into its constituent atoms, the 
 question under what forces, and upon what nuclei, it will 
 crystallize into new forms, has acquired an importance 
 never known before. 
 
 Just now public attention is all absorbed by the new 
 name "trust" applied to one of these phenomena. I can 
 see nothing new in a trust as compared with the rings, 
 pools, etc., with which we have been familiar during this 
 generation, except the guarantee which the trust secures 
 to all the members of the same that no one inside of it shall 
 play traitor to the rest. The greatest difficulty with 
 modern combinations has been that there have been no 
 sanctions by which the members could be bound, and that 
 the profits of the insider who turned against his comrades 
 have always been an irresistible temptation. In the 
 mediaeval guilds, which were "trusts" of the most solid 
 construction, the sanctions were of the sternest kind — 
 religious, political, and social — and yet they never sue-
 
 TRUSTS AND TRADES-UNIONS 259 
 
 ceeded in their purpose. In modern times, as is well known 
 to all who are acquainted with the attempts which have 
 been made, inside of various branches of industry, to 
 arrange agreements which have not been large enough 
 or public enough to get into the newspapers the 
 difficulty of enforcing loyalty against those who felt strong 
 enough to beat the rest if they should go alone, or against 
 those who saw a chance to sell out on the rest, or against 
 those who were in desperate straits for cash, has been the 
 constant stumbling-block. Fifty years ago, in the last 
 days of the United States Bank, Nicholas Biddle organized 
 a cotton trust, to try to control the cotton market of the 
 world. It was a complete failure. In general, combi- 
 nations of this character are in constant dilemma: they 
 must always grow bigger and bigger, in order to encompass 
 a sufficient area to constitute a unit; but the bigger they 
 grow, the less is their internal cohesion. The exception 
 to this must be noted in a moment. 
 
 The great expansion of the market by modern inven- 
 tions in transportation has broken up all the former local 
 and petty monopolies, and is rapidly making of the industry 
 and commerce of mankind a whole which cannot be 
 divided by geographical lines. The conditions of com- 
 petition in such a system are no doubt onerous to the 
 last degree. The conditions that must be taken into 
 account to win success are numerous and complicated. 
 The nerve-strain of comprehending and of justly estim- 
 ating the factors, and of following their constant variations, 
 is too great for any one to endure. Foresight must 
 be used, yet there are so many unknown quantities that 
 foresight is impossible; if the attempt is made to 
 master all the unknown quantities, then the task is so 
 enormous that it cannot be accomplished. Furthermore, 
 the relations with other persons in the industrial system 
 are necessarily close. It is impossible to escape such re-
 
 260 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 lations, and it is impossible to avoid a share in the conse- 
 quences of the mistakes and incompetence of the others. 
 It must be added that, at a time when the advance in the 
 arts has forced the whole industry of the globe into intimate 
 relations which nothing can possibly cut off, legislative 
 interferences have produced artificial and erratic currents 
 in the industrial and commercial relations of all countries. 
 The consequences are disappointing and disastrous incidents 
 in the history of industry. At the same time the improve- 
 ments in the communication of intelligence have made it 
 possible for men farthest apart in space, language, and 
 nationality, if they have confidence in each other's business 
 ability and command of capital, to cooperate by personal 
 agreements. 
 
 Trusts are an attempt to deal with this state of things. 
 It is, of course, a jest when the makers of a trust affirm 
 that they make it for the benefit of consumers, and it may 
 very well be doubted whether a trust is a feasible and 
 beneficial device in the interest of either party; but it is 
 wrong to overlook the fact that the trust, in its efforts to 
 deal with the case, and to secure orderly and rational 
 development, instead of heats and chills in industry, has a 
 real and legitimate task on hand. It is certain that there 
 is room for the introduction of intelligent method into 
 modern industry, under forms which shall be germane to 
 modern conditions, and it is certain that this will never be 
 done properly by legislation, but only by the voluntary 
 and intelligent cooperation of the parties interested. It is 
 also by no means certain that this systematization of 
 industry, under intelligent cooperation of the parties 
 conducting it, would cost consumers anything, provided 
 always that there was no legislation to prevent the recourse 
 at any time to any other sources of supply which might be 
 available. The economies of management under intel- 
 ligent administration are a source from which gains may
 
 TRUSTS AND TRADES-UNIONS 261 
 
 be made which will cost the consumer nothing. The 
 expenses of industrial war constitute a big fund for divi- 
 dends to which the consumer does not contribute. 
 
 It is worth while to notice, by some familiar examples, 
 what the motive of a trust is; it will be found a far more 
 everyday matter than most people suppose. A man 
 who owns a house and lot buys the vacant lot adjacent in 
 order to control it. He and his neighbors buy up all the 
 vacant lots on the street in order to prevent undesirable 
 contact with anything which would deteriorate their prop- 
 erty. They have already fallen victims to the spirit of 
 monopoly, and are subject to all the denunciations heaped 
 upon aristocrats and exclusivists. In their case already 
 the practical difficulty of defining the unit to be compre- 
 hended, in order to attain the object and no more, is ap- 
 parent. Examples are furnished every day in which capital 
 is refused for certain enterprises because it is seen that the 
 investment might no sooner be made than its profits might 
 be destroyed by another enterprise parallel with it. The 
 thing cannot be done at all until it is done on a scale suffi- 
 ciently large to constitute a complete unit. We are familiar 
 enough with the dilemma offered to us when, on the one 
 hand, railroads which consolidate put themselves in a 
 position to serve us far more efficiently, yet on the other 
 hand, railroads which consolidate cease to compete with 
 each other for our benefit. Which do we want them to do? 
 The railroads themselves are familiar with the experience 
 that they are constantly forced to make extensions in 
 order to secure a certain territory, that is, to establish 
 a closed unit, and that every extension, instead of attaining 
 a finality, only makes further extension unavoidable. 
 This is the class of facts in the industrial development of 
 our time which has produced the trusts, and it is certain 
 that they offer another motive than that of simple desire 
 to secure means of extortion.
 
 262 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 I am not yet able to see that any trust can succeed unless 
 it is founded on a natural or legislative monopoly, and 
 furthermore on a monopoly whose product cannot be pro- 
 duced in an amount exceeding the demand at the price which 
 has been customary before the formation of the trust; 
 and I cannot see any chance for legislation to do any good 
 unless it is in the repeal of all such laws as are found to fur- 
 nish a basis for the organization of an artificial monopoly. 
 
 It cannot have escaped the attention of the reader that 
 trades-unions are a monopolistic organization on the side 
 of labor entirely parallel with the trusts on the side of 
 capital, "a product of the same age and of the same forces," 
 and an endeavor to deal with the same problem from the 
 standpoint of another interest. The motives of coercion, 
 discipline, and strict internal organization are the same in 
 both cases, and some of the sanctions are the same; for 
 the pools and rings have tried the boycott until they have 
 proved its worthlessness. There is a notion afloat that 
 the modern trades-union is a descendant of the mediaeval 
 gild. It might, with equal truth, and equal futility, be as- 
 serted that the modern college, stock exchange, and joint 
 stock company, are descended from the mediseval gild. 
 The nineteenth-century trades-union is a nineteenth-century 
 institution, as much or more so than the ring, pool, corner, 
 or trust. They are all products of the same facts in the 
 industrial development, and one is just as inevitable, and, 
 in that sense, legitimate, as the other. There are some 
 who, while vehemently denouncing trusts, offer us, with 
 great complacency and satisfaction, as a solution of the 
 "labor question," the assertion that the employers and 
 employees ought to combine or cooperate in some way; 
 they do not appear to see at all that if any such thing should 
 be brought about it would be the most gigantic "trust" 
 that could possibly be conceived.
 
 AN OLD "TRUST'
 
 AN OLD "TRUST"! 
 
 IN the year 1579, Conrad Roth, a merchant of Augs- 
 burg, who had been interested in the trade in spices 
 between Lisbon and Germany, proposed to an officer of 
 the treasury of the Elector of Saxony a scheme for a com- 
 pany to monopolize the pepper trade. The Elector was 
 one of the most enterprising and enlightened princes of his 
 time, and the proposition was really intended to be made 
 to him as the only person who could command the necessary 
 capital and had, at the same time, courage and energy to 
 undertake the enterprise. 
 
 A company was formed of officers of the treasury, called 
 the Thuringian Company, and a warehouse was prepared at 
 Leipzig. It was reckoned that if the company could 
 raise the price of pepper one groschen per pound, the profits 
 would be over 38,000 florins per annum. Roth and the 
 Thuringian Company were to participate in the enterprise 
 equally, but the Prince was to put up all the capital, and 
 Roth was to do all the work. The latter also owned a very 
 valuable contract with the King of Portugal, according 
 to which he was, for five years, to send to India money 
 enough to buy up all the pepper produced, so that none 
 could come into Europe through Egypt and Italy. Before 
 that time the Portuguese officers had illegally sold some of 
 it, so that it did get into Europe that way; but by buying 
 in India this was now to be stopped. 
 
 Roth proposed to divide Europe into three sections: 
 Portugal, Spain, and the West; Italy and the South; 
 Germany and the North. The Saxon company was to 
 have the last as its share of the monopoly. It was hoped 
 that the gains might be forced up to a much higher figure 
 
 1 The Independent, June 13, 1889. 
 265
 
 266 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 than the one above given, if only all pepper then in Frank- 
 fort, Venice, Nuremberg, and Hamburg could be bought up. 
 
 No sooner was the plan formed, however, than Roth 
 began to reach out after extensions to it. He wanted 
 to include the trade in other spices. He also proposed 
 that the Elector should provide the capital for an exchange 
 bank to do the exchange business between Leipzig and 
 Lisbon. Next he found that the existing postal arrange- 
 ments were entirely inadequate to the requirements of 
 his business, and he proposed to the Elector a complete 
 plan for a postal service between Italy, Germany, France, 
 Spain, and Portugal. Then, having found the shipping 
 facilities unsatisfactory, he proposed that the Elector should 
 enter into a contract with the King of Denmark, by which 
 the latter, who owned ships, should provide a regular service 
 between Lisbon and the Elbe. 
 
 These plans all show the grand energy of this projector, 
 and the Elector entered into them all. He could not carry 
 out the postal service without the consent of the Emperor, 
 and this he was unable to get. Roth and the Elector 
 were ahead of their time; the Emperor was not; he said 
 that the plan proposed "something new, which had never 
 been in use in the time of their ancestors." The attempt 
 to unite private merchants in the speculation also failed 
 at Leipzig, and elsewhere the attitude toward it was ex- 
 tremely unfriendly. 
 
 When the stock of pepper began to accumulate at Leipzig, 
 it was found that the article did not begin to be scarce 
 elsewhere. Although the advances of the Prince were 
 already far greater than he had promised when the plan 
 was formed, it was found impossible to begin sales until 
 all the pepper on the European market elsewhere could 
 be bought up; and at the same time reports came that, in 
 spite of Roth's contract, any one who had money could 
 buy all the pepper he wanted in India, and that it was
 
 AN OLD "TRUST" 267 
 
 coming into Europe freely through Egj'pt and Venice. 
 In the spring of 1580 the supply in the cities of Holland 
 and Germany was ample. It appeared that Roth could 
 not prevent the contractors for other parts of Europe from 
 shipping to Germany, and the price was falling there; 
 instead of being at fifteen groschen, where the speculators 
 hoped to hold it, it was below twelve. At this point Roth's 
 creditors began to put attachments on his property. All 
 this led the Elector to say: "We fear that there has been 
 a great mistake in Roth's original and still repeated asser- 
 tion that all the pepper which comes into Europe comes 
 through Lisbon." 
 
 In April Roth committed suicide upon hearing of the 
 death of the King of Portugal. It was known that the 
 King of Spain intended to claim the succession, and that 
 the Portuguese would resist; this war and the possibility 
 of a Spanish succession meant ruin to the speculation. 
 The Elector was obliged to send agents in every direction 
 to get possession of the assets of the company, in order 
 to recover his funds. In the end it appears that he escaped 
 without very serious loss; he sold the whole stock to a 
 syndicate of South German merchants, at a price which 
 restored all his capital. After moralizing on his experience 
 he declared: "Inasmuch as I am now weary and sick, 
 "and am anxious to pass the remaining time which God 
 vouchsafes me in quiet, I have firmly determined to have 
 done with commerce, whether it would bring me gain or 
 loss." "I have," he says again, "strengthened my head 
 and I will have done with false commerce."^ 
 
 This enterprise was plainly an attempt to exploit a 
 natural monopoly, and to do it by an operation which 
 should embrace the whole world; it was a purely money- 
 making scheme, unrelieved by any social or industrial ad- 
 vantage. It shows how erroneous it is to suppose that 
 
 ^ Falke, " August von Sacheen."
 
 268 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 the merchants of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were 
 inferior in boldness to those of to-day, or superior to them 
 in disposition to sacrifice themselves for the public good; 
 it would be easy to accumulate any amount of evidence 
 that they were, on the contrary, entirely unscrupulous 
 in the pursuit of gain, and that they were bold beyond 
 anything known to modern merchants. They might well 
 be so. This story shows what great risks, dangers, per- 
 plexities, and disappointments they were subject to. The 
 risk element was plainly enormous, but the gains corre- 
 sponded, of course, and hence we find some of these men 
 enormously rich; but it is plain that there was no routine 
 to help the man who had less natural ability. There was 
 no regularity in any of the contributory operations, such 
 as shipping lines and post-office; there were no regular and 
 adequate banking facilities. If by "trust" we mean a 
 combination to exploit a monopoly, either natural or arti- 
 ficial, the men of that period had made an art of that sort 
 of undertaking, and had a skill in it of which the moderns 
 have no conception. 
 
 One cannot help admiring the courage and energy of 
 this Roth. He had everything to contend with; he was 
 far in advance of his age. If he had lived in our time he 
 would have been a great captain of industry — we could 
 have given him something better to do than making a corner 
 on pepper. 
 
 In our current social discussions there is a special kind 
 of fallacy which consists in quasi-historical assertions. 
 For instance, it is said that the power of capital is increasing 
 and is greater than it ever has been. This is in form an 
 historical assertion, but those who make it never expect 
 to be held to an historical responsibility for it. They 
 throw it out with a kind of risk, because they are not very 
 accurately informed as to the power of capital in former 
 times, and have not heard that it used to act as it does now.
 
 AN OLD "TRUST" 269 
 
 Capitalists never had less irresponsible power than now. 
 It is said that monopoly is growing evil; that it never was 
 so great. If people choose to pass laws to make monop- 
 olies, they must, of course, take the consequences; but there 
 never was a time when the control of natural monopolies 
 was so rational as now, and there never was a time when the 
 efforts of cliques to make artificial monopolies could be so 
 easily frustrated as now. It is said that trusts embracing 
 the whole world are a new and threatening danger, never 
 heard of before. It has seemed to me that, if we are to 
 have history, it might be well for once to see some facts 
 which illustrate "the good old times" as they really were. 
 \ Of course nothing is thereby proved as to the good or ill 
 I of trusts; but something is proved as to the fallacy of that 
 Iclass of quasi-historical assertions which I have described.
 
 SHALL AMERICANS OWN SHIPS?
 
 SHALL AMERICANS OWN SHIPS ?» 
 
 SINCE the war, public attention has been drawn more 
 or less to the marked decline in American shipping. 
 It has been generally assumed and conceded that this was 
 a matter for regret, and some discussion has arisen as to 
 remedies — what to do, in fact, in order to bring it about 
 that Americans should own ships. In these discussions, 
 there has generally been a confusion apparent in regard 
 to three things which ought to be very carefully distin- 
 guished from each other: ship-building, the carrying 
 trade, and foreign commerce. 
 
 1. As to ship-building — Americans began to build 
 ships, as an industry, within fifteen years after the settle- 
 ment at Massachusetts Bay. Before the Revolution they 
 competed successfully as ship-builders with the Dutch 
 and English, and they sold ships to be used by their rivals. 
 Tonnage and navigation laws played an important part 
 in the question of separation between the colonies and 
 England, and the same laws took an important place 
 in the formation of the Federal Constitution. One gener- 
 ation was required for the people of this country to get over 
 the hard logical twist in the notion that laws which were 
 pernicious when laid by Great Britain were beneficial 
 when laid by ourselves. The vacillation which has marked 
 the history of our laws about tonnage and navigation is 
 such that it does not seem possible to trace the effects of 
 legislation upon ship-building. In the decade 1850-1860 a 
 very great decline in the number of ships built, especially 
 for ocean traflfic, began to be marked. Sails began to give 
 
 ^ The North American Review, Vol. CXXXII, pp. 559-566. (June, 1881.) 
 
 27S
 
 274 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 way to steam, but the building of steamships required great 
 advantages of every kind in the production of engines and 
 other apparatus — that is, it required the presence, in a 
 highly developed state, of a number of important auxiliary 
 and cooperating industries. As iron was introduced into 
 ship-building, of course the ship-building industry became 
 dependent upon cheap supplies of iron as it had before 
 been dependent on cheap supplies of wood. No doubt 
 these changes in the conditions of the industry itself have 
 been the chief cause of the decline in ship-building in this 
 country, and legislation has had only incidental effects. 
 It is a plain fact of history that the decline in ship-building 
 began before the war and the high tariff. Of course the 
 effects produced by changes in the conditions of an industry 
 are inevitable; they are not to be avoided by any legislation. 
 They are annoying because they break up acquired habits 
 and established routine, and they involve loss in a change 
 from one industry to another, but legislation can never do 
 anything but cause that loss to fall on some other set of 
 people instead of on those directly interested. Within the 
 last few years it has become certain that steel is to be the 
 material of ocean vessels — a new improvement which will 
 not tend to bring the industry back to this country. On 
 the whole, therefore, the decline in ship-building of the 
 last twenty-five years seems to indicate that somebody 
 else than ourselves must build the world's ships for the 
 present. We have, by legislative devices, forced the 
 production of a few ocean steamers, but these cases prove 
 nothiug to the contrary of our inference. If this nation 
 has a hobby for owning some ships built in this country, 
 and is willing to pay enough for the gratification of that 
 hobby, no doubt it can secure the pleasure it seeks. A 
 fisherman who has caught nothing sometimes buys fish 
 at a fancy price; he saves himself mortification and gets 
 a dinner, but the possession of the fish does not prove that
 
 SHALL AMERICANS OWN SHIPS? 275 
 
 he has profitably employed his time or that he has had 
 sport. 
 
 2. The carrying trade differs from ship-building as cart- 
 ing differs from wagon-building. Carrying is the industry 
 of men who own ships ; their interests are more or less hostile 
 to those of the ship-builders. Ship owners want to buy 
 new ships at low prices; they want the number of com- 
 peting ships kept small; they want freights high. In all 
 these points the interest of the ship-builder is the opposite: 
 the ship owner is indifferent where he gets his ships ; he only 
 wants them cheap and good. There is no sentiment in 
 the matter any more than there is in the purchase of wagons 
 by an express company, or carriages by a livery-stable 
 keeper. 
 
 3. Foreign commerce is still another thing. It con- 
 sists in the exchange of the products of one country for 
 those of another. The merchant wants plenty of ships 
 to carry all the goods at the lowest possible freights, but it 
 is of no importance to him where the ships were built,^ 
 or who owns and sails them. 
 
 A statement and definition of these three industries 
 suflSces to show what confusion must arise in any discussion 
 in which they are not properly distinguished. It is plain 
 that there are three different questions: (1) Can the farmer 
 biiild a vehicle.'* (2) Can he get his crop carried to market? 
 (3) Can he sell his crop.^^ It is evident that a countrj^ 
 which needs a protective tariff on iron and steel must give 
 up all hopes of building ships for ocean traffic. For the 
 country which, by the hypothesis, needs a protective 
 tariff on iron and steel cannot produce those articles as 
 cheaply as some other country. Its ships, however, must 
 compete upon the ocean with those of the country which 
 has cheap iron and steel. The former embody a larger 
 capital than the latter, and they must be driven from the 
 ocean. If, then, subsidies are given to protect the carry-
 
 276 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 ing trade, when prosecuted in ships built of protected iron, 
 the loss is transferred from the ship owners to the people 
 who pay taxes on shore. These taxes, however, add to 
 the cost of production of all things produced in the country, 
 and thereby lessen the power of the country to compete 
 in foreign commerce. This lessens the amount of goods 
 to be carried both out and in, lowers freights, throws ships 
 out of use, and checks the building of ships; and the whole 
 series of legislative aids and encouragements must be 
 begun over again, with a repetition and intensification of 
 the same results. As long as the system lasts it works 
 down, and the statistics show, very naturally, that fewer 
 and fewer ships are built in the country, and that less and 
 less of the carrying trade is carried on under the national 
 flag. In view of the three different and sometimes adverse 
 interests which are connected by their relation to the ship- 
 ping question, it is not strange that when the representatives 
 of those interests meet to try to consider that question, 
 there should simply be a scramble between them to see 
 which can capture the convention. The last convention 
 of this sort was captured by the owners of a lot of unsalable 
 and unsailable old hulks, who had hit upon the brilliant 
 idea of getting the nation to pay them an annual bounty 
 for the use of their antiquated and dilapidated property. 
 Strange to say, in a country which is charged with being 
 too practical and hardheaded, this proposition received 
 respectful attention and consideration. It is also strange 
 that our people should believe that taxing farmers to 
 force the production of iron, taxing farmers again to force 
 the production of ships out of protected iron, and taxing 
 farmers again to pay subsidies to enable protected ships 
 to do business, is a way to make this country rich. 
 
 So soon as the three different industries, or departments 
 of business, which I have described are distinguished from 
 each other, it is apparent that the fundamental one of the
 
 SHALL AMERICANS OWN SHIPS? 277 
 
 three is foreign commerce. If we have no commerce we 
 need no carrying, and it would be absurd to build ships; 
 if we have foreign commerce its magnitude determines the 
 amount of demand there is for freight and for ships. The 
 circle of taxation which I have mentioned, and which is 
 obviously only a kind of circuit, described from and 
 upon the farmer as a center and fulcrum to bear the weight 
 of the whole, is necessarily and constantly vicious, because 
 it presses down on the foreign commerce, which is the proper 
 source of support for carrying and ship-building. On the 
 other hand, the emancipation of foreign commerce from 
 all trammels of every sort is the only means of increasing 
 the natural, normal, and spontaneous support of carrying 
 and ship-building, assuming that the carrying trade and 
 ship-building are ends in themselves. 
 
 It is, however, no object at all for a country to have 
 either ship-building industry, or carrying trade, or foreign 
 commerce; herein lies the fundamental fallacy of all the 
 popular and Congressional discussions about ships and 
 commerce. It is only important that the whole population 
 should be engaged in those industries which will pay the 
 best under the circumstances of the country. For the sake 
 of exposing the true doctrine about the matter, we may 
 suppose (what is not conceivable as a possible fact) that 
 a country might not find greater profit in the exportation 
 of any part of any of its products than in the home use of 
 the same. If this could be true, and if it were realized, 
 the proof of it would be that no foreign trade would exist. 
 There would be no ground for regret since the people would 
 be satisfied and better off than as if they had a foreign 
 trade. Carrying trade and ship-building would not exist. 
 
 If a country had a foreign trade of any magnitude what- 
 ever, it would not be any object for that country to do its 
 own carrying. The figures which show the amount paid 
 by the people of the United States to non-American ship
 
 278 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 owners for freight, and the figures which show the small 
 percentage of our foreign commerce which is carried under 
 the American flag, in themselves prove nothing at all. 
 The only question which is of importance is this: are the 
 people of the United States better employed now than they 
 would be if engaged in owTiing and sailing ships? If they 
 were under no restraints or interferences, that question also 
 would answer itself. If Americans owned no ships and 
 sailed no ships, but hired the people of other countries to 
 do their ocean transportation for them, it would simply 
 prove that Americans had some better employment for their 
 capital and labor. They would get their transportation 
 accomplished as cheaply as possible. That is all they 
 care for, and it would be as foolish for any nation to insist 
 on doing its own ocean transportation, devoting to this 
 use capital and labor which might be otherwise more 
 profitably employed, as it would be for a merchant to insist 
 on doing his own carting, when some person engaged in 
 carting offered him a contract on more advantageous terms 
 than those on which he could do the work. 
 
 Furthermore, the people of a country which had little 
 foreign commerce might find it very advantageous to 
 prosecute the carrying trade. In history, the great trading 
 nations have been those which had a small or poor territory 
 at home: the Dutch were the great carriers of the seven- 
 teenth and eighteenth centuries, when the foreign com- 
 merce of their own territory was insignificant; the New 
 Englanders of the last century and of the first quarter of 
 this century became the carriers of commodities to and 
 fro between all parts of the world, especially between our 
 middle and southern states and the rest of the world. They 
 took to the sea because their land did not furnish them with 
 products which could remunerate their capital and labor so 
 well as the carrying trade did. They won a high reputation 
 for the merchant service, whilch was in their hands, and they
 
 SHALL AMERICANS OWN SHIPS? 279 
 
 earned fortunes by energy, enterprise, promptitude, and 
 fidelity. The carrying trade is an industry like any other; 
 it is neither more nor less desirable in itself than any other. 
 In any natural and rational state of things it would be 
 absurd to be writing essays about it. If any one thought 
 he could make more profit in that business than in some 
 other he would set about it. When the census was taken 
 he would be found busy at that business, would be so 
 reported, and that would be the end of the matter as a 
 phenomenon of public interest. 
 
 If a nation had foreign commerce, and some of its citizens 
 found the carrying trade an advantageous employment 
 for their labor and capital as compared with other possible 
 industries in the country, it would not follow that some 
 other citizens of that country ought to engage in ship- 
 building. It is no object to build ships, but only to get 
 such ships as are wanted, in the most advantageous manner. 
 If a man should refuse to carry on a carting business un- 
 less he could make his own wagons, it would be such a 
 reflection on his good sense that his business credit would 
 be very low. If some Americans could buy and sail ships so 
 as to make profits, what is the sense of saying that they 
 shall not do it because some other Americans cannot build 
 ships at a profit.^ Only one answer to this question has 
 ever been offered by anybody, and that is the prediction 
 that, some day, if we go without ships long enough, we shall, 
 by the mere process of going without, begin to get some 
 — a prediction for which the prophets give no guarantee, 
 in addition to their personal authority, save the fact that 
 we have fewer ships and worse ones every year. 
 
 I have said above that, if there were no restraints or 
 interferences, we should simply notice whether any Ameri- 
 cans took to the carrying trade or not, and should thence 
 infer that they might or might not be better employed in 
 some other industry. It is impossible, now, to say whether.
 
 280 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 if all restrictions were removed, the carrying trade or ship- 
 building would be a profitable industry in the United States 
 or not. Any opinion given by anybody on that point is 
 purely speculative. The present state of the iron and 
 steel industries, and of the manufacture of engines and 
 machinery, is so artificial that no one can judge what would 
 be the possibilities of those industries under an entirely 
 different state of things. It is, however, just because the 
 present state of things prevents a free trial that it is inde- 
 fensible; we are working in the dark and on speculation all 
 the time and have none of the natural and proper tests 
 and guarantees for what we are doing. We are controlled 
 by the predictions of prophets, the notions of dogmatizers, 
 the crude errors of superficial students of history, the wrong- 
 headed inferences of shallow observers, and the selfish 
 machinations of interested persons. We can distinguish 
 many forces which are at work on our ship-building and on 
 our carrying trade, but none of them are genuine or respect- 
 able. We are submitting to restraints and losses, and 
 we have no guarantee whatever that we shall ever win 
 any compensation. The teaching of economic science is 
 distinctly that we never shall win any. We are expending 
 capital without any measurement or adjustment of the 
 quid pro quo; we are spending without calculation, and 
 receiving something or nothing — we do not know which. 
 The wrong of all this is not in the assumption that we have 
 not certain industries which we would have (for we cannot 
 tell whether that is so or not), but the wrong is In the 
 arbitrary interference which prevents us from having them, 
 if any man wants to put his capital into them, and which 
 prevents us from obtaining the proper facts on which to 
 base a judgment about the state and relations of industries 
 in the country. 
 
 Whenever the question of ships is raised, the clamor 
 for subsidies and bounties is renewed, and we are told
 
 SHALL AMERICANS OWN SHIPS? 281 
 
 again that England has established her commerce by 
 subsidies. It would be well if we could have an under- 
 standing, once for all, whether England's example is a good 
 argument or not. As she has tried, at some time or other, 
 nearly every conceivable economic folly, and has also 
 made experiment of some sound economic principles, all 
 disputants find in her history facts to suit them, and it 
 needs only a certain easily acquired skill in misunder- 
 standing things to fashion any required argument from the 
 economic history of England. Some of our writers and 
 speakers seem to be under a fascination which impels them 
 to accept as authoritative examples the foUies of English 
 history, and to reject its sound lessons. In the present case, 
 however, the matter stands somewhat differently. England 
 is a great manufacturing area; it imports food and raw 
 materials, and exports finished products; it has, therefore, 
 a general and public interest in maintaining communication 
 with all parts of the world. The analogy in our case is 
 furnished by the subsidized railroads in our new states, or, 
 perhaps even better, by the mail routes which we sustain 
 all over our territory, from general considerations of public 
 advantage, although many such routes do not pay at all. 
 Subsidies to ships for the mere sake of having ships, or 
 ocean traffic, when there is no business occasion for the sub- 
 sidized lines, would have no analogy with English subsidies. 
 If then the question is put: Shall Americans own ships.? 
 I do not see how any one can avoid the simple answer: 
 Yes, if they want them. Universally, if an American wants 
 anything, he ought to have it if he can get it, and if he hurts 
 no one else by getting it. To enter on the question whether 
 he is going to make it or buy it, and whether he is going 
 to buy it of A or of B, is an impertinence. We boast a 
 great deal of having a free country; our orators shout 
 themselves hoarse about liberty and freedom. Stop one 
 of them, however, and ask him if he means free trade and
 
 282 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 free ships, and he will demur. No; not that; that will not 
 do. He is in favor of freedom for himself and his friends 
 in those respects in which they want liberty against other 
 people, but he is not in favor of freedom for other people 
 against restraints which are advantageous to him and his 
 political allies. He is in favor of freedom for those who are 
 being oppressed — by somebody else; not for those who 
 are being oppressed by himself. I heard it asserted not 
 long ago that we have no monopolies in this country, 
 because it is a free country. It is not a free country, because 
 there are more artificial monopolies in it than in any other 
 country in the world. The popular notion that it is free 
 rises from the fact that there are fewer natural monopolies 
 in it than in any other great civilized country. It is neces- 
 sary, however, to go to Turkey or Russia to find instances 
 of legislative and administrative abuses to equal the existing 
 laws and regulations of the United States about ships, 
 the carrying trade, and foreign commerce. These laws 
 have been brought to public attention again and again, 
 but apparently with little effect in awakening popular 
 attention, while the newspapers carry all over the country 
 details about abuses in Ireland, Russia, and South Africa. 
 We should stop bragging about a free country and about 
 the enlightened power of the people in a democratic republic 
 to correct abuses, while laws remain which treat the buying, 
 importing, owning, and sailing of ships as pernicious actions, 
 or, at least, as doubtful and suspicious ones. I have no con- 
 ception of a free man or a free country which can be satisfied 
 if a citizen of that country may not own a ship, if he wants 
 one, getting it in any legitimate manner in which he might 
 acquire other property; or may not sail one, if he finds 
 that a profitable industry suited to his taste and ability; 
 or may not exchange the products of his labor with that 
 person, whoever he may be, who offers the most advan- 
 tageous terms.
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 ^ 
 
 WHEN the Continental Congress met in 1774, few 
 persons in the colonies perceived that the ties to 
 the mother country were about to be severed, and few, if 
 any, were republicans in theory, or contemplated a "revo- 
 lution" in the political system. The desire for independence 
 was developed during 1775, and the question as to the form 
 of government to be adopted came up by consequence. It 
 presented no real difficulty. The political organization of 
 some of the colonies was such already that there were no 
 signs of dependence except the arms and flag, the form of 
 writs, and a responsibility to the Lords of Trade which sat 
 very lightly upon them. Necessary changes being made 
 in these respects, those colonies stood as complete republics. 
 The others conformed to this model. 
 
 In bringing about these changes great interest was de- 
 veloped in political speculations, an interest which found 
 its first direction from Paine's "Common Sense," and was 
 sustained by diligent reading of Burgh's "Political Dis- 
 quisitions," and Macaulay's "History of England." The 
 same speculations continued to be favorite subjects of 
 discussion for twenty-five years afterwards. The journals 
 of the time were largely made up of long essays by writers 
 with fanciful noms de plume, who discussed no simple 
 matters of detail, but the fundamental principles of politics 
 and government. The method of treatment was not 
 historical, unless we must except crude and erroneous 
 generalizations on classical history, and it seemed to be 
 believed that the colonial history of this country was es- 
 
 ^ The North American Review, vol. cxxii, pp. 47-87. (January, 1876.) 
 
 285
 
 286 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 pecially unfit to furnish guidance for the subsequent period; 
 but the disquisitions in question pursued an a priori method, 
 starting from the broadest and most abstract assumptions. 
 The same method has marked American pohtical philos- 
 ophy, so far as there has been any such thing, ever since. 
 It is very much easier than the method which requires a 
 laborious study of history. 
 
 The natural effect of the war, but still more of the doc- 
 trines in regard to liberty taught by Paine, and of the de- 
 plorable policy of local terrorism pursued by the Committees 
 of Safety against Tories and Refugees, was to produce and 
 bring into prominence a class of active, shallow men, who 
 felt their new powers and privileges but not the responsi- 
 bility which ought to go with these. The old colonial 
 bureaucracy, which had enjoyed all the social preeminence 
 that colonial life permitted, was gone. OiOSce was open 
 to many who, before the war, had little chance of attain- 
 ing it. They sought it eagerly, expecting to enjoy the 
 social advantages they had formerly envied. In the north- 
 ern states a class of eager office-seekers arose who gained a 
 great influence, saw their arena in the states especially, and 
 jealously opposed the power of the Confederation. This 
 class made hatred to England almost a religion, and testified 
 to their political virtues by persecuting Tories and Ref- 
 ugees. They found popular grievances also ready to their 
 hand as a means of advancement. The mass of the people 
 had been impoverished by the war. The attempts at com- 
 mercial war had reacted upon the nation with great severity. 
 The paper issues of the Congress and the states had wrought 
 their work to derange values, violate contracts, inflate 
 credit, and destroy confidence. On the return of peace the 
 industries which had been sustained only by war ceased to 
 be profitable; the reduction of prices spread general ruin 
 and left thousands indebted and impoverished. The con- 
 sequence was discontent and disorder. All this was height-
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 287 
 
 ened by the contrast with another class which had been 
 enriched by privateering, contracts, and "financiering." 
 The soldier who returned in rags, bringing only a few bits 
 of scrip worth fifteen or twenty cents on the dollar, found 
 his family in want, and some of his neighbors, who had 
 borne few of the sacrifices of the war, enriched by it and 
 now enjoying its fruits. It seemed to this whole class that 
 they had not yet got liberty, or that they did not know what 
 it was. They did not look for it to a closer union. 
 
 This party, for it soon became a party, found an alliance 
 in a quarter where it would hardly have been expected, in 
 the slave-owning planters of the South — an alliance which 
 has been of immense importance in our political history. 
 The planters, at the outbreak of the war, had been heavily 
 indebted to English capitalists and merchants. They now 
 feared that they would be compelled to pay their debts, and 
 they saw in the treaty-making power of the general govern- 
 ment the source from which this compulsion would come. 
 They therefore opposed any union which would strengthen 
 and give vigor to that power. To this party were added 
 those who had adopted, on theoretical and philosophical 
 grounds, the enthusiasm for liberty which was then preva- 
 lent in both hemispheres. It should be added to the 
 characteristics of this party that it looked with indifference 
 upon foreign commerce, cared little for foreign opinion, 
 would have been glad to be isolated from the Old World, 
 and had very crude opinions as to the status and relations 
 of European nations. 
 
 This party naturally went on to confound liberty with 
 equality, and political virtue with tenacity of rights. It 
 furthermore confounded power with privilege, and thought 
 that it must allow no civil power or authority to exist if it 
 meant really to exterminate aristocratic privilege* It was 
 not so clear in its conception of political duties, and certainly 
 failed to see that the best citizen is not the one who is
 
 288 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 most tenacious of his political rights, but the one who is 
 most faithful to his political duties; that envy and jealousy- 
 are not political virtues; and that equality can be attained 
 only by cutting off every social advance and setting up as 
 the standard, not what is highest, but what is a low 
 average. 
 
 An opposing party gradually formed itself of men of 
 wider information and superior training. These men 
 understood the institutions of Great Britain and their 
 contrast to those of any other country in Europe. They 
 understood just what the war had done for the Colonies. 
 They did not consider that it had altered the internal in- 
 stitutions inherited from the mother country, or set the 
 Colonies adrift upon a sea of political speculation to try to 
 find a political Utopia. Some of them joined for a time in 
 the prevalent opinion that the Americans were better and 
 purer than the rest of mankind, but experience soon taught 
 them their error. Tradition and experience still had 
 weight with them; and in making innovations they sought 
 development rather than destruction and reconstruction. 
 They were conservative by property, education, and 
 character. 
 
 To this party it was evident that the colonies had lost 
 much by falling out of the place in the family of nations 
 which they had filled as part of the British Empire, and they 
 believed that a similar place must now be won on an inde- 
 pendent footing. They understood the necessity of well- 
 regulated foreign relations, of foreign commerce, and of 
 public credit. Their general effort was, therefore, to secure 
 order and peace in the internal relations of the country by 
 establishing liberty indeed, but liberty under law; and to se- 
 cure respectability and respect abroad by fidelity to treaties 
 and pecuniary engagements, by a reputation for commer- 
 cial integrity, and by a development of the arts of peace. 
 The first requisite to all this was a more perfect union.
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 289 
 
 The two parties, therefore, formed about the issue of a 
 revision of the Articles of Confederation, but it was not 
 until the absolute necessity of the objects aimed at by the 
 Federalists — objects which are in their nature less directly 
 obvious and tangible — had been demonstrated by ex- 
 perience, that this revision was brought about. The 
 Union was not the result of a free and spontaneous effort, 
 but was "extorted from the grinding necessity of a re- 
 luctant people." A political party which resists a pro- 
 posed movement by predicting calamitous results to flow 
 from it must abide by the verdict of history. Tried by 
 this test, the anti-Federalists are convicted of resisting the 
 most salutary action in our political history. The victory 
 was won, not by writing critical essays about the move- 
 ment and the relations of parties, but by the direct and 
 energetic activity of those men of that generation who had 
 enjoyed the greatest advantages of education and culture. 
 
 Three evils were inherited under the new Constitution 
 from the old system: slavery (which the framers of the 
 Constitution tolerated, thinking it on the decline), paper 
 money (which they thought they had eradicated), and the 
 mercantile theories of political economy. These three evils, 
 in their single or combined development, have given char- 
 acter to the whole subsequent political history of the 
 country. One of them has been eliminated by a civil war. 
 The other two confront us as the great political issues of 
 to-day. 
 
 The framers of the Constitution, without having any 
 precise definition of a republic in mind, knew well that it 
 differed from a democracy. No one of them was a dem- 
 ocrat. They were, at the time of framing the Constitu- 
 tion, under an especial dread of democracy, on account of 
 the rebellion in Massachusetts. They meant to make a 
 Constitution in order to establish organized or articulated 
 liberty, giving guarantees for it which should protect it
 
 290 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 from popular tyranny as much as from personal despotism. 
 Indeed, they recognized the former as a great danger, the 
 latter as a delusion. They therefore established a con- 
 stitutional republic. The essential feature of such a 
 system of government (for it is a system of government, 
 and not a political theory) is that political power be con- 
 ferred under a temporary and defeasible tenure. That it 
 be conferred by popular election is not essential, although 
 it is convenient in many cases. This method was the one 
 naturally indicated by the circumstances of the United 
 States. The system which was established did not pretend 
 to give direct effect to public opinion according to its 
 fluctuations. It rather interposed delays and checks in 
 order to secure deliberation, and it aimed to give expres- 
 sion to public opinion only after it was matured. It sought 
 to eliminate prejudice and passion by prescribing before- 
 hand methods which seemed just in themselves, inde- 
 pendently of conflicting interests, in order that, when a 
 case arose, no advantage of procedure might be offered to 
 either party; and it aimed to subject action to organs whose 
 operation should be as impersonal as it is possible for the 
 operation of political organs to be. 
 
 Democracy, on the other hand, has for its essential 
 feature equality, and it confers power on a numerical 
 majority of equal political units. It is not a system of 
 government for a state with any but the narrowest limits. 
 On a wider field it is a theory as to the depositary of sov- 
 ereignty. It seizes upon majority rule, w^hich is only a 
 practical expedient for getting a decision where something 
 must be done and a unanimous judgment as to what ought 
 to be done is impossible, and it makes this majority the 
 depositary of sovereignty, under the name of the sover- 
 eignty of the people. This sovereign, however, is as 
 likely as any despot to aggrandize itself, and to promul- 
 gate the unformulated doctrines of the divine right of the
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 291 
 
 sovereign majority to rule, the duty of passive obedience 
 in the minority, and that the majority can do no wrong. 
 
 Opposition to the Federal Constitution died out in a 
 year or two, and no one could be found who would confess 
 that he had resisted its adoption. Parties divided on 
 questions of detail and of interpretation, and the points 
 on which they differed were those by which the Constitu- 
 tion imposed delays and restraints upon the popular will. 
 The administrations of Washington and Adams threw 
 continually increasing weight in favor of constitutional 
 guarantees, as the history of the French Revolution seemed 
 to the Federalists to furnish more and more convincing 
 proofs of the dangers of unbridled democracy. The op- 
 position saw nothing in that history save the extravagant 
 ebullitions of a people new to freedom — saw rather ex- 
 amples to be imitated than dangers to be shunned. Sym- 
 pathy and gratitude came in to exercise a weighty influence 
 on political issues. The personal executive and the ju- 
 diciary were the chief subjects of dislike, and General 
 Washington himself finally incurred abuse more wanton 
 and severe than any President since, except the elder 
 Adams, has endured, because the fact was recognized that 
 Washington's personality was the strongest bulwark which 
 the system possessed at the outset. 
 
 Democracy, however, was, and still is, so deeply rooted 
 in the physical and economic circumstances of the United 
 States, that the constitutional barriers set up against it 
 have proved feeble and vain. Fears of monarchy have now 
 almost ceased or are ridiculed. Monarchist and aristo- 
 crat are now used only as epithets to put down some over- 
 bold critic of our political system; but in the early days 
 of the Republic the mass of the people believed that the 
 supporters of the first two administrations desired aris- 
 tocracy and monarchy. In a new country, however, with 
 unlimited land, the substantial equality of the people in
 
 292 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 property, culture, and social position is inevitable. Po- 
 litical equality follows naturally. Democracy is given in 
 the circumstances of the case. The yeoman farmer is the 
 prevailing type of the population. It is only when the 
 pressure of population and the development of a more 
 complex social organization produce actual inequality in 
 the circumstances of individuals, that a political aristoc- 
 racy can follow and grow upon a social aristocracy. The 
 United States are far from having reached any such state 
 as yet. These facts were felt, if not distinctly analyzed 
 and perceived, even by those who might on theory have 
 preferred monarchical institutions; and, as Washington 
 said, there were not ten men in the country who wanted a 
 monarchy. 
 
 The Federalists repaid their opponents with a no less 
 exaggerated fear of their principles and intentions, regard- 
 ing them as Jacobins and sans culottes, who desired to de- 
 stroy whatever was good and to produce bloodshed and 
 anarchy. Party spirit ran to heights seldom reached since. 
 Partisan abuse outstripped anything since. It was an ad- 
 ditional misfortune that the questions at issue were delicate 
 questions of foreign policy and international law. It is a 
 great evil in a republic that parties should divide by sym- 
 pathy with two foreign nations, and it is the greatest evil 
 possible that they should not believe in each other's loyalty 
 to the existing constitution. 
 
 The deeper movement which was stirring to affect the 
 general attitude or standpoint from which the Constitution 
 was viewed (a matter, of course, of the first importance 
 under a written constitution), and which was changing the 
 constitutional republic into a democratic republic, did not 
 escape the observation of the most sagacious men of the 
 earliest days. Fisher Ames wrote to Wolcott in 1800: 
 "The fact really is, that over and above the diflSculties of 
 sustaining a free government, and the freer the more dif-
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 293 
 
 ficult, there is a want of accordance between our system 
 and the state of our public opinion. The government 
 is republican; opinion is essentially democratic. Either 
 events will raise public opinion high enough to support 
 our government, or public opinion will pull down the gov- 
 ernment to its own level." The fact was that the govern- 
 ment could not, under the system, long remain above the 
 level of public opinion. The Federalists, assisted by the 
 prestige of Washington's name, held it there for twelve 
 years; but they probably never, on any of the party issues, 
 even with a restricted suffrage, had a majority of the voters. 
 Dating the rise of parties from the time of Jay's Treaty, 
 they had a majority of the House of Representatives only 
 under the excitement of French insult in 1798. 
 
 The leading men of 1787-1788, as has been said, worked 
 industriously and energetically for political objects. The 
 first decade of the Republic had not passed by, however, 
 before men began to estimate the cost and sacrifices of 
 public life and the worry of abuse and misrepresentation, 
 to compare this with what they could accomplish in poli- 
 tics, and to abandon the contest. To the best public men 
 professions and other careers offered fame, fortune, hon- 
 orable and gratifying success. In public life they struggled 
 against, and were defeated by, noisy, active men who could 
 not have competed with them in any other profession. 
 Their best efforts were misunderstood and misrepresented. 
 They had no reward but the consciousness of fulfilling a 
 high public duty. Furthermore they lacked, as a class, 
 the tact and sagacity which the system indispensably re- 
 quires. The leaders of the Federal party committed a 
 political blunder of the first magnitude in quarrelling with 
 John Adams, whatever may have been his faults. They 
 thereby separated themselves from the mass of their own 
 party, and at a time when parties were so evenly balanced that 
 they required harmony for any chance of success; and they
 
 294 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 put themselves in the position of a junto or cabal, trying 
 to dictate to the party without guiding its reason. Those 
 of them who had withdrawn from, or had been thrown out of 
 political life by the causes above mentioned were most 
 active in this work of disorganization. They had aban- 
 doned that sort of task which they had engaged in at the 
 outset, and which, difficult as it is, is permanently incum- 
 bent on the cultured classes of the country — to make the 
 culture of the nation homogeneous and uniform by impart- 
 ing and receiving, by living in and of and for the nation, 
 contributing to its thought and life their best stores, what- 
 ever they are. A breach was opened there which has gone 
 on widening ever since, and which has been as harmful to 
 our culture as to our politics. On the one side it has been 
 left to anti-culture to control all which is indigenous and 
 *' American"; and on the other hand American culture has 
 been like a plant in a thin soil, given over to a sickly dilet- 
 tantism and the slavish imitation of foreign models, ill 
 understood, copied for matters of form, and, as often as 
 not, imitated for their worst defects. 
 
 An actual withdrawal of the ablest men from political 
 life, such as we have come to deplore, began, then, at this 
 early day. Many others were thrown out for too great 
 honesty and truth in running counter to the popular no- 
 tions of the day. John Adams incurred great unpopularity 
 for having said that the English Constitution was one of 
 the grandest achievements of the human race — an asser- 
 tion which Callender disputed, with great popular success, 
 by dilating upon the corruption of the English administra- 
 tion under George III, but an assertion which, in the 
 sense in which it was made, no well-informed man would 
 question. Sedgwick laid down the principle that the govern- 
 ment might claim the last man as a soldier and the last 
 dollar in taxation — an abstract proposition which is un- 
 questionable, but which Callender disputed, once more
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 295 
 
 with great popular success, by arguing as if it were a prop- 
 osition to take the last man and the last dollar. Dexter 
 lost a reelection by opposing a clause of the naturalization 
 law, that a foreign nobleman should renounce his titles on 
 being naturalized. It was opposed as idle and frivolous, 
 and favored as if every foreign nobleman would otherwise 
 become by naturalization a member of Congress. Hamil- 
 ton and Knox abandoned the public service on account of 
 the meagerness of their salaries. Pickering, who left office 
 really insolvent, and with only a few hundred dollars in 
 cash, was pursued by charges of corruption on the ground 
 of unclosed accounts. Wolcott, at the end of long and 
 faithful service, was charged with the responsibility for a 
 fire which broke out in his office, as if he had sought to 
 destroy the records of corrupt proceedings. 
 
 It is no wonder that these men abandoned public life, 
 and that their examples deterred others, unless they were 
 men born to it, who could not live out of the public 
 arena; but it is true now, as it was then, that men of true 
 culture, high character, and correct training can abandon 
 public political effort only by the surrender of some of the 
 best interests of themselves and their posterity. The pur- 
 suit of wealth, which is the natural alternative, has always 
 absorbed far too much of the ambition of the nation, and 
 under such circumstances there could be no other result 
 than that a wealthy class should arise, to whom wealth 
 offers no honorable social power, in whom it awakens no 
 intellectual or political ambition, to whom it brings no 
 sense of responsibility, but for whom it means simply the 
 ability to buy what they want, men or measures, and to 
 enjoy sensual luxury. A class of men is produced which 
 mocks at the accepted notions while it uses them, and 
 scorns the rest of us with a scorn which is so insulting only 
 because it is so just. It is based on the fact that we will 
 not undergo the sacrifices necessary to seK-defense. This
 
 296 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 pursuit of wealth was almost the only pursuit attractive 
 to able men who turned their backs on the public service 
 in the early days. In later years professional careers and 
 scientific and literary pursuits have disputed to a great and 
 greater extent the dominion of wealth over the energies 
 of the nation; but politics have not yet won back their 
 due attraction for able and ambitious men. 
 
 The Federalists also held a defective political philosophy. 
 They did not see that the strength of a constitutional 
 republic such as they desired must be in the intelligent 
 approval and confidence of the citizens. Adams and 
 Hamilton agreed in supposing that some artificial bond 
 must be constructed to give strength to the system. Ham- 
 ilton looked for it in the interest of the wealthy class, which 
 he wanted to bind up in the system — a theory which 
 would have changed it into a plutocracy. Adams sought the 
 bond in ambition for social emmence, and did not see that, 
 where such eminence sprang only from wealth or official 
 rank, the very principle of human nature which he invoked 
 would, under the form of envy, counteract his effort. 
 
 The presidential election of 1801 having been thrown 
 into the House of Representatives, the Federalists added 
 to their former blunder another far more grave. Abandon- 
 ing their claims to principle and character, they took to 
 political intrigue and bargaining, in the attempt to elect 
 Burr over Jefferson. Their exit from power might other- 
 wise have been honorable, and they might, as an opposi- 
 tion party, have made a stand for inflexible principle and 
 political integrity; but it was hard for them after this to 
 talk of those things, especially as Burr went on to develop the 
 character which Hamilton had warned them that he pos- 
 sessed. They fell into the position of "independent voters,'* 
 throwing their aid now with one and now with the other 
 faction of the majority; but history does not show that 
 they ever forced either one or the other to "adopt good
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 297 
 
 measures," for the obvious reason that the majority pos- 
 sessed the initiative. The purchase of Louisiana seemed 
 to them to transfer the power of the Union to the southern 
 and frontier states, the seat of the pohtical theories which 
 they regarded as reckless and lawless. They feared that 
 the power of the Union would be used to sacrifice commerce 
 and to put in operation wild theories by which the interests 
 of the northern and eastern states would be imperiled, 
 and the inherited institutions of constitutional liberty, 
 which they valued as their best possessions, would be over- 
 thrown. The Embargo and Non-intercourse Acts seemed 
 only the fulfillment of these fears. The recourse of a mi- 
 nority has always been to invoke the Constitution and to 
 insist upon the unconstitutionality of what they could not 
 resist by votes, each party in turn thereby bearing witness 
 to the truth that the Constitution is the real safeguard of 
 rights and liberty. In the last resort also the minority, if 
 it has been local, and has seen the majority threatening to 
 use the tremendous power of the Confederation to make 
 the interests of the minority subservient to the interests 
 of the rest, has felt its loyalty to the Union decline. How 
 far the Federalists went in this direction it is diflBcult to 
 say, but they certainly went farther than they were after- 
 wards willing to confess or remember. They gradually 
 faded out of view as a political power after the second war 
 and in the twenties "Federalist" became a term of re- 
 proach. 
 
 The opposite party, called by themselves Republicans 
 after 1792, took definite form in opposition to Washing- 
 ton's administration on the question of ratifying Jay's 
 Treaty. They were first called Democrats in 1798, the 
 name being opprobrious. They adopted it, however, first 
 in connection with the former name; and the joint appel- 
 lation. Democratic Republicans, or either separately, was 
 used indifferently down to the middle of this century.
 
 298 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 Jefferson was the leader of this party. He did not write 
 any political disquisitions or aid in the attempts which 
 have been mentioned to form public opinion; but his ex- 
 pressions in letters and fugitive writings struck in with the 
 tide of Democracy so aptly and exactly that he seemed to 
 have put into people's mouths just the expression for the 
 vague notions which they had not yet themselves been 
 able to get into words. Jefferson, in fact, was no thinker. 
 He was a good specimen of the a priori political philoso- 
 pher. He did not reason or deduce; he dogmatized on 
 the widest and most rash assumptions, which were laid 
 down as self-evident truths. He did not borrow from the 
 contemporaneous French schools, for his democracy is of 
 a different type; but both sprang from the same germs 
 and pursued the same methods of speculation. Freneau, 
 Bache, Callender, and Duane wrought continually upon 
 public opinion, and Jefferson entered into the leadership 
 of the party they created, by virtue of a certain skill in 
 giving watchwords and dogmatic expressions for the ideas 
 which they disseminated. 
 
 The dogmas which Jefferson taught, or of which he was 
 the exponent, were not without truth. Their fallacy con- 
 sisted in embracing much falsehood, and also in excluding 
 the vast amount of truth which lay outside of them. For 
 instance, the dogma that the voice of the people is the voice 
 of God is not without truth, if it means that the enlightened 
 and mature judgment of mankind is the highest verdict on 
 earth as to what is true or wise. This is the truth which 
 is sought to be expressed in the ecclesiastical dogma of 
 Catholicity, but the political and the ecclesiastical dogma 
 have the same limitation. This verdict of mankind can- 
 not be obtained in any formal and concrete expression, 
 and is absolutely unattainable on grounds of speculation 
 antecedent to experiment. It is in history only; or, rather, 
 it constitutes history. In Jefferson's doctrine and practice
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 299 
 
 it resolved itself simply into this practical rule: the test 
 of wisdom for the statesman and of truth for the philosopher 
 is popularity. When the statesman has a difficult practi- 
 cal question before him as to what to do, according to this 
 theory he puts forward what seems to him best as a propo- 
 sition. If, then, the return wave of popular sympathy 
 comes back to him with promptitude and with the intensity 
 to which he is accustomed, he infers that he has proposed 
 wisely, and goes forward. If there is delay or uncertainty 
 in the response, he draws back. The actual operation of 
 this theory is that, if the statesman in question is the idol 
 of a popular majority, the approving response is quick and 
 sure, because the proposition comes from him, not because 
 the tribunal of appeal has considered or can consider the 
 question. If an unpopular man endeavors to use the same 
 test, the answer is doubtful, feeble, hesitating, or im- 
 patient, because those to whom he appeals have not the 
 necessary preparation, or time, or interest to judge in the 
 matter. In general, the theory is popular, because it 
 flatters men that they can decide anything offhand, by the 
 light of nature, or by some prompt application of assump- 
 tions as to "natural rights," or by applying the test of a 
 popular dogma or prejudice. It tramples study and 
 thought and culture under foot and turns their boasts to 
 scorn. On the other hand, it makes statesmanship im- 
 possible. Study and thought go for nothing. There can 
 be no authority derived from information or science or 
 training, and no leadership won by virtue of these. If the 
 decision is to come from a popular vote, why not abandon 
 useless trouble and trust to that alone? 
 
 Such has been the outcome in history, as will appear 
 further on, of the doctrines which are associated with the 
 name of Jefferson, although they really had their origin in 
 the great social tendencies of the time and in the circum- 
 stances of the American people. The love of philosophiz-
 
 300 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 ing about government was a feature in the life of the second 
 half of the eighteenth century. The method of philos- 
 ophizing on assumptions was the only one employed. 
 The Americans, with meager experience and high purposes, 
 readily took refuge in abstractions. The habit of pursuing 
 two or three occupations at once destroyed respect for 
 special or technical knowledge. There seemed to be nothing 
 unreasonable in referring a question of jurisprudence or in- 
 ternational law to merchants, farmers, and mechanics, for 
 them to give an opinion on it as a mere incident in their 
 regular occupations. Jefferson himself could sit down and 
 develop out of his own consciousness a plan for fortifications 
 and a navy, for a nation in imminent danger of war, with 
 no more misgivings, apparently, than if he was planning 
 an alteration on his estate. 
 
 "The further democracy was pushed, first in theory, 
 then in practice, the more completely was the belief in the 
 equality of all [in rights and privileges] converted, in the 
 minds of the masses, into the belief in the equal ability of 
 all to decide political questions of every kind. The prin- 
 ciple of mere numbers gradually supplanted the principle 
 of reflection and study." This tendency reaches its climax 
 in the popular doctrines that every man has a right to his 
 opinion and that one man's opinion is as good as another's. 
 We have abundant illustration of the might which it gives 
 to "the phrase." 
 
 It has been well said that "men can reason only from 
 what they know" — a doctrine which would reduce the 
 amount of reasoning to be done by anybody to a very 
 little. The common practice is to reason from what we 
 do not know, which makes every man a philosopher. 
 
 Jefferson's election was the first triumph of the tendency 
 towards democracy — a triumph which has never yet been 
 reversed. The old conservatism of the former administra- 
 tions died out, and it is important to observe that, from
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 301 
 
 this time on, we have in conflict not the same two parties 
 as before, but only factions or subdivisions of the one party 
 which, under Washington and Adams, was in opposition 
 to the administration. 
 
 The event did not justify the fears which were enter- 
 tained before the election. Jefferson did not surrender 
 any of the power of the executive. He aggrandized it as 
 neither of his predecessors would have dared to do. He 
 did not surrender the central power in favor of states' 
 rights; and his foreign policy, governed by sympathy to 
 France and hatred to England, was only too sharp and 
 spirited. It seldom happens to an opposition party, com- 
 ing into power, to have the same question proposed to it 
 as to its predecessor, and to put its own policy to trial. 
 This happened to Jefferson. Jay's Treaty was hesitat- 
 ingly signed by Washington, and it gave the country ten 
 years of peace and neutrality. Pinckney and Monroe's 
 Treaty was rejected by Jefferson, and in six years the coun- 
 try was engaged in a fruitless war. 
 
 Madison's administration revived many of the social 
 usages which Jefferson had ostentatiously set aside, in 
 consistency with the general spirit of preference, on the 
 ground of republican simplicity, for what is common over 
 what is elegant and refined. The natural tendency of the 
 party in power to think that what is is right, and that 
 while they are comfortable other people ought to be so, 
 was apparent here. It went on so far during Madison's 
 first term, that the leaders thought it necessary to break 
 the monotony and to secure again, in some way, the readi- 
 ness and activity of political life which had prevailed under 
 Jefferson. They forced Madison into the war with England 
 — a war which brought disturbance into the finances and 
 spread distress amongst the people, which won some glory 
 at sea only by vindicating the old Federalist policy in re- 
 gard to a navy, but which was marked by disaster on land
 
 302 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 until the battle of New Orleans. At the return of peace 
 in Europe, England was left free to deal with the United 
 States, and a peace was hastily made in which the question 
 of impressment, the only question at issue, was left just 
 where it had been at the beginning. 
 
 There ensued in our internal politics an "era of good 
 feeling." The old parties no longer had any reason to 
 exist. Some of the Federal doctrines had been adopted. 
 The navy was secure in its popularity. The Federal finan- 
 cial system had been adopted by the party in power. They 
 had contracted a debt, laid direct taxes, and enlisted armies. 
 When confronted by problems of war and debt, they had 
 found no better way to deal with them than the ways which 
 had been elaborated by the older nations, and which they 
 had blamed the Federalists for adopting. The questions of 
 neutrality had disappeared with the return of peace in 
 Europe. The fears of Jacobinism on the one hand and 
 of monarchy on the other were recognized as ridiculous. If, 
 however, any one is disposed to exaggerate the evils of 
 party, he ought to study the history of the era of good 
 feeling. Political issues were gone, but personal issues took 
 their place. Personal factions sprang up around each of 
 the prominent men who might aspire to the Presidency, 
 and, in their struggles to advance their favorites and destroy 
 their rivals, they introduced into politics a shameful series 
 of calumnies and personal scandals. Every candidate had 
 to defend himself from aspersions, from attacks based upon 
 his oflScial or private life. The newspapers were loaded 
 down with controversies, letters, documents, and evidence 
 on these charges. The character of much of this matter 
 is such as to awaken disgust and ridicule. Mr. A. tells 
 Mr. B that, when in Washington, he was present at a din- 
 ner at the house of Mr. C at which Mr. D said that he came 
 on in the stage with Mr. E, who told him that Mr. F had 
 seen a letter from Mr. G, a supposed friend of one candi-
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 303 
 
 date, to Mr. H, the friend of another candidate, making 
 charges against the first candidate, which he (Mr. G) felt 
 bound in honor to make known. Mr. B publishes his in- 
 formation, and then follow long letters from all the other 
 gentlemen, with explanations, denials, corroborative testi- 
 mony, and so on, in endless reiteration and confusion. It 
 was another noteworthy feature of this period, that every 
 public man seemed to stand ready to publish a "vindica- 
 tion " at the slightest provocation, and that in these vindi- 
 cations a confusion between character and reputation 
 appears to be universal. 
 
 These faction struggles culminated in the campaign of 
 1824. The first mention of General Jackson for the Presi- 
 dency seems to be in a letter from Aaron Burr to his son- 
 in-law, Alston of South Carolina, in 1815. xA.n effort was 
 being made to form a party against the Virginia oligarchy. 
 Those who were engaged in it sought a candidate who 
 might be strong enough to secure success. Burr justified 
 his reputation as a politician by pointing out the man, but 
 it was yet too soon. The standard of what a Federal officer 
 ought to be was yet too high. The Albany Argus said of 
 the nomination, in 1824: "He [Jackson] is respected as a 
 gallant soldier, but he stands in the minds of the people of 
 this state at an immeasurable distance from the executive 
 chair." The name of Jackson was used, however, in con- 
 nection with the Presidency, by various local conventions, 
 during 1822 and 1823; and, although the nomination was 
 generally met with indifference or contempt in the North 
 and East, it soon became apparant that he was the most 
 dangerous rival in the field. The nominations had hitherto 
 been made by caucuses of the members of Congress of 
 either party. Until Jefferson's second nomination, these 
 had been held under a decent veil of secrecy. Since that 
 time they had exerted more and more complete and recog- 
 nized control. Crawford was marked for the succession,
 
 304 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 although he was under some discipHne for having allowed 
 his name to be used in the caucus of 1816 against Monroe. 
 The opposing candidates now discovered that caucus nomi- 
 nations were evil, and joined forces in a movement to put 
 an end to them. This movement gained popular approval 
 on general principles. When the caucus was called, natur- 
 ally only the friends of Crawford attended — sixty-six out 
 of two hundred and sixteen Republican members. The 
 nomination probably hurt him. It was proudly said that 
 King Caucus was now dethroned, but never was there a 
 greater mistake. He had only just come of age and es- 
 caped from tutelage. He was about to enter on his in- 
 heritance. 
 
 General Jackson obtained the greatest number of votes 
 in the electoral college; and when the election came into 
 the House, a claim was loudly put forward which had been 
 feebly heard in 1801, that the House ought simply to carry 
 out the "will of the people" by electing him. This claim 
 distinctly raised the issue which has been described, of 
 democracy against the Constitution. Does the Constitu- 
 tion give the election to the House in certain contingencies, 
 or does it simply charge it with the duty of changing a 
 plurality vote into an election.'* No one had a majority, 
 but the House was asked really to give to a major vote the 
 authority which, even on the democratic theory, belongs to 
 a majority. 
 
 The election could not but result in the discontent of 
 three candidates and their adherents, but the Jackson 
 party was by far the most discontented and most clamor- 
 ous. They proceeded to organize and labor for the next 
 campaign. They were shrewd, active men, who knew well 
 the arena and the science of the game. They offered to 
 Adams's administration a ruthless and relentless opposi- 
 tion. There were no great party issues; indeed, the coun- 
 try was going through a period of profound peace and
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 305 
 
 prosperity which offered little material for history and 
 little occasion for active political combat. The adminis- 
 tration was simple and businesslike and conducted the 
 affairs of the government with that smoothness and quiet 
 success which belong to the system in times of peace and 
 prosperity. Mr. Adams was urged to consolidate his party 
 by using the patronage of the executive, and the opinion 
 has been expressed that, if he had done so, he could have 
 won his reelection. He steadfastly refused to do this. 
 
 The truth was that a new spirit had come over the 
 country, and that the candidacy of Jackson was the form 
 in which it was seeking admission into the Federal adminis- 
 tration. Here we meet with one of the great difficulties in 
 the study of American political history. The forces which 
 we find in action on the Federal arena have their origin in 
 the political struggles and personal jealousies of local poli- 
 ticians, now in one state and now in another; and the 
 doctrines which are propounded at Washington, and come 
 before us in their maturity, have really grown up in the 
 states. Rotation in office began to be practiced in New 
 York and Pennsylvania at the beginning of the century. 
 The Federalists then lost power in those states, and their 
 political history consists of the struggles of factions in the 
 Republican party. Jefferson and Madison taught Democ- 
 racy in Virginia, but it never entered their heads that the 
 "low-down whites" were really to meddle in the formative 
 stage of politics. They expected that gentlemen planters 
 would meet and agree upon a distribution of offices, and 
 that then the masses should have the privilege of electing 
 the men they proposed. The Clintons and Livingstones in 
 New York were Democrats, but they likewise understood 
 that, in practice, they were to distribute offices around their 
 dinner- tables. 
 
 In the meantime men like Duane were writing essays for 
 farmers and mechanics, which were read from one end of
 
 306 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 the Union to the other, in which they were preaching hos- 
 tihty to banks and the "money power," hostihty to the 
 judiciary and to the introduction of the common law of 
 England, the election of judicial officers, rotation in office, 
 and all the dogmas which we generally ascribe to a much 
 later origin. These notions even found some practical ap- 
 plications, as in the political impeachment of judges in 
 Pennsylvania in 1804 — acts which fortunately did not 
 become precedents. The new constitutions which were 
 adopted from time to time during the first quarter of this 
 century show the slow working of this leaven, together with 
 the gradual adoption of improvements far less questionable. 
 After 1810 began also the series of great inventions which 
 have really opened this continent to mankind. The steam- 
 boat was priceless to a country which had grand rivers but 
 scarcely any roads. In 1817 De Witt Clinton persuaded 
 New York to commence the Erie Canal, and before it was 
 finished scores of others were projected or begun. Politi- 
 cally and financially the system of internal improvements 
 has proved disastrous, but those enterprises helped on the 
 events which we are now pursuing, for they assisted in 
 opening the resources of the continent to the reach of those 
 who had nothing. The great mass of the population found 
 themselves steadily gaining in property and comfort. 
 Their independence and self-reliance expanded. They de- 
 veloped new traits of national character, and intensified 
 some of the old ones. They had full confidence in their 
 own powers, feared no difficulties, made light of experience, 
 were ready to deal offhand with any problems, laughed at 
 their own mistakes, despised science and study, overesti- 
 mated the practical man, and overesteemed material 
 good. To such a class the doctrines of democracy seemed 
 axiomatic, and they ascribed to democracy the benefits 
 which accrued to them as the first-comers in a new country. 
 They generally believed that the political system created
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 307 
 
 their prosperity; and they never perceived that the very 
 bountifulness of the new country, the simpHcity of Hfe, and 
 the general looseness of the social organism, allowed their 
 blunders to pass without the evil results which would have 
 followed in an older and denser community. The same 
 causes have produced similar results ever since. 
 
 Political machinery also underwent great development 
 during the first quarter of the century. In New York there 
 was perhaps the greatest amount of talent and skill em- 
 ployed in this work, and the first engine used was the ap- 
 pointing power. The opposing parties were only personal 
 and family factions, but they rigorously used power, when 
 they got it, to absorb honors and places. That conception 
 of ofiSce arose, under which it is regarded as a favor con- 
 ferred on the holder, not a position in which work is to be 
 done for the public service. Hence the oflSce-holder sat 
 down to enjoy, instead of going to work to serve. If some 
 zealous man who took the latter view got into oflSce, he 
 soon found that he could count upon being blamed for all 
 that went amiss, but would get little recognition or re- 
 ward while things went well, and that the safest policy was to 
 do nothing. The public was the worst paymaster and the 
 most exacting and unjust employer in the country, and it 
 got the worst service. The consequence was that the early 
 political history of New York is little more than a story of 
 the combinations and quarrels of factions, annual elections, 
 and lists of changes in the office-holders. The Clintons 
 and Livingstones united against Burr, who was the center 
 of an eager and active and ambitious coterie of young men, 
 who already threatened to apply democratic doctrines 
 with a consistency for which the aristocratic families were 
 not prepared. Then they began to struggle with each 
 other until the Livingstones were broken up. Then the 
 "Martling men" and the Clintonians, the Madisonians 
 and the Clintonians, the "Bucktails" and the Clintonians,
 
 308 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 with various subdivisions, kept up the conflict until the 
 Constitution of 1821 altered the conditions of the fight, 
 and Regency and Anti-regency, or Regency and People's 
 Party, or Regency and Workingmen's Party became the 
 party headings. The net result of all this for national 
 politics was the production of a class of finished "politi- 
 cians," skilled in all the work of "organization" which in 
 any wide democracy must be the first consideration. Some 
 of these gentlemen entered the national arena in 1824. 
 The Regency was then supporting Crawford as the regular 
 successor. On its own terms it could have been won for 
 Adams, but this arrangement was not brought about. It 
 did not require the astuteness of these men to see on reflec- 
 tion, that Jackson was the coming man. He was in and of 
 the rising power. He represented a newer and more rigor- 
 ous application of the Jeffersonian dogmas. His manners, 
 tastes, and education, had nothing cold or aristocratic about 
 them. He had never been trained to aim at anything high, 
 elegant, and refined, and had not been spoiled by contact 
 with those who had developed the art of life. He had, 
 moreover, the great advantage of military glory. He had 
 bullied a judge, but he had won the battle of New Orleans. 
 He had hung a man against the verdict of a court-martial, 
 but the man was a British emissary. It was clear that a 
 tide was rising which would carry him into the Presiden- 
 tial chair, and it behooved other ambitious men to cling to 
 his skirts and be carried up with him. 
 
 It is in and around the tariff of 1828 that the conflict 
 centers in which these various forces were combined or 
 neutralized to accomplish the result. The student of 
 our economic or political history cannot pay too close 
 study to that crisis. For the next fifteen years the finan- 
 cial and political questions are inextricably interwoven. 
 
 The election of Jackson marks a new era in our political 
 history. A new order of men appeared in the Federal ad-
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 309 
 
 ministration. The whole force of local adherents of the 
 new administration, who had worked for it and therefore 
 had claims upon it, streamed to Washington to get their 
 reward. It seems that Jackson was forced by the rapacity 
 of this crowd into the "reformation" of the government. 
 The political customs which had grown up in New York 
 and Pennsylvania were transferred to Washington. Mr. 
 Marcy, in a speech in the Senate, January 24, 1832, on 
 Van Buren's nomination as minister to England, boldly 
 stated the doctrine that to the victors belong the spoils, 
 avowing it as a doctrine which did not seem to him to call 
 for any delicacy on the part of politicians. In fact, to men 
 who had grown up as Mr. Marcy had, habit in this respect 
 must have made that doctrine seem natural and necessary 
 to the political system. The New York politicians had 
 developed an entire code of political morals for all branches 
 and members of the political party machine. They had 
 studied the passions, prejudices, and whims of bodies of 
 men. They had built up an organization in which all the 
 parts were adjusted to support and help one another. The 
 subordinate officers looked up to and sustained the party 
 leaders while carrying the party machinery into every nook 
 and comer of the state, and the party leaders in turn cared 
 for and protected their subordinates. Organization and 
 discipline were insisted upon throughout the party as the 
 first political duty. There is scarcely a phenomenon 
 more interesting to the social philosopher than to observe, 
 under a political system remarkable for its looseness and 
 lack of organization, the social bond returning and vindi- 
 cating itself in the form of party tyranny, and to observe 
 under a political system where loyalty and allegiance to 
 the Commonwealth are only names, how loyalty and al- 
 legiance to party are intensified. It is one of the forms 
 under which the constant peril of the system presents it- 
 self, namely, that a part may organize to use the whole for
 
 310 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 narrow and selfish ends. The idea of the commonwealth 
 is lost and the public arena seems only a scrambling- 
 ground for selfish cliques. In the especial case of the New 
 York factions, this was all intensified by the fact that there 
 were no dignified issues, no real questions of public policy 
 at stake, but only factions of the ins and the outs, 
 struggling for the spoils of office. Naturally enough, the 
 contestants thought that to the victors belong the spoils 
 — otherwise the contest had no sense at all. In this system, 
 now, fidelity to a caucus was professed and enforced. Bolt- 
 ing, or running against a regular nomination, were high 
 crimes which were rarely condoned. On the other hand, 
 the leaders professed the doctrine that a man who sur- 
 rendered his claims for the good of the party, or who stood 
 by the party, must never be allowed to suffer for it. The 
 same doctrines had been accepted more or less at Washing- 
 ton, but in a feeble and timid way. From this time they grew 
 into firm recognition. Under their operation politics became 
 a trade. The public officer was, of necessity, a politician, and 
 the work by which he lived was not service in his official duty, 
 but political party labor. The tenure of office was so in- 
 secure and the pay so meager, that few men of suitable 
 ability could be found who did not think that they could 
 earn their living more easily, pleasantly, and honorably in 
 some other career. Public service gravitated downwards 
 to the hands of those who, under the circumstances, were 
 willing to take it. It presented some great prizes in the 
 form of collectorships, etc., the remuneration for which 
 was in glaring contrast with the salaries of some of the 
 highest and most responsible officers in the government; 
 but, for the most part, the public service fell into the hands 
 of men who were exposed to the temptation to make it pay. 
 After the general onslaught on the caucus, in 1824, it fell 
 into disuse as a means of nominating state officers, and 
 conventions took its place. At first sight this seemed to
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 311 
 
 be a more complete fulfillment of the democratic idea. The 
 people were to meet and act on their own motion. It was 
 soon found, however, that the only change was in the neces- 
 sity for higher organization. In the thirties there was indeed 
 a fulfillment of the theory which seems now to have passed 
 away; there was a spontaneity and readiness in assem- 
 bling and organizing common action which no longer exists; 
 there was a public interest and activity far beyond what is 
 now observable. One is astonished at the slight occasion 
 on which meetings were held, high excitement developed, 
 and energetic action inaugurated. The anti-Masonic move- 
 ment, from 1826 to 1832, is a good instance. The "Liberty 
 party" (Abolitionists), the "Native Americans," the "Anti- 
 renters," all bear witness to a facility of association which 
 certainly does not now exist. It is, however, an indis- 
 pensable prerequisite to the pure operation of the machinery 
 of caucus and convention. The effort to combine all good 
 men has been talked about from the beginning, but it has al- 
 ways failed on account of the lack of a bond between them 
 as strong as the bond of interest which unites the factions. 
 During the decade from 1830 to 1840 a whole new set of 
 machinery was created to fit the new arrangements. This 
 consisted in committees, caucuses, and conventions, rami- 
 fying down finally into the wards of great cities, and guided 
 and handled by astute and experienced men. Under their 
 control the initiative of "the people" died out. The public 
 saw men elected whom they had never chosen, and measures 
 adopted which they had never desired, and themselves, in 
 short, made the sport of a system which cajoled and flat- 
 tered while it cheated them. If a governor had been elected 
 by some political trickery a little more flagrant than usual, 
 he was very apt, in his inaugural, to draw a dark picture of 
 the effete monarchies of the Old World, and to congratu- 
 late the people on the blessings they enjoyed in being able 
 to choose their own rulers.
 
 312 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 This period was full of new energy and turbulent life. 
 Railroads were just beginning to carry on the extension of 
 production which steamboats and canals had begun. Im- 
 migration was rapidly increasing. The application of an- 
 thracite coal to the arts was working a revolution in them. 
 On every side reigned the greatest activity. Literature 
 and science, which before had had but a meager existence, 
 were coming into life. The public journals, which had 
 formerly been organs of persons and factions, or substi- 
 tutes for books, now began to be transformed into the 
 modem newspaper. The difficulties and problems pre- 
 sented by all this new life were indeed great, and the 
 tasks of government, as well to discriminate between what 
 belonged to it and what did not, as to do what did belong 
 to it, were great. On the general principles of the Demo- 
 cratic party of the day in regard to the province of govern- 
 ment, history has already passed the verdict that they 
 were sound and correct. On the main questions which 
 divided the administration and the opposition, it must pass 
 a verdict in favor of the administration. These issues 
 were not indeed clear and the parties did not, as is generally 
 supposed, take sides upon them definitely. Free trade, 
 so far as it was represented by the compromise tariff, was 
 the result of a coalition between Clay and Calhoun against 
 the administration, after Calhoun's quarrel with Jackson 
 had led the latter to revoke the understanding in accord- 
 ance with which Calhoun retired from the contest of 1824 
 and took the second place. The South was now in the 
 position in which the northeastern states had found them- 
 selves at the beginning of the century. The Southerners 
 considered that the tariff of 1828 had subjected their in- 
 terests to those of another section which held a major- 
 ity in the general government, and that the Union was 
 being used only as a means of so subjecting them. 
 They seized upon the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 313 
 
 of 1798, which Jefferson and Madison had drawn when in 
 opposition, as furnishing them a ground of resistance, and 
 threw into the tariff question no less a stake than civil war 
 and disunion. On this issue there were no parties. South 
 Carolina stood alone. 
 
 Banks had been political questions in the states and in 
 the general government from the outset. The history of 
 Pennsylvania and New York furnishes some great scandals 
 under this head. From time to time, the methods of banking 
 employed had called down the condemnation of the most 
 conservative and sensible men, and had aroused some 
 less well-balanced of judgment to indiscriminate hostility. 
 Jackson's attack on the Bank of the United States sprang 
 from a political motive, and he proposed instead of it a 
 bank on the "credit and revenues of the government" — 
 a proposition too vague to be understood, but which sug- 
 gested a grand paper-machine, at a time when the Bank 
 of the United States was at its best. This attack rallied 
 to itself at once all the local banks; the great victory 
 of 1832 was not a victory for hard money so much as it 
 was a victory of the state banks over the national bank. 
 The removal of the deposits was a reckless financial step, 
 and the crash of 1837 was its direct result. 
 
 The traditional position of the Democratic party on 
 hard money has another source. In 1835 a party sprang 
 up in New York City, as a faction of Tammany, which took 
 the name of the "Equal Rights party," but which soon 
 received the name of the "Locofoco party" from an in- 
 cident which occurred at Tammany Hall, and which is sig- 
 nificant of the sharpness of party tactics at the time. This 
 party was a radical movement inside of the administration 
 party. It claimed, and justly enough, that it had returned 
 to the Jeffersonian fountain and drawn deeper and purer 
 waters than the Jacksonian Democrats. It demanded 
 equaHty with a new energy, and in its denunciations of
 
 314 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 monopolies and banks went very close to the rights of 
 property. It demanded that all charters should be re- 
 pealable, urgently favored a metallic currency, resisted the 
 application of English precedents in law courts and legis- 
 latures, and desired an elective judiciary. It lasted as a 
 separate party only five or six years, and then was cajoled 
 out of existence by superior political tactics; but it was not 
 without reason that the name spread to the whole party, 
 for, laying aside certain extravagances, two or three of its 
 chief features soon came to be adopted by the Democrats. 
 On the great measures of public policy, therefore, the 
 position of the administration was not clear and thorough, 
 but the tendency was in the right direction, especially when 
 contrasted with the policy urged by the \Miigs. In re- 
 gard to internal improvements, the administration early 
 took up a position which the result fully justified, and in 
 its opposition to the distribution of the surplus revenue its 
 position was unassailable. In its practical administration 
 of the government there is less ground for satisfaction in 
 the retrospect. Besides the general lowering of tone which 
 has been mentioned, there were scandals and abuses which 
 it is not necessary to specify. General Jackson's first 
 cabinet fell to pieces suddenly, under the effect of a private 
 scandal and of the President's attempt to coerce the private 
 social tastes of his cabinet, or rather of their wives. He 
 held to the doctrine of popularity, and its natural effect 
 upon a man of his temper, without the sobriety of train- 
 ing and culture, was to stimulate him to lawless self-will. 
 He regarded himself as the chosen representative of the 
 whole people, charged, as such, with peculiar duties over 
 against Congress. The "will of the people" here received 
 a new extension. He found it in himself, and what he 
 found there he did not hesitate to set in opposition to the 
 will of the people as this found expression through their con- 
 stitutional organs. At the same time the practice of "in-
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 315 
 
 structions" marked an extension, on another side, of the 
 general tendency to bring public action closer under the 
 control of changing majorities. 
 
 Van Buren's election was a triumph of the caucus and 
 convention, which had now been reduced to scarcely less 
 exactitude of action than the old congressional caucus. Van 
 Buren, however, showed more principle than had been ex- 
 pected from his reputation. He had to bear all the blame for 
 the evil fruits resulting from the mistakes made during the 
 last eight years. Moving with the radical or Locofoco tend- 
 ency, he attempted to sever bank and state by the inde- 
 pendent treasury, and in so doing he lost the support of the 
 "Bank Democrats." This, together with the natural political 
 revulsion after a financial crisis, lost him his re-election. 
 
 The \Miig party was rich in able men, which makes it 
 the more astonishing that one cannot find, in their politi- 
 cal doctrines, a sound policy of government. The national 
 bank may still be regarded as an open question, and favor- 
 ing the bank was not favoring inconvertible paper money; 
 but their policy of high tariff for protection, of internal im- 
 provements, and of distribution of the surplus revenue, has 
 been calamitous so far as it has been tried. They also 
 present the same lack of political sagacity which we have 
 remarked in the Federalists, whose successors in general 
 they were. They oscillated between principle and ex- 
 pediency in such a way as to get the advantages of neither; 
 and they abandoned their best men for available men at 
 just such times as to throw away all their advantages. The 
 campaign of 1840 presents a pitiful story. There are 
 features in it which are almost tragic. An opportunity for 
 success offering, a man was chosen who had no marks of 
 eminence and no ability for the position. His selection 
 bears witness to an anxious search for a military hero. It 
 resulted in finding one whose glory had to be exhumed from 
 the doubtful tradition of a border Indian war. The cam-
 
 316 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 paign was marked by the introduction of mass meetings 
 and systematic stump-speaking, and by the erection of 
 "log-cabins," which generally served as barrooms for the 
 assembled crowd, so that many a man who went to a 
 drunkard's grave twenty or thirty years ago dated his ruin 
 from the "hard-cider campaign." After the election it 
 proved that hungry Whigs could imitate the Democrats of 
 1829 in their clamor for office, and, if anything, better the 
 instruction. The President's death was charged partly to 
 worry and fatigue. It left Mr. Tyler President, and the 
 question then arose what Mr. Tyler was — a question to 
 which the convention at Harrisburg, fatigued with the 
 choice between Clay and Harrison, had not given much 
 attention. It was foimd that he was such that the Whig 
 victory turned to ashes. No bank was possible, no dis- 
 tribution was possible, and only a tariff which was lame 
 and feeble from the WTiig point of view. The cabinet 
 resigned, leaving Mr. Webster alone at his post. In vain, 
 like a true statesman, he urged the Wliigs to rule with 
 Mr. Tyler, since they had got him and could not get rid 
 of him or get anybody else. Like a true statesman, again, 
 he remained at his post, in spite of misrepresentation, until 
 he could finish the English treaty, and it was another fea- 
 ture of the story that he lost position with his party by so 
 doing. The system did not allow Mr. Webster the highest 
 reward of a statesman, to plan and mold measures so as 
 to impress himself on the history of his country. It al- 
 lowed him only the work of reducing to a minimum the 
 harm which other people's measures were likely to do. In 
 the circumstances of the time war with England was im- 
 minent, and there was good reason for fear if the negotia- 
 tion were to fall into the hands of the men whom Mr. Tyler 
 was gathering about him. The Whigs were broken and 
 discouraged, and as their discipline had always been far 
 looser than that of their adversaries, they seemed threatened
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 317 
 
 with disintegration. The other party, however, was di- 
 vided by local issues and broken into factions. Its dis- 
 cipline had suffered injury, and its old leaders had lost 
 their fire while new ones had not arisen to take their places. 
 The western states were growing into a size and influence in 
 the confederation which made it impossible for two or three 
 of the old states to control national politics any longer. 
 
 In this state of things the southern leaders came for- 
 ward to give impetus and direction to the national ad- 
 ministration. They had, what the southern politicians 
 always had, leisure for conference. They had also char- 
 acter and social position, and a code of honor which en- 
 abled them to rely on one another without any especial 
 bond of interest other than the general one. They had 
 such a bond, common and complete, in their stake in 
 slavery. They could count, without doubt or danger, on 
 support throughout their entire section. They had a fixed 
 program also, which was an immense advantage for en- 
 tering on the control of a mass of men under no especial 
 impetus. They had besides their traditional alliance with the 
 Democrats of the North — an alliance which always was 
 unnatural and illogical, and which now turned to the per- 
 version of that party. They prepared their principles, 
 doctrines, and constitutional theories to fit their plans. 
 
 Difficulties with Mexico in regard to Texas had arisen 
 during Jackson's administration. These difficulties seemed 
 to be gratuitous and unjust on the part of the United States, 
 and they seemed to be nursed by the same power. The 
 diplomatic correspondence on this affair is not pleasant 
 reading to one who would see his country honorable and 
 upright, as unwilling to bully as to be bullied. Such was 
 not the position of the United States in this matter. 
 
 It was determined by the southern leaders to annex 
 Texas to the United States, and to this end they seized 
 upon the political machinery and proceeded to employ it.
 
 318 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 The election of Polk is another of the points to which the 
 student of American politics should give careful attention. 
 The intrigues which surrounded it have never been more 
 than partially laid bare, but, if fairly studied, they give 
 deep insight into the nature of the forces which operate 
 in the name of the will of the people. The slavery issue 
 was here introduced into American politics; and when that 
 question was once raised, it "could not be settled until it 
 was settled right." For ten years efforts were made to 
 keep the issue out of politics and to prevent parties from 
 dividing upon it. What was desired was that the old 
 parties should stand in name and organization, in order 
 that they might be used, while the actual purposes were 
 obtained by subordinate means. A party with an organi- 
 zation and discipline, and a history such as the Democratic 
 party had in 1844, is a valuable property. It is like a well- 
 trained and docile animal which will go through the ap- 
 pointed tasks at the given signal. It disturbs the discipline 
 to introduce new watchwords and to depart from the rou- 
 tine, in order to use reason instead of habit. Hence the effort 
 is to reduce the new and important issues to subordinate 
 places, to carry them incidentally, while the old common- 
 places hold together the organization. It is safe to say, 
 however, that, in the long run, the true issues are sure to 
 become the actual issues, and that delay and deceit only 
 intensify the conflict. 
 
 Upon Polk's election the independent treasury and com- 
 parative free trade were fixed in the policy of the govern- 
 ment for fifteen years, with such beneficial results as to 
 render them the proudest traditions of the party which 
 adopted them. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun had abandoned the opposition during Van 
 Buren's administration, and had begun to form and lead 
 the southern movement. His own mind moved too rapidly 
 for his adherents, and he could not bring them to support
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 319 
 
 him up to the positions which he considered it necessary 
 to take; but, even as it was, the steps of the southern 
 program came out with a rapidity, and were of a character, 
 to shock the imperfectly prepared northern allies. The 
 Democratic party of the North was not a proslavery party. 
 Whigs and Democrats at the North united in frowning 
 down Abolition excitements, and in maintaining the com- 
 promises of the Constitution. Old-line Whigs and hunker 
 Democrats agreed in the conservatism which resisted the 
 introduction of this question; but when, in 1844, Van 
 Buren was asked, as a test question to a candidate, whether 
 he would favor the annexation of Texas, the subject of 
 slavery in the territories was thrown into the political 
 arena from the southern side. It was not then a question 
 of abolishing slavery in the southern states, which could 
 not have obtained discussion except in irresponsible news- 
 papers and on irresponsible platforms. It was not a ques- 
 tion of spreading slavery into the old territories, for Texas 
 and the Indian Territory barred the way to all which the 
 Missouri Compromise left open. It was now a question of 
 taking or buying or conquering new territory for slavery, 
 and every one knew well that the chief reason for the re- 
 volt of Texas was that Mexico had abolished slavery. The 
 South indeed claimed to have suffered aggressions and en- 
 croachments in regard to slavery ever since the adoption 
 of the Constitution, and the attempt was now to be made 
 to secure recompense. In the form in which the proposi- 
 tion came up it was no slight shock to those who had always 
 been in alliance with the South. Party men like Van Buren 
 and Benton drew back. Southerners like Clay resisted. 
 The actual clash of arms, fraudulently brought about and 
 speciously misrepresented, put an end to discussion, and 
 aroused a war fever under the pernicious motto, "Our 
 country, right or wrong." If we are a free people and 
 govern ourselves, our country is ourselves, and we have
 
 320 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 no guaranty of right and injustice if we throw those stand- 
 ards behind us the moment we have done wrong enough 
 to find ourselves at war. The war ended, moreover, in an 
 acquisition of territory, which, of course, was popular; 
 and it proved that this territory was rich in precious metals, 
 which added to the popular estimate of it. The ante- 
 cedents of the war were forgotten. 
 
 Its political results, however, were far more important. 
 Calhoun now came forward to ward off a long conflict in 
 regard to slavery in these territories, by the new doctrine 
 that the Constitution extended to all the national domain, 
 and carried slavery with it — a doctrine which his fol- 
 lowers did not, for ten years afterwards, dare to take up 
 and rigorously apply, and which divided the Democratic 
 party of the North. The repeal of the Missouri Com- 
 promise and the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law were 
 only steps in the conflict which was as yet confused, but 
 which was clearing itself for a crisis. The South, like every 
 clamorous suitor, reckless of consequences, obtained wide 
 concessions from an adversary who sought peace and con- 
 tentment, and who saw clearly the dangers of a struggle 
 outside the limits of constitution and law. 
 
 The Abolitionists, from their first organization, pursued 
 an "irreconcilable" course. They refused to vote for any 
 slaveholder, or for any one who would vote for a slave- 
 holder, and refused all alliances which involved any con- 
 cession whatever. They more than once, by this course, 
 aided the party most hostile to them, and, in the view of 
 the ordinary politician, were guilty of great folly. They 
 showed, however, what is the power of a body which has 
 a principle and has no ambition, and is content to remain 
 in a minority. Probably if the South had been more mod- 
 erate, the Abolitionists would have attracted little more 
 notice than a fanatical religious sect; but, as events marched
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 321 
 
 on, they came to stand as the leaders in the greatest politi- 
 cal movement of our history. The refusal of the Whig 
 Convention of 1848 to adopt an antislavery resolution, and 
 the great acts above mentioned, together with the popular 
 reaction against a party which, if it had had its way, would 
 never have won the grand territories on the Pacific, de- 
 stroyed the Whig party. The party managers, enraged at 
 the immense foreign element which they saw added year 
 by year to their adversaries, forming a cohort, as it ap- 
 peared, especially amenable to party discipline and the 
 dictation of party managers, took up the Native Ameri- 
 can movement, which had had some existence ever since 
 the great tide of immigration set in. The effort was 
 wrecked on the obvious economic follies involved in it. 
 How could a new country set hindrances against the immi- 
 gration of labor? Politically, the effect was great in con- 
 firming the allegiance of naturalized voters, as a mass, to 
 the Democratic party as the party which w^ould protect 
 their political privileges against malicious attacks. The 
 formation of the Free-Soil party or its development into 
 the Republican party, brought the extension of slavery 
 into the territories, and the extension of its influence in 
 the administration of the government, distinctly forward 
 as the controlling political issue. 
 
 ■ On this issue the Democratic party, as a political organi- 
 zation, made up traditionally of the southern element 
 which has been described, of so much of the old northern 
 Democratic party as had not been repelled by the recent 
 .advances in Southern demands, and of the large body of 
 immigrants who regarded that party as the poor man's 
 and the immigrant's friend, fell out of the place it had occu- 
 pied as the representative of the great democratic tide 
 which flows through and forms our political history. This 
 movement has been in favor of equality. It has borne 
 down and obliterated all the traditions and prejudices
 
 322 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 which were inherited from the Old World. It has elimi- 
 nated from our history almost all recollection of the old 
 Federal party, with its ideas of social and political leader- 
 ship. It has crushed out the prestige of wealth and educa- 
 tion in politics. It has, by narrow tenures, and by cutting 
 away all terms of language and ceremonial observances 
 tending to mark official rank, restrained the respect and 
 authority due to office. The Northern hatred of slavery in the 
 later days was due more to the feeling that it was undemo- 
 cratic than to the feeling that it was immoral. It was al- 
 ways an anomaly that the Virginians should be democrats 
 par excellence, and should regard the yeomen farmers of 
 New England as aristocrats, when, on any correct defini- 
 tions or standards, the New England States were certainly 
 the most democratic commonwealths in the world. Slav- 
 ery was an obvious bar to any such classification ; and when 
 slavery became a political issue, the parties found their con- 
 sistent and logical position. The rise and victory of the 
 Republican party was only a continuation of the same 
 grand movement for equality. The old disputes between 
 Federalists and Jeffersonians had ended in such a complete 
 victory for the latter, that the rising generation would have 
 enumerated the Jeffersonian doctrines as axioms or defini- 
 tions of American institutions. Every schoolboy could 
 dogmatize about natural and inalienable rights, about the 
 conditions under which men are created, about the rights 
 of the majority, and about liberty. The same doctrines 
 are so held to-day by the mass of the people, and they are 
 held so implicitly that corollaries are deduced from them 
 with a more fearless logic than is employed upon political 
 questions anywhere else in the world. Even scholars and 
 philosophers who reflect upon them and doubt them are 
 slow to express their dissent, so jealous and quick is the 
 popular judgment of an attempt upon them. The Demo- 
 cratic party of the fifties was, therefore, false to its funda-
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 323 
 
 mental principle of equality when it followed its alliance 
 with the South and allowed itself to be carried against 
 equality for negroes. "WTiether there were not subtle prin- 
 ciples of human nature at work is a question too far-reach- 
 ing to be followed here. 
 
 With the rise of the Republican party there came new 
 elements into iVmerican politics. The question at stake 
 was moral in form. It enlisted unselfish and moral and 
 religious motives. It reached outside the proper domain 
 of politics — the expedient measures to be adopted for 
 ends recognized as desirable — and involved justice and 
 right in regard to the ends. It enlisted, therefore, heroic 
 elements: sacrifice for moral good, and devotion to right 
 in spite of expediency. At the same time, the issue was 
 clear, simple, single, and distinct. The organization upon 
 it was close and harmonious, not on account of party dis- 
 cipline, but on account of actual concord in motive and 
 purpose. The American system was here seen in many 
 respects at its best, and it worked more nearly up to its 
 theoretical results in the election of Lincoln, a thoroughly 
 representative man out of the heart of the majority, than 
 in any other election in our history. It is probably the rec- 
 ollection and the standard of this state of things which leads 
 men now on the stage to believe that corruption is spread- 
 ing and that the political system is degenerating. It is 
 one of the peculiarities of the government of the United 
 States, that it has little historical continuity. If it had 
 more, or if people had more knowledge of their own political 
 history, the above-mentioned opinion would find little 
 ground. The student of history who goes back searching 
 for the golden age does not find it. 
 
 All the heroic elements in the political issue of 1860 were, 
 of course, intensified by the war. There was the conscious- 
 ness of patriotic sacrifice in submitting to loss, bloodshed, 
 and taxation for the sake of an idea, for the further exten-
 
 324 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 sion of political blessings long enjoyed and highly esteemed. 
 After the war, national pride and consciousness of power 
 expanded naturally, but the questions which then arose 
 were of a different order. They were properly political 
 questions. They concerned taxation, finance, the reconstruc- 
 tion of the South, the status of the freedmen. The war 
 fervor, or the moral fervor of the political contest, could 
 not remain at the former high pitch. There followed a 
 natural reaction. Questions which touched the results of 
 the war brought a quick and eager response. It would 
 not be in human nature that that response should not be 
 tinged by hatred of rebels and by the worse passions 
 which war arouses. For war is at best but a barbarous 
 makeshift for deciding political questions. Let them 
 be never so high and pure in their moral aspects, war 
 drags them down into contact with the lowest and basest 
 passions — with cruelty, rapacity, and revenge. More- 
 over, it was natural that people should want rest and 
 quiet after the anxiety and excitement of war. Every 
 householder desired to enjoy in peace the political system 
 which he had defended and established by war; he did 
 not care to renew the excitement on the political arena. 
 The questions which arose were no longer such as could 
 be decided by reference to a general political dogma or 
 a moral principle or a text of Scripture. They were such 
 as to perplex and baffle the wisest constitutional lawyer 
 or the ablest financier or the wisest statesman. The indif- 
 ference and apathy wliich ensued were remarkable, and 
 they probably had still other causes. The last twenty-five 
 years have seen immense additions to the number and 
 variety of subjects which claim a share of the interest and 
 attention of intelligent men. Literature has taken an 
 entirely new extension and form. Newspapers bring daily 
 information of the political and social events of a half- 
 dozen civilized countries. New sciences appeal to the
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 325 
 
 interest of the entire community. Educational, ecclesi- 
 astical, sanitary, and economic undertakings, in which the 
 public welfare is involved, demand a part of the time and 
 effort of every citizen. At the same time trade and indus- 
 try have undergone such changes in form and method that 
 success in them demands far closer and more exclusive 
 application than formerly. The social organization is 
 becoming more complex, the division of labor is necessarily 
 more refined, and the value of expert ability is rapidly rising. 
 It follows from all this that, while public interests are 
 becoming broader and weightier, the ability of the average 
 voter to cope with them is declinmg. It is no wonder that 
 we have not the pohtical activity of the first half of this 
 century. Instead of grasping at the right to a share in 
 deciding, we shrink from the responsibility. We are more 
 inclined to do here what we should do in any other affair 
 — seek for competently trained hands into which to com- 
 mit the charge. The frequent elections, instead of afford- 
 ing a pleasurable interest to the ordinary voter, appear 
 to be tiresome interruptions. WTiat he wants is good gov- 
 ernment, honorable and eflficient administration, business- 
 like permanence, and exactitude. He recognizes in the 
 short terms and continual elections, not an opportunity 
 for him to control the government, but an opportunity for 
 professional hangers-on of parties to make a living, and a 
 continually recurring opportunity for schemers of various 
 grades to enter and carry out their plans when people are 
 too busy to watch them. The opinion seems to be gaining 
 ground that, for fear of power, we have eliminated both 
 eflaciency and responsibility; that if power is united with 
 responsibility, it will be timid and reluctant enough; and 
 that the voter needs only reserve the right of supervision 
 and interference from time to time. The later state con- 
 stitutions show a reaction from those of the first half of 
 the century in the length of terms of oflSce, and in the gen-
 
 326 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 eral tendency of the people to take guaranties against 
 themselves or their representatives. There seems also to 
 be a tendency to investigate the theory of appointments 
 or elections to office as a means of devising measures more 
 satisfactory to that end. No system will ever give a self- 
 governing people a government which is better than they 
 can appreciate; but the very belief, to which we have before 
 referred, that the government is degenerating, is the best 
 proof that the public standards as to the personnel and the 
 methods of the government are rising. It seems to be per- 
 ceived that the plan of popular selection is applicable to 
 executive and legislative officers, but that it is not applica- 
 ble to the judiciary or to administrative officers. In the 
 one case, broad questions of policy control the choice; in 
 the other case, personal qualifications and technical train- 
 ing, in regard to which the mass of voters cannot be 
 informed and cannot judge. In some quarters, an unfortu- 
 nate effort has been made to charge the duty of making 
 certain appointments upon the judges, because, as a class, 
 they retain the greatest popular confidence and because 
 the restraints of their position are the weightiest. This, how- 
 ever, seems to be using up our last reserves. There has been 
 abundant criticism of political movements and circum- 
 stances of late years. At first sight, it does not appear to 
 be very fruitful. People seem to pay as little heed to it as 
 devout Catholics do to the asserted corruptions of the 
 Church; but other and deeper signs point to a conserva- 
 tive movement, slow, as all popular movements must be, 
 but nevertheless real. 
 
 The political party system which had been developed 
 previous to the war underwent no change during the heroic 
 period. The doctrines of spoils and of rotation in office 
 were indeed condemned, but it appeared (as it must appear 
 to any new party coming into office) that the interests at 
 stake were too great to be risked by leaving any part of
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 327 
 
 the administration in the hands of disaffected men, and, 
 with some apologies, the changes were made. It is the 
 fate of the party in power to draw to itself all the unprin- 
 cipled men who seek to live by politics, and to lose its prin- 
 cipled adherents as, on one question after another, they 
 disapprove of its action. The moral and heroic doctrines 
 or sentiments of the Republican party were just the political 
 principles which offered the best chance to the unprincipled. 
 A man of Corrupt character could "hate slavery" when 
 that was the line of popularity and success, and could be 
 "loyal" when only loyal men could get offices. The politi- 
 cal machinery whose growth has been traced was adopted 
 by the new party as a practical necessity, and the men 
 "inside politics" still teach the old code wrought out by 
 Tammany Hall and the Albany Regency, not only as the 
 only rules of success for the ambitious politician, but also as 
 the only sound theories on which the Republic can be gov- 
 erned. In those quarters where hitherto the refinements 
 of the system have all been invented, a new and ominous 
 development has recently appeared in the shape of the 
 "Boss." He is the last and perfect flower of the long de- 
 velopment at which hundreds of skilful and crafty men 
 have labored, and into which the American people have put 
 by far the greatest part of their political energy. It has 
 been observed that the discipline or coercion which we 
 dread for national purposes and under constitutional forms 
 appears with the vigor of a military despotism in party; 
 and that the conception of loyalty, for which we can find 
 no proper object in our system, is fully developed in the 
 party. Under this last development, also, we find leader- 
 ship, aristocratic authority of the ablest, nay, even the 
 monarchical control of the party king. He is a dictator 
 out of oflBce. He has power, without the annoyance or 
 restraints of office. He is the product of a long process of 
 natural selection. He has arisen from the ranks, has been
 
 328 THE FOilGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 tried by various tests, has been trained in subordinate 
 positions, and has come up by steady promotions — all 
 the processes which, when we try to get them into the 
 public service, we are told are visionary and aristocratic. 
 With the now elaborate system of committees rising in a 
 hierarchy from the ward to the nation, with the elaborate 
 system of primaries, nominating committees, caucuses, and 
 conventions, not one citizen in a thousand could tell the 
 process by which a city clerk is elected. It becomes a 
 special trade to watch over and manage these things, and 
 the power which rules is not the "will of the people," but 
 the address with which "slates" are made up. Organiza- 
 tion is the secret by which the branches of the political 
 machinery are manipulated, when they are not, by various 
 devices, reduced, as in the larger cities, to mere forms. 
 In these cases the ring and the "Boss" are the natural out- 
 come. Any one who gets control of the machine can run 
 it to produce what he desires, with the exception, perhaps, 
 that if he should try to make it produce good, he might 
 find that this involved a reverse action of the entire 
 mechanism, under which it would break to pieces. These 
 developments are as yet local, for the plunder of a great 
 city is a prize not to be abandoned for any temptation 
 which the general government can offer. In some cases 
 they are hostile to the power of the Federal oiBBce-holders 
 where that is greatest and most dangerous, so that they 
 neutralize each other. At the same time some of the Fed- 
 eral legislation in the way of "protection" and subsidies 
 offers high inducements and abundant opportunities for 
 debauching the public service. There are afforded by the 
 system in great abundance means of rewarding adherents, 
 distributing largess, collecting campaign funds, and perform- 
 ing favors; and it tends to bind men together in cliques 
 up and down through the service, on the basis of mutual 
 assistance and support and protection. Suppose that the
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 329 
 
 ring and the "Boss" should ever be ingrafted upon this 
 system ! 
 
 It cannot be regarded as a healthful sign that such a 
 state of things creates only a laugh or a groan of disgust 
 or at best a critical essay. It seems sometimes as if the 
 prophecy of Calhoun had turned into history: "^'Vhen it 
 comes to be once understood that politics is a game, that 
 those who are engaged in it but act a part, and that they 
 make this or that profession, not from honest conviction 
 or an intent to fulfil them, but as a means of deluding the 
 people, and, through that delusion, acquiring power, — 
 when such professions are to be entirely forgotten, the 
 people will lose all confidence in public men. All will be 
 regarded as mere jugglers, the honest and patriotic as well 
 as the cunning and profligate, and the people will become 
 indifferent and passive to the grossest abuses of power, on 
 the ground that those whom they may elevate, under what- 
 ever pledges, instead of reforming, will but imitate the 
 example of those whom they have expelled." 
 
 In the final extension of the conception of the "will of 
 the people," and of the position of Congress in relation to 
 it. Congress has come to be timid and faltering in the face 
 of difficult tasks. It knows how to go when the people 
 have spoken, and not otherwise. The politician gets his 
 opinions from the elections, and the legislature wants to 
 be pushed, even in reference to matters which demand 
 promptitude and energy. Statesmanship has no positive 
 field and has greatly declined. The number of able men 
 who formerly gave their services to mold, correct, and 
 hinder legislation, and upon whom the responsibility for 
 leading on doubtful and difficult measures could be thrown, 
 has greatly decreased. The absence of "leaders" has often 
 been noticed. The fact seems to be that able men have 
 observed that such statesmen as have been described bore 
 the brunt of the hard work, and were held responsible for
 
 330 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 what they had done their best to hinder; that they cher- 
 ished a vain hope and ambition their whole lives long, and 
 saw inferior men without talent or industry perferred be- 
 fore them. It is a sad thing to observe the tone adopted 
 towards a mere member of Congress as such. When one 
 reflects that he is a member of the grand legislature of the 
 nation, it is no gratifying sign of the times that he should 
 be regarded without respect, that a slur upon his honor 
 should be met as presumptively just, and that boys should 
 turn flippant jests upon the office, as if it involved a dubi- 
 ous reputation. If the Republic possesses the power to 
 meet and conquer its own tasks, it cannot too soon take 
 measures to secure a representative body which shall re- 
 spect itself and be respected, without doubt or question, 
 both at home and abroad; for the times have changed and 
 the questions have changed, and we can no longer afford 
 to govern ourselves by means of the small men. The in- 
 terests are now too vast and complex, and the greatest 
 question now impending, the currency, contains too vast 
 possibilities of mischief to this entire generation to be left 
 the sport of incompetents. The democratic Republic 
 exults in the fact that it has, against the expectations of 
 its enemies, conducted a great civil war to a successful 
 result. A far heavier strain on democratic-republican self- 
 government lies in the questions now impending: can 
 we ward off subsidy-schemers.'^ can we correct administra- 
 tive abuses? can we purify the machinery of elections.^ can 
 we revise erroneous financial systems and construct sound 
 ones? The war appealed to the simplest and commonest 
 instincts of human nature, especially as human nature is 
 developed under democratic institutions. The questions 
 before us demand for their solution high intellectual power 
 and training, great moderation and self-control, and per- 
 haps no less disposition to endure sacrifices than did the 
 war itself.
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 331 
 
 Such a review as has here been given of the century of 
 American politics must raise the question as to whether the 
 course has been upward or downward, and whether the 
 experiment is a success or not. On such questions opinions 
 might fairly differ, and I prefer to express upon them only 
 an individual opinion. 
 
 The Federal political system, such as it is historically in 
 the intention and act of its framers, seems to me open to 
 no objection whatever, and to be the only one consistent 
 with the circumstances of the case. I have pursued here a 
 severe and exact criticism of its history, as the only course 
 consistent with the task before me, and the picture may 
 seem dark and ungratifying. I know of no political history 
 which, if treated in the same unsparing way, would appear 
 much better. I find nothing in our history to throw doubt 
 upon the feasibility and practical advantage of a constitu- 
 tional Republic. That system, however, assumes and im- 
 peratively requires high intelligence, great political sense, 
 self-sacrificing activity, moderation, and self-control on the 
 part of the citizens. It is emphatically a system for sober- 
 minded men. It demands that manliness and breadth of 
 view which consider all the factors in a question, submit 
 to no sophistry, never cling to a detail or an objection or 
 a side issue to the loss of the main point, and, above all, 
 which can measure a present advantage against a future 
 loss, and individual interest against the common good. 
 These requirements need only be mentioned to show that 
 they are so high that it is no wonder we should have fallen 
 short of them in our history. The task of history is to show 
 us wherein and why, so that we may do better in future. 
 
 If the above sketch of our political history has been 
 presented with any success, it shows the judgment which 
 has been impressed upon my mind by the study of it, 
 namely, that the tenor of the Constitution has undergone 
 a steady remolding in history in the direction of democ-
 
 332 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 racy. If a written constitution were hedged about by all 
 the interpretations conceivable, until it were as large as 
 the Talmud, it could not be protected from the historical 
 process which makes it a different thing to one generation 
 from what it is to another, according to the uses and needs 
 of each. I have mentioned the forces which seem to me 
 to produce democracy here. They are material and phys- 
 ical, and there is no fighting against them. It is, however, 
 in my judgment, a corruption of democracy to set up the 
 dogma that all men are equally competent to give judg- 
 ment on political questions; and it is a still worse perver- 
 sion of it to adopt the practical rule that they must be 
 called upon to exercise this ability on all questions as the 
 regular process for getting those questions solved. The 
 dogma is false, and the practical rule is absurd. Caucus 
 and wire-pulling and all the other abuses are only parasites 
 which grow upon these errors. 
 
 Reform does not seem to me to lie in restricting the 
 suffrage or in other arbitrary measures of a revolutionary 
 nature. They are impossible, if they were desirable. Experi- 
 ence is the only teacher whose authority is admitted in this 
 school, and I look to experience to teach us all that the 
 power of election must be used to select competent men to 
 deal with questions, and not to indirectly decide the ques- 
 tions themselves. I expect that this experience will be very 
 painful, and I expect it very soon. 
 
 On the question whether we are degenerating or not, I 
 have already suggested my opinion that we are not de- 
 generating. The lamentations on that subject have never 
 been silent. It seems to me that, taking the whole com- 
 munity through, the tone is rising and the standard is ad- 
 vancing, and that this is one great reason why the system 
 seems to be degenerating. Existing legislation nourishes 
 and produces some startling scandals, which have great 
 effect on people's minds. The same legislation has de-
 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876 333 
 
 moralized the people, and perverted their ideas of the 
 functions of government even in the details of town and 
 ward interests. The political machinery also has been re- 
 fined and perfected until it totally defeats the popular will, 
 and has produced a kind of despair in regard to any effort 
 to recover that of which the people have been robbed; but 
 I think that it would be a great mistake to suppose that 
 there are not, behind all this, quite as high political stand- 
 ards and as sound a public will as ever before. An obvious 
 distinction must be made here between the administration 
 of the government, or the methods of party politics, and 
 the general political morale of the people. Great scandals 
 are quickly forgotten, and there are only too many of them 
 throughout our history. Party methods have certainly be- 
 come worse and worse. The public service has certainly 
 deteriorated; but I should judge that the political will of 
 the nation never was purer than it is to-day. That will 
 needs instruction and guidance. It is instructed only 
 slowly and by great effort, especially through literary 
 efiforts, because it has learned distrust. It lacks organiza- 
 tion, and its efforts are spasmodic and clumsy. The proofs 
 of its existence are not very definite or specific, and any one 
 in expressing a judgment must be influenced by the circle 
 with which he is most familiar; but there are some public 
 signs of it, which are the best encouragement we have 
 to-day.
 
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF 
 ANDREW JACKSON
 
 THE ADMINISTRATION OFi 
 ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 [1880] 
 
 YOU must have observed that the social sciences, 
 including politics and poHtical economy, are the 
 favorite arena of those who would like to engage in learned 
 discussion without overmuch trouble in the way of prepa- 
 ration. I doubt not that you have also been struck by the 
 fact that these sciences are now the refuge of the conceited 
 dogmatism which has been expelled from the physical sci- 
 ences. It follows that the discussions in social science are 
 the widest, the most vague, the most imperative in form of 
 statement, the most satisfactory to the writers, the least 
 convincing to everybody else; and that the social sciences 
 make very little progress. The harm does not all come 
 from the amateurs and volunteers who meddle in these 
 subjects. It comes also from false methods and want of 
 training on the part of those of higher pretensions. If, 
 however, the methods which have hitherto been pursued 
 are correct, if any one is able without previous care or study 
 to strike out the solution of a difficult social problem, for 
 which solution, however, he can give no guarantee to any- 
 body else, then the social sciences are given over to endless 
 and contemptible wrangling, and are unworthy of the time 
 and attention of sober men. Such, however, is not the case. 
 The Science of Life, which teaches us how to live together 
 in human society, and has more to do with our happiness 
 here than any other science, is not a mere structure of 
 a 'priori whims. It is not a mass of guesses which the 
 guesser tries to render plausible. It is not a tangle of dog- 
 
 1 Address before the Kent Club of the Yale Law School. 
 337
 
 338 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 mas which are incapable of verification. It is not a bundle 
 of sentiments and enthusiasms and soft-hearted wishes 
 bound together either by religious or by irreligious prejudices. 
 It is not a heap of statistical matter without logic. Whether 
 you regard the social science under the form of law, poli- 
 tics, political economy, or social science in its narrower 
 application, these negatives all apply. It is only under 
 some application of scientific methods and scientific tests 
 that, in this department as in others, any results worth 
 our notice can be won. 
 
 Now the materials, the facts, and the phenomena of 
 social science are presented to us under two forms: first, 
 as a successive series, viz., in history, in which we see social 
 forces at work and the social evolution in progress; 
 secondly, in statistics, in which the contemporaneous phe- 
 nomena are presented in groups.^ Under this view social 
 science has promise, at least, of issuing from its present 
 condition and taking on a steady progress, while it also 
 becomes evident what history ought to be and how we 
 ought to use it. 
 
 I have thought it necessary to preface the present lec- 
 ture with this bare suggestion of the standpoint from which 
 I take up my subject. For the study of politics, some 
 questions in political economy, and some social problems, 
 the history of the United States has greater value than that 
 of any other country. All the greater is the pity that its 
 history is as yet unwritten, or all the greater is the humilia- 
 tion that the only attempts in that direction which are 
 worth mentioning have been made by foreign scholars, 
 and are not even in the English language. In American 
 history also, for the study of politics and finance, no period 
 equals in interest the administration of Andrew Jackson. 
 I propose, therefore, in the limited time I can now com- 
 
 ^ Statistics means here, what it ought to mean, much more than tables ot 
 figures.
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON 339 
 
 mand, to point out to you the reasons why this period of 
 our history is worthy of the most attentive study. I may 
 say here that Professor Von Hoist of Freiburg has per- 
 ceived the importance and interest of this period and pub- 
 lished a lecture in regard to it which I regard as thoroughly 
 sound and correct in its standpoint and criticism. His 
 views coincide with those which I have been accustomed to 
 present in my lectures on the History of American Politics, 
 and I have profited, for my present purpose, by some sug- 
 gestions of his. 
 
 Mr. Monroe was the last of the public men of the first 
 generation of the republic who succeeded to the presiden- 
 tial chair by virtue of a certain standing before the public. 
 During his administration the old parties died out or were 
 merged in a new party, a compromise between the two. 
 There followed during his second administration what was 
 called the "era of good feeling," during which there were 
 no party divisions and no strong party feeling. This period 
 was very instructive, however, for any one who is disposed 
 to see the evils of party in an exaggerated light, for there 
 sprang up no less than five aspirants to the succession^ 
 whose interests were pushed by personal arguments solely. 
 These arguments took the form also, not of enumerating 
 the services of the candidate favored, but of spreading 
 scandals about his rivals. The newspapers were loaded 
 down with weary "correspondence" about "charges and 
 countercharges" against each of the candidates. 
 
 Mr. Crawford of Georgia obtained the nomination of the 
 democratic congressional caucus in 1824, but loud com- 
 plaints were raised against this method of nominating can- 
 didates. It was demanded that the people should be free 
 from the dominion of King Caucus, and should nominate 
 and elect freely. No machinery for accomplishing this 
 was yet at hand, and none was proposed, but the outcry 
 which was partly justified by the evils of the congressional
 
 340 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 caucus system and partly consisted of phrases which were 
 sure of great popular effect, greatly injured Mr. Crawford. 
 He had been Secretary of the Treasury during the financial 
 troubles of the years following the war, and had managed 
 that thankless office on the whole very well, but he had not 
 performed the impossible. He had not brought the finan- 
 ces of the country into a sound condition while allowing 
 the banks to do as they chose. He had not kept up the 
 revenue while trade was prostrated, and he had not crushed 
 the United States Bank while preserving the business 
 interest of the country. He had many enemies amongst 
 those who, on the one side and on the other, thought that 
 he ought to have done each of these things. Hostility to 
 the Bank was not as great in 1824 as in 1820, but there 
 was a large party which was determined in this hostility. 
 Mr. Crawford was also said to be broken in health, and 
 this came to be believed so firmly that it has generally 
 passed into history as one of the chief causes of his defeat. 
 It is so accepted by Von Hoist. Mr. Crawford was disabled 
 from September, 1823, to September, 1824, but he lived 
 until 1834, spending the last years of his life as a circuit 
 judge, and he was well enough in 1830 to ruin John C. Cal- 
 houn's chances of succeeding General Jackson. 
 
 The next candidate was Mr. Adams, Secretary of State 
 under Mr. Monroe. He enjoyed the support of New Eng- 
 land. There was no question of Mr. Adams's abilities, or 
 of his great public services, or of his character; but he was 
 not popular. I do not, of course, think this at all deroga- 
 tory to him, but you observe that it is hard for a man to 
 despise popularity and at the same time have enough of it 
 to be elected to office in a democracy. Mr. Adams really 
 liked popularity and wanted it, and there was a continual 
 strife within him between the aristocrat who sought inde- 
 pendent and isolated activity to please himself and the 
 politician who must please others. It is the explanation of
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON 341 
 
 much in his conduct which seemed erratic and inconsistent 
 to his contemporaries. 
 
 Mr. Clay was the candidate of the West, and Mr. Cal- 
 houn of a portion of the South. 
 
 These men were all m prominent positions, three of 
 them in the Cabinet, and one speaker of the House. On 
 the 20th of August, 1822, the House of Representatives of 
 Tennessee presented another candidate in the person of 
 General Jackson. This gentleman had been educated for 
 a lawyer and had been on the bench of Tennessee. He was 
 in Congress during the administration of Washington and 
 voted against a clause m the address of Congress to Wash- 
 ington on his retirement, in which a hope was expressed 
 that Washington's example might be imitated by his suc- 
 cessors.^ As a member of Congress he had been noticeable 
 only for violence of speech and action. At New Orleans 
 he had won a creditable military success at the close of 
 a war which had brought little glory on land. While there 
 he came into collision with the civil court on refusing to 
 obey a writ of habeas corpus. Some incidents of this event 
 are especially characteristic of the man. He came into 
 court March 31, 1815, surrounded by the populace, and 
 refused to answer interrogatories. Then, pointing to the 
 crowd, he said to the judge, alluding to the previous judi- 
 cial inquiry: "I was then with these brave fellows in 
 arms; you were not, sir!" He interrupted the judge while 
 he w^as reading his decision, saying: "Sir, state facts and 
 confine yourself to them, since my defence is and has been 
 precluded; let not censure constitute a part of this sought- 
 for punishment." The judge replied: "It is with delicacy, 
 general, that I speak of your name or character. I con- 
 sider you the savior of the country, but for your contempt 
 of court authority, or to that effect, you will pay a fine of 
 $1000." The general drew his check for the sum and re- 
 
 1 Niles, XLVI, 407.
 
 342 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 tired. The crowd dragged his carriage to the French cofiFee- 
 house, with acclamations and waving jflags. He there 
 made a speech.^ The fine, amounting with interest to $2,700, 
 was refunded by Congress in 1844. 
 
 In 1818 he had violated the territory of Florida, then 
 a province of Spain, with whom we were at peace. He 
 claimed, in 1830, that he had done this with the conniv- 
 ance of Mr. Monroe. During the same campaign against 
 the Seminoles he captured two men who were aiding the 
 enemy and were said to be British subjects. A court- 
 martial condemned one of them to death and the other 
 to less punishment. He ordered both executed, thus over- 
 ruling the verdict on the side of severity. 
 
 The people might have been divided into two great classes 
 according to the opinion of Jackson which was entertained 
 in 1822. The more sober and intelligent considered him a 
 violent, self-willed, ignorant, and untrained man. They 
 thought that he had perhaps the soldier's virtues and that 
 he had done the country good service as a soldier but they 
 doubted if he had the first qualification of a ruler, viz., to 
 know how to obey. They thought him quarrelsome, vain, 
 untutored in the forms of civilized life which teach men 
 to ignore much, to endure more, and to reserve the stake 
 of personal feeling and personal struggle for the last and 
 highest emergencies. They perceived, on the contrary, 
 that he never distinguished great things from small, es- 
 pecially where his own pride was involved, and that he 
 had no reserve at all about throwing his personality into 
 unseemly controversies, which he never shunned but 
 seemed to like. I have already said that these personal 
 criminations and recriminations were common at the time; 
 Mr. Webster is the only prominent public man of the time 
 who succeeded in avoiding newspaper controversies, and he 
 did not altogether escape altercations in the Senate. Public 
 
 1 Niles, VIII, 246.
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON 343 
 
 men were continually scenting attacks on their character and 
 setting vigorously to work to vindicate the same, not perceiv- 
 ing that such vindications always derogate from the man 
 who makes them. This much ought to be said in excuse 
 for General Jackson if this fault was especially prominent 
 in him. You may imagine how incredible it seemed to 
 persons who formed this estimate of Jackson that any one 
 could soberly propose him for the chair which had hitherto 
 been filled by Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and 
 Monroe. The Federalists of New England had had little 
 affection or admiration for the last three Presidents, but 
 they had never been ashamed of them as public men. 
 
 The other of the two great classes to which I have re- 
 ferred held a very opposite opinion of General Jackson. 
 To them he w^as a military hero and a popular idol. They 
 liked him better for taking Pensacola in defiance of inter- 
 national law. They liked him for bearding the judge who 
 wanted to enforce the habeas corpus. They thought it 
 spirited in him to hang two Englishmen to solve a doubt. 
 I do not mean that they reasoned much about it, for they 
 did not; at bottom they were actuated by an instinct of 
 fellowship. They recognized a man with the same range 
 of ideas and feelings, the same contempt for history, law. 
 Old- World forms, and traditions by which they themselves 
 were actuated. His bluntness, his rollicking, untamed 
 manner, his hit-or-miss arguments, his respect for the pop- 
 ular whim or emotion as the only control he would admit, 
 his plump ignorance which exceeded omniscience in its 
 boldness, all flattered the populace and won its favor. 
 Here was a hero from amongst themselves, using their 
 methods, despising the restrictions of the cultivated and the 
 learned, a virtuoso in negligence and carelessness of man- 
 ner, aiming at rudeness and bluntness as things worth 
 cultivating, and elevating want of culture into a qualifica- 
 tion for greatness and a title to honor.
 
 344 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 In order to understand the full importance of this you 
 must look at some facts in social and political development 
 which had immediately preceded. At the adoption of the 
 Constitution property qualifications limiting the suffrage 
 were general, but they had been removed steadily and 
 gradually until by 1820 the suffrage was universal through- 
 out almost all the states. The Jeffersonian ideas of govern- 
 ment and policy had also spread steadily and rapidly and 
 had received more and more extended interpretation. 
 They were fallacious and only half true at best, that is to 
 say, they were of the most mischievous order of proposi- 
 tions possible in politics; but in popular use and interpreta- 
 tion they had become worn into a kind of political cant, 
 in which the moiety of truth had disappeared and the 
 residuum of falsehood had become the highest political 
 truth and the badge of political orthodoxy. To use the 
 ballot was held synonymous with freedom; the rule of the 
 numerical majority was made equivalent to the republic; 
 the "will of the people" was held paramount to the Con- 
 stitution—which is nothing more than saying that to do 
 as you choose is superior to doing as you have agreed. And 
 it had become a political dogma that, if there are only 
 enough of you together, when you do as you have a mind 
 to, you are sure to do right. 
 
 I use the past sense here, but you will at once perceive 
 that I am describing what is still strong amongst us. 
 
 Of course there was, outside of these two classes, a large 
 body of persons, scattered, as to their political opinions, 
 all the way between the two extremes; but the second 
 class was large and was growing very rapidly from social 
 and industrial causes which are yet to be specified. 
 
 During the European wars the people of the New Eng- 
 land states made great gains from commerce. In the 
 middle states manufactures began under the protection of 
 embargo and war. In the South there was less wealth.
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON 345 
 
 but the possession of land and slaves created an aristocracy 
 of large political influence over poorer neighbors. In New 
 York something of the same kind existed, two or three 
 of the great families struggling with one another for the 
 political control of the state. These were all democrats 
 of a peculiar type well worthy of study. They professed 
 popular principles while they scorned the populace and led 
 cohorts of uneducated men whom they handled and dis- 
 posed of as they chose. After the war the commerce and 
 industry of the country suffered a heavy reverse from which 
 it did not recover until 1820 or 1821; but then came the 
 influence of steam navigation, as the first of the great in- 
 ventions, together with the factory system and some great 
 improvements in machinery, and the position of the arti- 
 san, in spite of the protective policy to which the result 
 was generally attributed as a cause, underwent a steady 
 and very great improvement. In 1825 the Erie Canal was 
 opened and, together with the application of steam to 
 lake and river navigation, led to an unparalleled develop- 
 ment west of the Alleghanies. In the southwestern states 
 the immense profits of cotton culture led to rapid settle- 
 ment and development. As early as 1816 the tide of im- 
 migration had become marked. It was interrupted during 
 the hard times but went on again increasing steadily. Thus 
 you see that the material prosperity of this country was 
 just taking its great start at the beginning of the twenties. 
 The natural consequence was that there was a great body 
 of persons here who had been used to straitened circum- 
 stances, but who now found themselves prosperous, every 
 year improving their condition. Such a state of things is 
 of course eminently desirable. Economists and statesmen 
 are continually trying to bring it about. Observe, however, 
 some of the inevitable social, political, and moral effects. 
 This class expanded under the sun of prosperity both its 
 virtues and its vices. It became self-reliant and independ-
 
 346 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 ent. It feared no mishap. It took reckless risks. It 
 laughed at prudence. It had overcome so many difficul- 
 ties that it took no forethought for any yet to come. It 
 loved dash and bravado and high spirit. It admired energy 
 and enterprise as amongst the highest human virtues. It 
 scorned especially theory, or philosophy, and professed 
 exaggerated faith in the practical man. It never esti- 
 mated science very highly until science began to lead to 
 patent mixtures for various purposes and to mining engi- 
 neering. Then it took to business colleges and technical 
 schools for the dissemination of the same. Especially did 
 this class despise any historical or scientific doctrines which 
 came from the other side of the water. It was a general 
 premise that the new country needed new systems through- 
 out the whole social and political fabric, and that what was 
 enforced by European experience was surely inapplicable 
 here. As against England this assumption was considered 
 especially strong. In the writings of some of the men who 
 greatly influenced public opinion from 1820 to 1830 this 
 amounted almost to fanaticism. "Home industry," and 
 "Internal Improvements," owed much of their success over 
 the mind of the nation to the industrious use of this preju- 
 dice. These subjects were not political issues until 1830. 
 
 Of course I have nothing to do with the question which 
 to many would seem to be here the only important one, 
 viz., whether these traits are not noble and praiseworthy 
 and do not constitute the Americans the first nation in 
 the world. Those are idle questions. Political institutions 
 are not framed to produce noble and praiseworthy men. 
 If any are planned to that end they always fail. But politi- 
 cal institutions follow the social and industrial conditions, 
 if the people adapt themselves to the facts of the case. So 
 it has been here; and, although I have used the past tense 
 in this description of the effects of rapid prosperity, you 
 observe that the features are those which still mark our
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON 347 
 
 American society as a whole. I have simply to take cog- 
 nizance of these effects as facts inseparable from the con- 
 ditions of that society. 
 
 Here, then, I come to the assertion to which I desire 
 especially to call your attention under my present subject: 
 that is, that General Jackson's personal popularity and his 
 political inJBuence were not created by him at all, but were 
 simply the results of the fact that he exactly fitted in as 
 a leader into the rising class of persons of small property, 
 low education, and crude notions of politics and finance. Of 
 this class he was the leader as long as he lived. You will 
 recognize here an illustration of the wider historical gener- 
 alization, that the prominent man and his surroundings 
 always act and react on one another and the old question 
 as to which "causes" the other is idle. 
 
 Such being the circumstances in 1822, when Jackson's 
 name was first mentioned in connection with the Presi- 
 dency, the class of persons whom I first described as con- 
 sidering this a bad joke soon discovered their mistake. 
 In the following year the people of Blount County, Tenne- 
 see held a meeting at which they passed strong resolutions 
 in his support,^ and it was soon evident to the aspirants at 
 "Washington that he was the most dangerous competitor 
 of all. Calhoun hastened to retire into the second place, 
 with the understanding that he was to succeed in four 
 years, Jackson having pronounced for one term only. 
 Pending the contest, in 1823, Jackson was elected United 
 States Senator from Tennessee. The result of the election 
 of 1824 was that Jackson got 99 votes in the electoral col- 
 lege, Adams 84, Crawford 41, and Clay 37. Clay was 
 thus excluded from the contest in the House. His friends 
 voted for Adams, who got 13 states, Jackson 7, and Craw- 
 ford 4. The states which voted for Jackson were New 
 Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana, 
 
 1 Niles, XXIV, 247.
 
 348 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 Alabama, and Mississippi. This election was in many- 
 respects important for the history of politics in the country, 
 I leave aside all but the relation to Jackson and the politi- 
 cal movement which he represented. His friends were 
 by no means content, and they were not quiet in their 
 discontent. They accused Clay of carrying his votes over 
 to Adams by a corrupt bargain, according to which he 
 was to be Secretary of State in the new Cabinet. There 
 was less ground for this accusation than for almost any 
 other personal calumny to be found in our political his- 
 tory, but it clung to Mr. Clay as long as he lived. 
 
 The most significant feature, however, for the political 
 movement of the time was this: General Jackson's sup- 
 porters claimed that, as he had a plurality of the votes 
 of the Electoral College, it was shown to be the will of the 
 people that he should be President, and that the House of 
 Representatives ought simply to have carried out the popu- 
 lar will, thus expressed, to fulfillment. You observe the full 
 significance of the doctrine thus afiSrmed. The Constitu- 
 tion provides that the House shall elect a President when 
 the Electoral College fails to give any candidate a majority. 
 It confers an independent choice between the three highest 
 candidates upon the House. Already the independent 
 choice which the Constitution intended to give to the Elec- 
 toral College had been abrogated by Congressional caucus 
 nominations and pledged elections. It w^as now claimed 
 that the House should simply elevate the plurality of the 
 highest candidate in the College to a majority in the House. 
 Thus the antagonism between the permanent specification 
 of the Constitution and the momentary will of the people 
 was sharply defined. It was the antagonism between the 
 general law and the momentary impulse, between sober 
 dispassionate judgment as to what is generally wise and a 
 special inconvenience or disappointment. I strive to put 
 it into everyday language because it is a phenomenon of
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON 349 
 
 human life which is the same whether it is seen in the char- 
 acter of an individual striving to control his wayward im- 
 pulses by general principles, or in the political history of a 
 great democratic republic seeking to obtain dignity, sta- 
 bility, and imperial majesty by binding the swaying wishes 
 of the hour under broad and sacred constitutional provi- 
 sions. It was the opening of that issue which is vital to this 
 republican issue which cleaves down through our entire 
 political and social fabric, the issue to which parties must 
 ever return and about which they will always form so long 
 as this experiment lasts — the issue, namely, of constitu- 
 tionalism versus democracy, of law versus self-will; the 
 question whether we are a constitutional republic whose 
 ultimate bond is the loyalty of the individual citizen to the 
 Constitution and the laws or a democracy in which at any 
 time the laws and the Constitution may give way to what 
 shall seem, although not constitutionally expressed, to be 
 the will of the people. General Jackson was from the 
 time of this election the exponent of the latter theory. 
 
 I do not mean to say that the issue was clearly defined 
 at the time, or that the parties ranged themselves upon 
 it with logical consistency. Any student of history knows 
 that political parties never do that. Still less do I mean to 
 say that parties since that time have kept strictly to the 
 position on one side or the other of this issue which their 
 traditions would require. Political history and political 
 tradition have little continuity with us, and the fact has 
 been that the Jacksonian doctrine has permeated our whole 
 community far too deeply. We have had some who merely 
 grubbed in a mole-eyed way in the letter of the Constitu- 
 tion, as indeed Jackson and his fellows did, and we have 
 had others who were and are restive under any invocation 
 of the Constitution. True constitutionalism, however, the 
 grand conception of law, of liberty under law, of the free 
 obedience of intelligent citizens, is what now needs explain-
 
 350 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 ing and enforcing as the key to any true solution of the 
 great problems which, as we are told on every side, beset 
 the republic. 
 
 I cannot now follow the history in detail to show the 
 movements of parties during the next four years. Mr. 
 Adams's administration was unfortunate in its attempts to 
 settle the old misunderstanding with England about the 
 West India trade. It got that question into one of those 
 awkward corners, out of which neither party can first seek 
 exit, which the diplomatist ought to avoid as the worst 
 form of diplomatic failure. In its home policy it favored 
 internal improvements and protection to the most exag- 
 gerated degree. But the administration was dignified, 
 simple, and businesslike. It was a model in these respects 
 of what an administration under our system ought to be. 
 It presented no heroics whatever, neither achievements 
 nor scandals, and approached, therefore, that millenial 
 form of society in which time passes in peace and prosper- 
 ity without anything to show that there is either govern- 
 ment or history. 
 
 Nevertheless this administration did not receive justice 
 from its contemporaries. Mr. Adams seemed always to 
 feel a certain timidity, which he expressed in his letter to 
 the House of Representatives on his election, because he 
 had gone into office without a popular majority. In Con- 
 gress he had to deal with an opposition which was factious, 
 disappointed, and malignant, determined to make the worst 
 of everything he did and to make capital at every step for 
 General Jackson. It was a campaign four years long, and 
 it was conducted by a new class of politicians who made 
 light of principle and gloried in finesse. The end of the old 
 system of family leadership in New York and the certainty 
 that there would never be another congressional caucus, 
 led to new forms of machinery for manipulating the popu- 
 lar power. These were set up under loud denunciations of
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON 351 
 
 dynasties, aristocracies, families, dictation, and so on. The 
 most remarkable and most powerful of these new organs 
 was the Albany Regency, which shaped our political his- 
 tory for the next ten or fifteen years. The intrigues of 
 the period culminated in the tariff act of 1828, in which 
 Pennsylvania and the South were brought into a strange 
 coalition to support Jackson and a high tariff, leaving 
 New England out of the golden shower of tariff-created 
 wealth, as she held aloof from the support of the popular 
 idol. I regret that I cannot now stop to analyze and ex- 
 pose this prime specimen of legislation in which tariff and 
 politics were scientifically intermingled. 
 
 As for political principles, there were none at stake and 
 none argued in the contest. The struggle was ruthlessly 
 personal. A month before the election an editorial in 
 Niles's Register used the following language: "We had 
 much to do with the two great struggles of parties from 
 1797 to 1804 and 1808 to 1815, and we are glad that we are 
 not so engaged in this, more severe and ruthless than either 
 of the others, and, we must say, derogatory to our country, 
 and detrimental to its free institutions and the rights of 
 suffrage, with a more general grossness of assault upon 
 distinguished individuals than we ever before witnessed." 
 
 Jackson was elected by 178 votes to 83 for Adams. The 
 criticisms which had been made upon Adams's administra- 
 tion were now all used as a basis for representing the entire 
 government as needing reform. This reform took the form 
 of removing all persons in office and replacing them by 
 friends of the new President. Up to this time the tenure 
 of office in the public service had been during efficiency or 
 good behavior, although instances of removals for political 
 reasons had not been wanting and there had been many 
 changes when Jefferson went into office. I will only say 
 in passing that the complaints of inefficiency in office and 
 of corruption during Jackson's administration steadily and
 
 352 THE FORGOTTEN IVIAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 justly increased. According to a report by Secretary 
 Ewing, in 1841, there were lost, to the government between 
 1829 and 1841, over two millions and a haK of dollars by 
 defalcations of public oflficials. The Cabinet selected by 
 Jackson at the outset consisted of obscure men remarkable 
 only for their loyalty to the person of the President. It may 
 be said in general of the new appointments to inferior offices 
 that they constituted a deterioration of the public service. 
 Two doctrines were now affirmed as democratic principles 
 which, if they should be accepted as such, would be the con- 
 demnation of democracy to all sober-minded men. The first 
 was that of rotation in office, which, if it is a democratic 
 principle, raises inefficiency and venality to permanent fea- 
 tures of the public service. You will observe that its effect 
 has been, as a matter of history, to make thousands of 
 people believe despairingly that these things are insepar- 
 able from the public service and that elections only deter- 
 mine which set shall enjoy the opportunity. The other 
 doctrine or democratic principle was that to the victors 
 belong the spoils. This was distinctly enunciated by 
 William L. Marcy on the floor of the Senate. He said 
 that he did not hesitate to avow the principle as a prin- 
 ciple. By this principle corruption in the public service 
 is made a matter of course. I think that these two "prin- 
 ciples" are rotten, and by virtue of their own intrinsic 
 baseness. If any one is inclined to despair of the republic 
 now, he ought to remember that there was a time when 
 men shamelessly professed these doctrines as principles. 
 I doubt if any one would be bold enough to do it to-day. 
 Whether General Jackson went into office intending to 
 make war on the United States Bank, is a question which 
 has never yet found a solution, but the drift of the 
 evidence is for the negative. During the summer of 1829 
 some of the New Hampshire politicians of the new school 
 endeavored to obtain the removal of Mr. Jeremiah Mason
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON 353 
 
 from the Presidency of the Portsmouth Branch of the 
 United States Bank. They brought no charge whatever 
 against him save that he was a friend of Mr. Webster, and 
 they urged that some friend of the administration might 
 make the Branch useful in its service. The Secretary of 
 the Treasury (Ingham) endeavored to induce the Presi- 
 dent of the Bank (Biddle) to remove Mr. Mason. Biddle 
 refused to do this. In this controversy the administration 
 men were in the position of striving to bring the Bank into 
 poHtics on their side and the Bank was in the position of 
 striving to remain neutral in politics. From this, however, 
 dates the great conflict of Jackson's administration. You 
 will greatly err in trying to form any judgment in this mat- 
 ter if you doubt the bona fides of General Jackson. Where 
 his personal value was not at stake he was genial, good- 
 natured, and generous. In questions of policy he was 
 easily led up to the point at which he formed an opinion. 
 His opinion might be crystallized, however, suddenly, by 
 the most whimsical consideratives, or under the most 
 erratic motives. WTien he had formed what for him was 
 an opinion, he clung to it with astonishing obstinacy. It 
 rose before his mind as a fact of the most undeniable cer- 
 tainty. The echo of it, which came back to him by virtue 
 of his popularity, seemed to him to sanction it with the 
 highest authority. One who denied it was shameless and 
 unpardonable, one who resisted it deserved any punish- 
 ment which the fashions of the age allowed. You recognize 
 the description of a strong and originally powerful mind 
 destitute of training. 
 
 At the outset the Bank was guilty only of neutrality 
 where he demanded support. At this time it had lived 
 down much of the hatred it had justly incurred at the 
 outset, but there was no diflBculty in reviving it. The Bank 
 was never in a stronger or sounder condition than in 1829, 
 and it enjoyed high credit both at home and abroad. The
 
 354 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 word went out, however, that the Bank was a monopoly, 
 the possession of the moneyed aristocracy, undemocratic, 
 and hostile to liberty. The first blow fell, in spite of some 
 vague premonitory rumors, with great suddenness. In the 
 annual message of December, 1829, Jackson incorporated 
 a short paragraph questioning the constitutionality of the 
 Bank and proposing a Bank on the credit and revenues of 
 the government. The alarm thus created was twofold, 
 first on account of the Bank which was threatened, and 
 second on account of the new institution which sounded 
 like a government paper money bank. Parties did not as 
 yet divide on this issue. The strongest partisans of Jack- 
 son took up the cry against the Bank, but not yet with 
 vigor; the more intelligent supporters of the administra- 
 tion still favored it. In 1830 the message was much milder 
 in regard to the Bank, and the Treasury Report was 
 even favorable to it. In 1831, however, the message was 
 once more strongly hostile. 
 
 In the meantime the President had vetoed an internal 
 improvement bill and taken up a position of hostility to 
 the policy of improvements. The tarijff of 1828 had pro- 
 voked the South to more and more energetic protests until 
 South Carolina adopted the doctrine and policy of nullifi- 
 cation. There never was a greater political error, for she 
 alienated the vast body of the nation, even in the South, 
 which might have been brought to oppose protection but 
 would not favor nullification as a means of destroying it. 
 It was in this connection that Jackson's traits availed to 
 procure him, in his own day, the approval of men like Web- 
 ster and has availed to give him a place amongst our politi- 
 cal heroes and in the hearts of people who to-day know 
 Uttle more about him than that he prevented nullification. 
 He certainly acted with very commendable firmness in 
 giving it to be understood that nullification meant rebellion 
 and war. His attitude and, far more, the legislation of the
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON 355 
 
 session of 1832-1833 including the compromise tariff of 
 March 2, 1833, averted civil war. What part in all this 
 drama was played by his hostility to Mr. Calhoun it is 
 difficult to say. They were now sworn enemies, General 
 Jackson having been informed (by Mr. Crawford) that Mr. 
 Calhoun, instead of being his friend in the cabinet of Mr. 
 Monroe, had been one of those who disapproved of his 
 acts in the Seminole war in 1878. General Jackson upon 
 this diverted the succession from Mr. Calhoun and, after 
 taking a second term himself, gave the succession to 
 Martin Van Buren, a weak and unpopular candidate, who 
 had, by virtue of his position in the Albany Regency, 
 given New York to Jackson. Mr. Van Buren was Secre- 
 tary of State in Jackson's first cabinet, which suddenly ex- 
 ploded in 1831 on a question of social etiquette. He was 
 next nominated to the English mission and went out, but 
 failed of confirmation, an incident only worth mentioning 
 because the hotter partisans of Jackson proposed to abol- 
 ish the Senate for rejecting one of his nominations. 
 
 All these and other personalities which it is impossible 
 to group in any way, and which I cannot follow into de- 
 tail, played their part in the great drama which was open- 
 ing. The popular democratic party was gaining ground 
 every day. A consciousness of power, a desire to assume 
 public duties from which they had hitherto held aloof, was 
 taking stronger possession of them. On the other hand, an 
 opposition was forming under the name of the National Re- 
 publican party which had a certain vague legitimacy of 
 descent from the old Federal party. It adopted as its prin- 
 ciples protection, internal improvements, distribution of the 
 public lands, and the National Bank. This party first began 
 to be called Whigs in Connecticut, in 1834.^ It always 
 seemed strangely lacking in political sagacity. It offered to 
 its enemies the very strongest arguments against itself. It 
 
 1 Niles. XLVI, 101.
 
 356 THE FORGOTTEN JVIAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 had managed to get on the side, which will pass into history 
 as the wrong side, of at least three great questions and 
 perhaps also of the fourth. It forced the administration 
 into an impregnable position in regard to free trade, hard 
 money, and an opposition to the distribution of land or 
 revenue; and it managed in the end to put itself unequivo- 
 cally in the wrong and the opposite party in the right on 
 the sub-treasury and the public finances. 
 
 It commenced its career as a party by a great blunder 
 — an act which was recognized as such immediately after- 
 wards — and that was the effort to re-charter the Bank in 
 1832. It had been the strongest answer of the Bank to 
 Jackson's early attacks that its charter did not expire until 
 March 3, 1836, that he had forced the issue of a re-charter 
 on the country six and a half years before the time, and 
 that he had nothing to do with the re-charter unless he 
 assumed that he was to be reelected. The National Re- 
 publican convention was held at Baltimore on December 12, 
 1831. Mr. Clay was nominated for President. The peti- 
 tion for a re-charter was presented January 9, 1832, as a 
 manoeuvre in the campaign. Forthwith the charge of anti- 
 cipating an exciting question was turned against the oppo- 
 sition. They were charged with bringing the Bank into 
 politics, and the Bank was forced into the political cam- 
 paign to defend its existence. The re-charter was passed 
 July 4, 1832, and vetoed July 10. Up to this time there 
 had been plenty of administration men who favored the 
 Bank. This issue, thus forced by the opposition on the 
 eve of election, and thus accepted by the President for 
 his own person, raised Bank on Anti-Bank to a test of 
 political orthodoxy, and, in the political language of the 
 time, many were forced to ''turn a sharp corner." The 
 issue was now also Jackson versus the Bank, and then first 
 did it become apparent to what extent the Jackson party 
 had gained and how thorough was its devotion. The cur-
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON 357 
 
 rent party names were Jackson and Anti- Jackson, and can- 
 didates were so designated down to the lowest town officers. 
 The Whigs protested in vain against the folly of this. They 
 argued with men who would not argue, and assumed the 
 force of motives the powerlessness of which was proved 
 by the fact that men could profess such personal political 
 allegiance. They did not truly appreciate the democracy 
 in which they lived. They suffered themselves to be iso- 
 lated as a body and they lost the proper conservative power 
 of an opposition by failing to go with the sentiment of the 
 vast energetic, growing (if you choose to call it so), vulgar 
 democracy. It is a danger which always besets the con- 
 servative party here, whose members will always be a min- 
 ority, and will always find much to offend their refinement in 
 a new community like this. They will always be tempted 
 to withdraw from contact with it and to gratify their 
 vanity at the expense of all public influence. ,, 
 
 The consequence of the issue as it was made in 1832 was 
 that Jackson got 219 and Clay 49 votes in the Electoral 
 College.* Things now entered on a new stage. The lower 
 class which I have hitherto endeavored to characterize 
 fairly, but without timidity, now took on the character of 
 a genuine proletariat. It has been only at few periods that 
 any development of the lowest sections of our population 
 has produced what could properly be called by that name. 
 The period of Jackson's second administration was the 
 most marked of these. In the large cities trades-unions 
 arose, and in certain sections agrarian doctrines were ad- 
 vocated, while there was a general dissemination of social- 
 istic notions. In 1836 there were formal riots and public 
 disturbances of lesser grade. Partly this was due to the 
 arrogance of class success, partly to the flattery of dema- 
 gogues, and partly to industrial changes and to currency 
 disturbances which are to be mentioned in a moment. 
 
 ' For Clay, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland.
 
 358 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 The National Bank being doomed if Jackson should be 
 reelected, a large moneyed class had been drawn into the 
 administration party, viz., those who wanted to found 
 local banks. The administration party, therefore, included 
 these two branches, to the former or lower of which the 
 nickname Locofoco was given. 
 
 General Jackson regarded his reelection as a sanction of 
 all that he had done or proposed. According to his prin- 
 ciples the question of wisdom in banking and currency did 
 not come from history or science, but from a majority \ote 
 of the people. What is to be noticed, however, is that the 
 people simply assented to whatever he proposed and rati- 
 fied whatever he did, because it was he that did it. There 
 resulted a state of things paralleled in our history only in 
 the case of Mr. Jefferson, that is, an action and reaction 
 between the executive and a popular majority in which 
 each stimulated the other by ready sympathy and mutual 
 support. The President pursued his way without a mis- 
 giving, and the opposition in Congress while they saw their 
 members dwindling and the majority becoming more and 
 more overwhelming, could only express their astonishment 
 at the sudden acts and irregular methods of procedure of 
 the executive. The subservient majority, consisting largely 
 of professional politicians of the new type, recognized that 
 for the time being their occupation of plotting and con- 
 troling was gone. Their hopes lay in no independent ac- 
 tion, but in loyalty to the chief. 
 
 I feel here how much I am saying which under other 
 circumstances would require proof, but the proof lies before 
 any one who will throw aside Benton and Parton and look 
 into the Congressional debates and the newspapers of the 
 time. 
 
 The President now pushed on his hostility to the Bank, 
 being doubly enraged by the efforts it had made to fight its 
 own battle in contending against him during the campaign.
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON 359 
 
 He avowed his determination to make the "experiment" 
 of using local banks as fiscal agents of the government. 
 Naturally enough, the banking and commercial world was 
 frightened at experiments, carried on without skill or knowl- 
 edge and running athwart the financial and business in- 
 terests of the country. Up to this time, you must remember, 
 the administration had not pronounced for specie currency 
 at all, but it was supposed that the President favored 
 a government paper bank. In his Bank veto message he 
 had said that a charter for a Bank which would have been 
 free from objection might have been obtained by coming 
 to him beforehand. In his first message after his reelection 
 he raised the question whether the public deposits were 
 safe in the Bank and whether the government shares in the 
 Bank ought not to be sold. In spite of all that had gone 
 before these were startling questions. A majority of the 
 Committee of Ways and Means found the deposits safe. 
 The minority made some strong and undeniable points 
 against the Bank. 
 
 During the summer of 1833 Amos Kendall was appointed 
 agent to see what banks could be engaged to take the public 
 deposits. On August 19 of that year the five government 
 directors of the Bank made a report showing the amount 
 expended by the Bank in printing during the campaign, 
 and on September 18, 1833, the President read to his 
 cabinet a paper setting forth the reasons why the public 
 deposits should be removed from the United States Bank. 
 The Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Duane, refused to give 
 the order for removal and was dismissed. Mr. Taney was 
 made Secretary and he ordered that no further sums should 
 be deposited in the Bank by collectors or others. Decem- 
 ber 3, 1833, he reported to Congress his reasons for doing 
 this. On December 9, the government directors sent in a 
 memorial to Congress saying that they had been shut out 
 from a knowledge of the affairs of the Bank. On March 28,
 
 360 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 1834, the Senate, after having tried in vain to pass a more 
 specific censure, resolved that the President had "assumed 
 upon himself authority and power not conferred by the 
 Constitution and the laws." On April 15, the President 
 sent in a protest against this resolution, saying that if he 
 had been guilty of violating the Constitution he ought to be 
 impeached, not censured by resolution. This protest the 
 Senate refused to register. They could not impeach him, 
 and the House was far from thinking of such a thing. In 
 fact, the question of status of the Secretary of the Treasury 
 is a delicate one. Some independent responsibility is laid 
 upon him, according to the laws of 1789 and 1800, but, as 
 he is liable to be dismissed by the President, he cannot have 
 an independent responsibility. The resolution of censure 
 was "expunged" on January 16, 1837. In the House of 
 Representatives, on April 4, 1834, it was resolved that the 
 Bank ought not to be re-chartered, that the deposits ought 
 not to be restored, that the state banks ought to be made 
 depositories of the public funds, and that a select committee 
 on the Bank should be raised. The majority of this com- 
 mittee reported, on May 22, that the Bank had refused to 
 submit to investigation, while the minority (Everett and 
 Ellsworth) reported that the majority had made unreason- 
 able demands. On February 4, 1834 the Senate had referred 
 to the Finance Committee an inquiry in regard to the Bank; 
 and at the next session, on December 18, 1834, the Com- 
 mittee reported, by John Tyler, favorably to the Bank in 
 every respect. In the message of December, 1834, the 
 President reviewed the whole war against the Bank and 
 summed up the charges against it. Therewith the political 
 and congressional war over the old Bank came to an end 
 with a full victory for the administration. 
 
 The earliest announcement of the policy of the adminis- 
 tration in favor of a metallic currency was in a reply made 
 by the President ^ in February, 1834, to a deputation from 
 
 1 Nilea, March 1, 1834.
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON 361 
 
 Philadelphia who came to complain of the hard times. 
 According to the report they gave, the President was very 
 rude and violent. He ascribed all the trouble to the "mon- 
 ster," as he called the Bank over and over again. He de- 
 clared that he would introduce a specie currency and that 
 the government should use no other. He evidently knew 
 Httle of the laws of money and finance, and, although much 
 which he and his supporters afterwards urged in support 
 of this policy was as true and sound as any propositions in 
 physical science, yet it was mixed up with fallacies which 
 neutralized it, and it degenerated into a kind of fanaticism 
 about the precious metals. The measure of distributing 
 the deposits amongst local banks, and thereby stimulating 
 bank credits, was destructive to the other measure of in- 
 troducing a specie currency. The distribution of the sur- 
 plus revenue, which had accumulated in the banks amongst 
 the states, was an opposition measure that was passed on 
 account of the foolish belief, which so often leads our poli- 
 ticians astray, that there was political capital in it. Jack- 
 son signed the bill, but he criticized it in his next message, 
 giving plain and statesmanlike reasons against it. 
 
 I must mention one other institution which took its 
 rise in this period, and that is the national convention. 
 I have already mentioned the Convention of the National 
 Republicans at Baltimore in 1831. The Jackson men held 
 one at Baltimore on May 21, 1832. With this invention our 
 political institutions entered on a new phase, and "poli- 
 tician" acquired a new meaning. The power of party, 
 the binding force of caucus agreements, the conception of 
 bolting a regular nomination as the highest political crime, 
 were developed first in the ranks of the Jackson party, 
 but speedily followed to the best of their ability by the 
 opposition. The Tammany Club of New York was the 
 school in which these political arts were cultivated to 
 the highest pitch, to be imitated elsewhere. There had
 
 362 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 been loud shouts over the downfall of "King Caucus" when, 
 in 1824, the candidate of the congressional caucus was 
 defeated, but the fact was that King Caucus had only just 
 come of age and was entering into his inheritance. Behind 
 the convention speedily arose the class of politicians vul- 
 garly known as wire-pullers who spent their time between 
 elections in intriguing and plotting and distributing. The 
 Albany Regency found that its power slipped away into the 
 hands of these more secret operators. There sprang up 
 men who did not care for office, who lived no one knew how, 
 or who took offices which to them were sinecures while 
 they wielded the real political power. The convention 
 proved to be an engine well adapted to the purposes of 
 this class. It had all the forms of freedom, publicity, 
 and popular initiative, while the real manipulation was 
 astonishingly easy for two or three shrewd and experienced 
 men. I am using the past tense here again for decency's 
 sake. I wish that I could do so because the things I 
 describe were really matters of history. 
 
 You see now that I have spared nothing whatever here, 
 neither national pride, nor party prejudice, nor hereditary 
 family feeling. My business is simply with the truth of 
 history so far as it is attainable, and so far as I am able 
 faithfully to state it. It would be very easy now to say 
 that Andrew Jackson demoralized American politics, and to 
 throw upon his memory the blame for all the political 
 troubles, shames, and problems of which we are every day 
 reminded. Such, however, would be very far from the 
 inference I want to draw. I have tried to emphasize the 
 fact that Jackson himself was only a typical and repre- 
 sentative man in and of his time, that it is often difficult 
 to say whether he led or was carried forward. His ad- 
 ministration, in the view I have tried to present, was only 
 the time at which a certain tendency came to victory. 
 It was only a case of the conflict which constitutes great
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON 363 
 
 political parties under all governments, the conflict between 
 the radical and conservative tendencies. The radical 
 tendency had won one victory under Jefferson, and, coming 
 into office, had become conservative. In Jackson's ele- 
 vation a new radical tendency, more excessive than the 
 first, came to victory. I have shown also in my criticism 
 on the Whig party how it fell out of sympathy with the 
 great movement which was going on and which was inevi- 
 tably conditioned in the social and economic circumstances 
 of the country. 
 
 This tendency has still pursued its way down to our owti 
 times. The party which organized under Jackson be- 
 came involved in the slavery question by combinations 
 which it would be most interesting to study; but this 
 will be only a passing phase, a temporary issue in our 
 political life, and only a feature of the history of the con- 
 crete Democratic party, not of the great democratic ten- 
 dency. The doctrines of the Jacksonian democracy have 
 permeated nearly the whole country. They have come 
 to be popularly regarded as postulates or axioms of civil 
 liberty. Those who deny them are the scholars, the his- 
 torians, the philosophers, the book-men of every grade; 
 and they deny them under their breath, at the penalty of 
 sacrificing all share in public life. It is certain, however, 
 that the issue must come back to its permanent form 
 and that the political strife must be waged between the 
 conservative and the radical theories of politics — between 
 those who lay the greater stress on law and those who 
 lay the greater stress on liberty, between those who see 
 political health chiefly in the social principle and those who 
 see it chiefly in the individual, between constitutionalism 
 and democracy. 
 
 This will not come about by any critical reflections of 
 mine or by those of any other political philosopher. It 
 will come about by experience, and by instinct rather
 
 364 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 than by reflection. For the evils and corruptions of which 
 we daily complain arise from democratic theories of politics, 
 developed and applied without reference to the actual 
 circumstances of the case, and under assumptions which 
 are false. Experience has convinced nearly all of us who 
 are willing to think about the matter that rotation in oJ05ce 
 is mischievous to the public interest and demoralizing to 
 the men who enter the public service. Experience has 
 long since brought home to us the shame of the doctrine 
 that to the victors belong the spoils. Experience has 
 shown us the evils of frequent elections and short terms of 
 oflSce, and it is continually opening the eyes of more and 
 more of us to the evils of electing a large number of ad- 
 ministrative officers and making them independent of each 
 other. Experience has shown us the inapplicability of the 
 principle of election to the selection of judges. Experience 
 is showing that the notion of the responsibility of a party 
 is a delusion and that the notion of responsibility to the 
 people is only a jingle of words; and as new constitutions 
 are formed we find that they continually take more guaran- 
 tees from the people against themselves. 
 
 On the contrary the path of reform lies in the direction 
 of stronger constitutional guarantees and greater reverence 
 for law as law. Any conservative party which fulfills its 
 function in this country will have to take its stand on that 
 platform. Its reforms must be historical, not speculative. 
 They must be founded in the genius and history of the 
 country. The democracy here, in the sense of the widest 
 popular participation in public affairs, is inevitable until 
 the land is taken up and the population begins to press 
 upon the means of subsistence, that is to say, for a future 
 far beyond what we need take into consideration. Our 
 whole history shows this, and the part which I have dis- 
 cussed shows conclusively what we may also all see in our 
 own daily observation — that the men, the parties, the
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON 365 
 
 theories which oppose themselves to this tendency are 
 swept down Hke seeds before a flood. It is idle to ask 
 whether is it a good tendency. It is a fact — a fact 
 whose causes arise from the deepest and broadest social 
 and economic circumstances of the country. But there 
 is a foundation for true constitutionalism in the traditions 
 of our race and in our inherited institutions — in our in- 
 herited reverence for law, which is all that keeps us from 
 going the way of Mexico and Peru. 
 
 The philosophers and book-men have no great role offered 
 them in a new country. They will always be a minority, 
 they will always be holding back in the interest of law, 
 order, tradition, liistory, and they will rarely be entrusted 
 with the conduct of affairs; but, since their lot is cast here, 
 if they withdraw from the functions which fall to them in 
 this society, such as it is, they do it at the sacrifice not only 
 of duty but also of everything which makes a fatherland 
 worth having, to them or to their posterity. The fault 
 which they commit is the complement of that committed 
 by their opponents. For the notion which underlies de- 
 mocracy is that of rights, tenacity in regard to rights, the 
 brutal struggle for room for one's self, and, still more 
 specifically, for equal rights, the root principle of which is 
 envy. This was abundantly illustrated in Jackson's day. 
 The opposition of his supporters to bank and tariff had no 
 deeper root than this, and the name they chose for them- 
 selves as descriptive of their aims was "The Equal 
 Rights Party." But the principle of political life lies not 
 in rights but in duties. The struggle for rights is at best 
 war. The subjection to duty reaches the same end, reaches 
 it far better, and reaches it through peace. Still less is 
 there any principle of poHtical health in the idea of equality 
 of rights, much as some people seem to believe the op- 
 posite. In pohtical history it has been the melancholy 
 province of France to show us that if you emphasize
 
 366 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 equality you reduce all to a dead level of slavery, with a 
 succession of revolutions to bring about a change of 
 masters. 
 
 If, then, the classes which are by education and position 
 conservative withdraw from public activity, pride them- 
 selves on their cleanness from political mire, and satisfy 
 themselves at most with a negative and destructive inter- 
 ference at the polls from time to time, the conception of 
 political duty with them must be as low as with their 
 opponents; and I will add that they will at best turn from 
 one set of masters to another, under a general and steady 
 deterioration in the political tone of the country. If we 
 have to-day a society in which we go our ways in peace, 
 freedom, and security, a society from the height of which 
 we look back upon the life of the sixteenth and seven- 
 teenth centuries with a shudder, we owe it to no class of 
 men who wrote satirical essays on contemporary politics 
 and said to one another: "WTiat is the use.'*" Elliott 
 and Hampden and Sydney and these revolutionary heroes 
 whose praise we are just now chanting did not win for us 
 all the political good we owe them by any such policy as 
 that. There was no use, as far as any one could see, in their 
 cases. They risked persecution, imprisonment, the axe, 
 and the scaffold, and their puny efforts seemed ridiculous 
 in the face of the task they undertook; but they never 
 stopped to think of that. They saw that it was the right 
 thing to do then to speak or to resist, and they did it and 
 let the end take care of itself. 
 
 Now we Americans of to-day have no heroic deeds to 
 perform. We have no fear of the stake or the axe for 
 political causes. We are not called upon to do any grand 
 deeds. Perhaps it would be easier if we were. If we had 
 a Caesar at Washington I would warrant him his Brutus 
 within a fortnight. But we have need of the same sense 
 of duty which has animated all the heroes of constitutional
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON 367 
 
 government and civil liberty, and I am not sm-e but we 
 need some of their courage also, for it demands at least 
 as much moral courage to beard King Majority as it ever 
 did to beard King Caesar. Nothing less than the experi- 
 ment of self-government is at stake in the question whether 
 thousands of citizens are capable of that form of duty 
 which makes a man work on without results and without 
 reward, even, it may be, in the face of misrepresentation 
 and abuse, simply because he sees a certain direction in 
 which his efforts ought to be expended. 
 
 Such, however, I conceive to be the calling of the con- 
 servative classes of this country, at least for this generation. 
 We have undertaken to govern ourselves, and we are just 
 finding, now that the country is filling up and its cities 
 growing large, that it is a great task, that it takes time and 
 thought, that we need any and all resources of science and 
 experience which we can call to our aid; and we are finding 
 especially that the forms of law and of the Constitution 
 are every year more essential, and the untamed forces 
 of society more dangerous. No supernatural interference 
 will come to our assistance. No man, no committee, no 
 party, no centralized organization of the general govern- 
 ment, can rid us of our diflSculties and yet leave us self- 
 government. Nor can we invent any machinery of elections 
 or of government which will do the work for us. We have 
 got to face the problems like men, animated by patriotism, 
 acting with business-hke energy, standing together for 
 the common weal. Whenever we do that we cannot fail 
 of success in getting what we want; so long as we do 
 not do that, our complaints of political corruption are the 
 idlest and most contemptible expressions which grown men 
 can utter.
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS OF 1837
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS OF 1837 
 
 [1877-1878] 
 
 THE decade from 1830 to 1840 is the most important 
 and interesting in the history of the United States. 
 The political, social, and industrial forces which were in 
 action were grand, and their interaction produced such 
 complicated results, that it is difficult to obtain a just 
 and comprehensive view of their relations and influences. 
 In the first place, the United States advanced between the 
 second war with England and 1830 to a position of full 
 and high standing in the family of nations. The security 
 and stability of the government were accepted as estab- 
 lished. England and France, on the other hand, just 
 before and after 1830, were involved in social and poHtical 
 troubles of an alarming kind. By contrast, the United 
 States, with a rapidly increasing population, expanding 
 production and trade, a contented people, and a surplus 
 revenue offered great attractions to both laborers and 
 capital. At the same time the pride of the Americans in 
 their country produced self-reliance, energy, and enter- 
 prise which laughed at difficulties. New means of trans- 
 portation by steamboats and canals were opening up the 
 country and assuring to the population the advantages of 
 a new and unbounded continent. Production therefore 
 offered high returns to both labor and capital. 
 
 The advantages of a new country were credited to the 
 political institutions of democracy, and increasing pros- 
 perity, due to the fresh resources brought within reach, 
 was held to be proof of the truth of the political dogmas 
 entertained by the workers. A sort of boyish exuberance, 
 
 371
 
 372 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 compounded of inexperience, ignorance, and fearless enter- 
 prise, marked politics as well as industry. Jackson's 
 election in 1828 brought to power a party which had been 
 produced by these circumstances. 
 
 The war debt of 1812 became payable in the years after 
 1824 and was distributed over the period down to 1835. 
 With growth and increasing prosperity, the revenue in- 
 creased with such rapidity that the debt could be paid 
 almost as fast as it became payable. The chief purposes 
 for which the Bank of the United States had been founded 
 in 1816 were to provide a sound and uniform paper cur- 
 rency convertible w^ith specie, of uniform value throughout 
 the Union, and to act as jBscal agent for the government, 
 holding the revenue wherever collected and disbursing the 
 expenditures wherever they were to be made. The interest 
 of the government and the people was the motive, and the 
 bank charter was a contract with the Bank to perform the 
 services for specified considerations. One of the consider- 
 ations was the right of the Bank to use the deposits as 
 loanable capital. The government was not bound to keep 
 any balance over expenditure, but the revenue was so large 
 that the Bank came to hold annually increasing average de- 
 posits of from five to eight or nine millions of public money, 
 which it used for profit. From this vicious arrangement 
 two consequences followed: first, public attention was 
 directed to the deposits, not as existing for the public 
 service, but for the profit of the Bank; and, second, the 
 public considered itself entitled to claim something of the 
 Bank besides true business credit, in the matter of discounts. 
 
 Jackson opened the war on the Bank publicly in his 
 first message. Sharp correspondence had been going 
 on already between the Secretary of the Treasury and the 
 Bank, which had reached such a point that the Secretary 
 had referred to the removal of the deposits as a power in 
 his hands to coerce the Bank. Generally speaking, the
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS OF 1837 373 
 
 state of the Bank and the state of the currency were satis- 
 factory in 1830, but the Bank had begun in 1827 to issue 
 branch drafts which stimulated credit and soon produced 
 mischief. Of the war on the Bank it is not necessary to 
 speak in detail. In December, 1831, Clay was nominated 
 for President by the National Republicans, and he and 
 his friends determined to bring on the question of the re- 
 charter of the Bank as a campaign issue. The re-charter 
 was passed by Congress and vetoed by the President 
 in 1832. The issue in the campaign was thus made up be- 
 tween the personal popularity of Jackson and of the Bank. 
 The former won an overwhelming victory which he con- 
 strued to mean that the people had weighed the question 
 of re-chartering the Bank and had decided against it. 
 
 In September, 1833, he removed the deposits from the 
 National Bank on his own responsibility, and placed them 
 in selected state banks which would agree to keep one- 
 third of their note circulation in coin, redeem all notes 
 on demand, and issue no notes under a five-dollar denomina- 
 tion. This was to be an experiment. In the meantime the 
 administration was eagerly pressing on the extinction of 
 the public debt. The consequences were such as to prove 
 that, however popular such a policy may be, it may easily be 
 carried too far. The pubHc deposits were loaned by the 
 Bank to merchants, then recalled and paid to the public 
 creditors, and then reinvested by them, so that the money 
 market was subjected to recurrent and sudden shocks. The 
 withdrawal and transfer of the deposits constituted another 
 and more violent operation of the same kind, so that there 
 was a crisis and panic in the spring of 1834. The eight or 
 nine millions of public deposits were a continual source of 
 mischief to the money market. By the contraction of the 
 Bank of the United States to pay the deposits, and the 
 contraction of the state banks to put themselves within 
 the rule for receiving the same, the currency, in the summer
 
 374 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 of 1834, was perhaps better than ever before. The coinage 
 act of June, 1834, turned the standard over from silver to 
 gold. 
 
 The deposit banks were urged to discount freely so as 
 to satisfy the public with the change. Banks were organ- 
 ized in great numbers all over the country to take the place 
 of the great Bank and to get a share in the profits of hand- 
 ling the public money. On January 1, 1835, the debt was all 
 paid and the government had no further use for its surplus 
 revenue. There was but one correct and straightforward 
 course to pursue in such a case and that was to lower taxes 
 so as not to collect any surplus, but this the Compromise 
 Act forbade. The surplus revenue was the greatest annoy- 
 ance to the protectionists who wanted to keep duties high 
 for *' incidental protection," and they proposed scheme 
 after scheme for distributing the lands, or the proceeds 
 of the lands, or, finally, the surplus revenue itself, so as 
 to cut down the revenue without reducing the import 
 duties. 
 
 With the increase of banks and bank issues speculation 
 began. It became marked in the spring of 1835 and went 
 on increasing for two years. Cotton was rising in price, 
 for the new machinery, and new means of transportation 
 in England, together with the extension of joint stock 
 banks there, had given a great stimulus to the cotton 
 manufacturer. There was an increasing demand for the 
 raw material. It followed that the cities in which the 
 exchange and banking of all this industry were carried 
 on also enjoyed great prosperity. Railroads were just 
 being introduced and ships were needed to transport the 
 products. Thus from natural causes the period was one of 
 immense industrial development. The great need for 
 carrying it on was capital, and the political incidents which 
 brought about or encouraged the bank expansion may be 
 regarded as accidental. The combination of the two in
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS OF 1837 375 
 
 fact, however, produced a wild speculation. The banks 
 furnished credit, not capital, and being restrained by usury 
 laws from exerting through the rate of discount the proper 
 check upon an inflated or speculative market they em- 
 barked with the business community on a course where all 
 landmarks were soon lost. 
 
 No sooner, however, was this condition of the com- 
 mercial and banking community well established than a 
 new shock was given by another political interference. 
 The administration had now advanced to the point of 
 desiring to establish a specie currency for the country. 
 The object was laudable and the means taken were proper, 
 but, following as they did in the train of the events already 
 mentioned, they produced new confusion. In 1836 various 
 acts were passed to bring about a specie currency, and in 
 July of that year the Secretary of the Treasury ordered 
 the receivers of public money to take only gold and silver 
 for lands. The circumstances warranted this order. The 
 sales of lands had risen from two or three to twenty-four 
 million dollars in a year, and the amount was paid in the 
 notes of " banks''^ which deserved no credit. If the nation 
 was not to be swindled out of the lands the measure was 
 necessary. It then became necessary for the purchasers 
 of land to carry specie to the West and vast amounts of it 
 accumulated in the offices of the receivers, or were trans- 
 ferred at great trouble and expense to deposit banks. The 
 specie was obtained from the eastern banks, and inasmuch 
 as the whole existing system had pushed them to the utmost 
 limit of expansion, these demands for specie were embar- 
 rassing. Two points here deserve notice. It is strange 
 to see what a superstition about "specie" had taken 
 
 ^ Some counterfeiters were arrested at New York in a garret where they had 
 $20,000 in notes of the "Ottawa Bank" and $800 in specie. They were very in- 
 dignant — said they were a "bank" and were printing their notes at New York for 
 economy. They came so nearly within the definition of a "bank" current at this 
 time that they escaped on this plea.
 
 376 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 possession of the public mind. It was regarded as a good 
 thing to have, but too good to use. A specie dollar was 
 regarded as an excuse for its owner to print and circulate 
 from three to twenty paper ones, but it was not regarded 
 as having any other use. The withdrawal of the specie 
 basis from an inflated paper was no doubt a serious blow 
 to the whole fabric, but, if the paper had not been redun- 
 dant the transfer of specie to the West could only have 
 forced an importation of so much more. This superstition 
 about specie also prevented any demand upon the banks 
 for specie for any purpose. Such a demand was regarded 
 as a kind of social or business crime. Hence the "con- 
 vertibility" of the notes was a polite fiction. The second 
 point worth noticing is that the bank advocates continually 
 talked about "the credit system" when they meant the 
 system of issuing credit bank notes; and they grew eloquent 
 about the advantages of credit, as if those advantages 
 could only be won by using worthless bank notes and not 
 by lending gold or silver or capital in any form. 
 
 We are not yet, however, at the end of the political acts 
 which threw the money market into convulsions. The 
 opposition succeeded, in the summer of the presidential 
 election year, 1836, in passing an act to deposit with the 
 states the surplus over a balance of five millions in the 
 Treasury on January 1, 1837. The amount was thirty-seven 
 millions. This sum was scattered in eighty-nine deposit 
 banks all over the country. Its distribution was, therefore, 
 controlled by local pressure and political favoritism, not 
 by the needs of the government (for it did not need the 
 money at all) or by the demand and supply of capital. 
 The banks had regarded it as a permanent deposit and had 
 loaned it in aid of the various public and private enterprises 
 which were being pushed on every hand at such a rate that 
 labor was said to be drawn away from agriculture so that the 
 country was importing bread stuffs. It was now to be
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS OF 1837 377 
 
 withdrawn and transferred once more, and this time it was 
 said that, if these "deposits" were such an advantage, the 
 states ought to have it, and could then, as well as the banks, 
 be called on to give back the money whenever it might be 
 needed. The deposit took place in 1837, in three install- 
 ments, January, April, and July, and amounted to twenty- 
 eight millions. The fourth installment was never paid. 
 The money was all squandered or worse. 
 
 The charter of the Bank of the United States was to 
 expire on the 3d of March, 1836. One year before that 
 time the directors ordered the "exchange committee" to 
 loan the capital, as fast as it should be released, on stocks, 
 so as to prepare for winding up. From this resolution 
 dates the subsequent history of the Bank, for the exchange 
 committee consisted of the President and two directors 
 selected by him, to whose hands the whole business of the 
 Bank was hereby entrusted. The branches were sold and 
 the capital gradually released throughout 1835, but in 
 February, 1836, an act was suddenly passed by the Penn- 
 sylvania legislature to charter the United States Bank of 
 Pennsylvania, continuing the old Bank. The act was 
 said to have been obtained by bribery, but investigation 
 failed to prove it. The most open bribery was on the 
 face of it, for it provided for several pet local schemes of 
 public improvement, for a bonus and loans to the state by 
 the Bank, and for abolishing taxes — provisions which 
 secured the necessary support to carry it. 
 
 During the year 1836 the money market was very strin- 
 gent. The enterprises, speculations, and internal improve- 
 ments demanded continual new supplies of capital. The 
 amount of securities exported grew greater and greater 
 and kept the foreign exchanges depressed. American 
 importing houses contracted larger and longer debts to 
 foreign agents. The money market in England became 
 very stringent likewise, and these long credits became
 
 378 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 harder and harder to carry. Three English houses, Will- 
 son, Wildes, and Wiggins, had become especially engaged 
 in these American credits which they found it necessary 
 to curtail. The winter was one of continual stringency, 
 aggravated by popular discontent, riots, and trades-union 
 disturbances, arising from high prices and high rents. The 
 failures commenced on the fourth of March, 1837, the day 
 that Van Buren was inaugurated, in ]\Iississippi and Louisi- 
 ana. Hermann, Briggs & Co., of New Orleans, failed, with 
 liabilities said to be from four to eight millions. As soon 
 as this was known in New York, their correspondents, 
 J. L. & S. Joseph & Co. failed. The first break in the ex- 
 panded fabric of credit therefore came in connection with 
 cotton. The price had advanced so much during the last 
 three or four years as to draw many thousands of persons 
 who had no capital into cotton production, but the profits 
 Were so great that a good crop or two would pay for all the 
 capital. The planters of Mississippi especially had accord- 
 ingly organized themselves into banking corporations 
 and issued notes as the easiest way to borrow the capital 
 they wanted. From 1830 to 1839 the banking capital of 
 Mississippi increased from three to seventy-five millions, 
 which of course represented one credit built upon another, 
 on renewed and extended debt, as the old planters bought 
 more slaves and took up more land instead of paying for 
 the old, or as new settlers came in. Mississippi was there- 
 fore indebted to the Northeast for the redemption of their 
 immense bank debt, or for the capital bought with it. 
 The high rates for money in England and this country 
 at last checked the rise in cotton in 1836. Bad harvests 
 and high prices for food fell in with a glut of manufactured 
 cotton, and when cotton began to fall ruin was certain. 
 As soon as the revulsion came it ran through the whole 
 speculative system. The new suburbs which had been laid 
 out in every city and village never came to anything.
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS OF 1837 379 
 
 Western lands lost all speculative value, and railroad and 
 canal stock fell with rapidity. 
 
 The first resort for help was to Mr. Biddle. The calamity 
 most apprehended was a shipment of specie, and the effort 
 was to gain an extension of credit or the substitution of 
 a better for a less known credit. The Bank of the United 
 States had high credit in Europe, and indeed all over the 
 world. Ultimately payment must be made by crops yet 
 to be produced or forwarded. Biddle entered into an 
 agreement with the New York banks which seems to have 
 been only partially carried out, but he sold post notes 
 payable one year from date at Barny's in London. He 
 received one hundred and twelve and one-half for these, 
 specie being at one hundred and seven. The bonds were 
 discounted in England at five per cent. United States 
 Bank stock was at one hundred and twenty. 
 
 The situation in England was so serious that all seemed 
 to depend on remittances from the United States. The 
 Bank of England extended aid to "the three W's" to the 
 extent of five hundred thousand pounds on a guarantee 
 made up in the city, and opened a credit of two million 
 pounds for the United States Bank, if one-half the amount 
 should be shipped in specie. To this condition the L^nited 
 States Bank would not agree. The proposition attributed 
 to the Bank of the United States a strength which it did 
 not possess. The management of the Bank of England in 
 this and the two following years was bad, and did much to 
 enhance the mischief in both countries. France partici- 
 pated in the distress although there had been no speculation 
 there. 
 
 A delegation of New York merchants was sent to Wash- 
 ington on May 3 to ask the President to recall the specie cir- 
 cular, to defer the collection of duty bonds, and to call an 
 extra session of Congress. In their address to him they 
 sum up the situation: in six months at New York, real
 
 380 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 estate had shrunk forty millions; in two months two 
 hundred and fifty firms had failed, and stocks had shrunk 
 twenty millions; merchandise had fallen thirty per cent, 
 and within a few weeks twenty thousand persons had been 
 thrown out of employment. 
 
 Early in May three banks at Buffalo failed. On May 8, 
 the Dry Dock Bank (New York) failed.. On the tenth 
 all the New York City banks suspended. The militia were 
 under arms and there were fears of a riot. On the eleventh 
 the Philadelphia banks suspended, because the New York 
 banks had, and because, although they had plenty of specie 
 for themselves, they had not enough for the whole "Atlantic 
 seaboard." They said, however, that they were debtors, 
 on balance, to New York. As the news spread through 
 the country, the banks, with few exceptions, suspended. 
 It was one of the notions born of the bank war that the 
 United States Bank was guilty of oppression when it called 
 on state banks for their balances, and the state banks 
 had practiced "leniency" towards each other. Bank 
 statements of the period show enormous sums as due to and 
 from other banks. This was what carried them all down 
 together, for one could not stand alone unless its debits 
 and credits were with the same banks. 
 
 During the summer the governors of several states 
 called extra sessions of the legislatures. The President 
 had refused to recall the specie circular, or to call an extra 
 session of Congress, but the embarrassments of the Treas- 
 ury forced him to do the latter. The collection of duty 
 bonds was deferred and the revenue thereby cut off. The 
 public money was in the suspended banks, and the Treas- 
 ury, nominally possessed of forty millions, at the very 
 time when part of this sum was being paid to the states, 
 had to drag along from day to day by the use of drafts on 
 its collectors for the small sums received or by chance left 
 over in their hands since the suspension. As notes under
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS OF 1837 381 
 
 five dollars had been forbidden by nearly all the states, 
 and as specie was at ten per cent premium, all small change 
 disappeared, and the towns were flooded with notes and 
 tickets for small sums, issued by municipalities, corporations, 
 and individuals. 
 
 The most interesting fact connected with this commercial 
 credit is that New York and Philadelphia took opposite 
 policies in regard to it, and thus offered, in their differing 
 experience, an experimental test of those policies. The New 
 York legislature passed an act allowing suspension for one 
 year. The New York policy then was to contract liabili- 
 ties and prepare for resumption at the date fixed. The 
 Philadelphia policy, in which Mr. Biddle was the leader, 
 was to wait without active exertions for things to get better. 
 In his letter of May 13 to Adams, Biddle said that the 
 Bank could have gone on without trouble, but that consider- 
 ation for the rest forced him to go with them. WTiat 
 especially moved him was that, if the Pennsylvania banks 
 had not suspended, Pennsylvanians would have had to do 
 business with a better currency than the New Yorkers, 
 which would have been unfair. IVIr. Biddle knew per- 
 fectly well that the exchanges would arrange all that. 
 He was an adept at writing plausible letters. The truth, 
 which was not known until four years later, was that the 
 capital of the Bank had never been withdrawn from the 
 stock loans, that the chief officers of the Bank were plunder- 
 ing it, and that suspension was not more welcome to any 
 institution in the country than to the great Bank. The 
 jealousy between New York and Pliiladelphia was very 
 great at this time. Mr. Biddle's personal vanity seems 
 to have been greatly flattered when, in March, he was called 
 on by the New Yorkers to help them. He was still the 
 leading financier of the country. The business men could 
 not spare him, even if the government had thrown him off. 
 There seems also to be some evidence that he hoped that a
 
 382 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 great and universal revulsion would force the general govern- 
 ment to re-charter his Bank. The success of his post notes 
 in England and France was another source of gratified 
 vanity to him. In his theory of banking he was one of 
 those who believe that the redemption of the bank note is 
 effected by the merchandise. Hence banking was, for him, 
 an art by which the banker regulated commerce through 
 expansions and contractions of the circulation according to 
 the circumstances which he might observe in the market. 
 
 The first effect of the opposite courses taken by New York 
 and Philadelphia was very favorable to his views. The 
 southern trade was transferred from New York to Phila- 
 delphia. Southern notes were at a discount of twenty or 
 twenty-five per cent. Receiving these notes from the 
 merchants, the Bank employed them through Bevan and 
 Humphreys in buying cotton. This operation began in 
 July and was intended to move the cotton to Europe in 
 order to meet the post notes of the Bank when they should 
 become due. The firm of Biddle and Humphreys was also 
 formed and established at Liverpool as the agent of this 
 operation. In the extension of the transaction cotton was 
 bought and paid for by drafts on Bevan and Humphreys 
 of Philadelphia, which drafts were discounted by the 
 Bank. Biddle and Humphreys, having sold the cotton, 
 remitted the proceeds to Mr. Jandon, former cashier of the 
 Bank, sent to England as its agent in July. To all this it 
 must be added that the Bank assumed the function of 
 securing, for its producers, a good or fair price for cotton. 
 Jandon's instructions were to protect the interests of the 
 bank, and "of the country at large." 
 
 If the Bank had simply been a strong, sound bank, in- 
 tent on earning profits, it would have sent two or three 
 millions to Europe, selling exchange at one hundred and 
 twelve, and would not have suspended. The rest of the 
 story would then have been very different for all con-
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS OF 1837 383 
 
 cerned. The arrival in June of a ship in England with one 
 hundred thousand dollars specie sufficed to sustain Ameri- 
 can credit and to revive American securities. WTien the 
 credit of a debtor is tainted, nothing revives it like payment. 
 
 The extra session of Congress met on September 4. The 
 fourth installment of the State Deposit Fund was post- 
 poned until January 1, 1839, but it was locked up in the 
 suspended banks and, as the former installments had been 
 drawn from the better banks, the balance due was all in 
 the worst banks of the country, those of the southwestern 
 states. As they had loaned it to their customers, it was, 
 in fact, amongst the people of those states. A law was 
 passed to institute suit against these banks unless they 
 paid on demand, or gave bonds to do so in three installments 
 before July 1, 1839. There were only six deposit banks 
 then paying specie; one was new, four had not suspended, 
 and one had resumed. Power to call on the states for the 
 funds "deposited" with them was taken from the Secre- 
 tary of the Treasury and held by Congress. Interest- 
 bearing Treasury notes were provided for one year, to 
 meet expenses, and an extension of nine months was 
 given on duty bonds. At this session the sub- treasury 
 system was brought forward as an administration measure. 
 It split the party. The "bank democrats" (state bank 
 interest which joined the Jackson party in 1832 to break 
 down the United States Bank) went into opposition. The 
 advocates of the "credit system" said the sub-treasury 
 scheme, by giving the government control of the specie in 
 the country, would give it control of all credit. Mean- 
 while Benton said that the eighty million specie in the coun- 
 try was its bulwark against adversity, and the Locofocos 
 said that any one who exported specie was a British hire- 
 ling. So that there was a fine confusion of financial notions. 
 
 In the fall the English money market became much 
 easier, and the same tendency appeared here. Specie at
 
 384 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 New York was at about seven per cent premium, but steadily 
 declining. Prices of breadstuffs remained very high (flour 
 nine dollars to nine dollars and a half at New Y^ork) and 
 the stagnation of industry was complete. Migration to 
 the West was large. 
 
 On August 18 the New York banks called a convention 
 of banks to deliberate on resumption. The Philadelphia 
 banks frustrated the proposition by refusing. A conven- 
 tion met in October but adjourned without action until 
 April. On the 7th of April the New Y^ork banks had 
 assets two and a half times their liabilities, excluding 
 real estate, and were creditors of the Philadelphia banks 
 for $1,200,000. They had reduced their liabilities from 
 $25,400,000 on January 1, 1837 to $12,900,000 on Jan- 
 uary 1, 1838, and the foreign exchanges were favorable. 
 
 The bank convention met April 1, 1838, and voted by 
 states to resume January 1, 1839, without precluding an 
 earlier day. New York and Mississippi alone voted nay, 
 the former because the date was too remote; the latter 
 because it was too early. New England joined Philadelphia 
 and Baltimore for the later day. Mr. Biddle published 
 another letter in which he blamed the rigor of the contrac- 
 tion at New York; he wanted to remain "prepared to 
 resume but not resuming," and looked to Congress to do 
 the work. The exchange between New York and Phila- 
 delphia was then four and a half per cent against the latter. 
 The southwestern exchanges were growing worse On May 
 1, the Philadelphia banks resolved to pay specie for de- 
 mands under one dollar. The Bank of England engaged 
 to send one million pounds in specie to support resump- 
 tion, and did send one hundred thousand pounds, but then 
 receded from the undertaking; its stock of specie was now 
 very large and increasing. The New York banks resumed 
 during the first week in May, the Boston and New England 
 banks generally at the same time. Specie was coming into
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS OF 1837 385 
 
 New York. On May 31 Congress repealed the specie 
 circular, whereupon IMr. Biddle published another letter 
 saying that since Congress had acted, he saw his way to 
 resumption and would "cooperate." The Bank had, at this 
 time, over thirteen millions loaned on "bills receivable," 
 that is, on securities put in the teller's drawer, as cash to 
 replace cash taken out. 
 
 After the adjournment of Congress on July 9 there was 
 a much better feeling, especially on account of the defeat 
 of the sub-treasury bill, and on July 10, Governor Ritner 
 of Pennsylvania published a proclamation requiring the 
 banks to resume on August 13, and to pay and withdraw 
 all notes under five dollars. On July 23 a bank conven- 
 tion composed of delegates from the middle states met at 
 Philadelphia. It was agreed to resume on August 13. 
 The Philadelphia banks were obliged to contract very sud- 
 denly and money was very dear there. As soon as they 
 resumed there were demands on them from New York, ex- 
 change being against them. This caused excitement and 
 indignation. The banks generally declared dividends as 
 soon as they resumed. Elsewhere, here and in England, 
 money was easy and the times rapidly improving. There 
 was, however, a feverish and uncertain market for cotton. 
 Biddle and Humphreys were carrying an immense stock, 
 and buyers and sellers differed as to prices. 
 
 On December 10, 1838, Biddle published another letter 
 to Adams in which he reviewed his policy of the last two 
 years, and withdrew the Bank from all its former public 
 activitj'. He says: "It abdicates its involuntary power." 
 He defended the cotton speculations, saying that he had 
 saved the great staple of our country from being sacrificed, 
 by introducing a new competitor into the market. Here 
 then was a buyer who had gone into the market on purpose 
 to "bull" some one else's property. His fate could not 
 be very doubtful. At this same time the Liverpool market
 
 386 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 was very dull and the spinners were curtailing their de- 
 mands because the supply was under the control of specu- 
 lators. It was true, as was asserted, that the crop was 
 short, but the buyers took this for a speculator's story, 
 and, anticipating a break in the corner and a fall in price, 
 they refused to buy. The speculation no doubt unduly 
 depressed the price. The southwestern agents of the Bank 
 of the United States were offering advances of from two 
 to five cents above the market price to secure consignments 
 to Biddle and Humphreys, and Mr. Jandon, because he had 
 lost instead of winning confidence, was paying ruinous rates 
 for money to carry on his operations. 
 
 During the winter most of the southern and western 
 banks resumed, at least nominally, but as the spring of 1839 
 approached the southern exchanges again fell and many of 
 the banks suspended again. On March 29 Biddle resigned 
 the presidency of the Bank, saying that he left it strong and 
 prosperous. The stock fell from one hundred and sixteen 
 to one hundred and twelve, but soon recovered. The 
 money market became stringent again, influenced by fears 
 of the South. 
 
 In March, by speculative sales, by the diminution of 
 stock, and by the real shortness of the crop, cotton was 
 forced up one and one-fourth pence at Liverpool, and 
 Biddle and Humphreys sold out their entire stock. The 
 net profit was six hundred thousand dollars. This was re- 
 garded as a great triumph, and as a complete vindication 
 of Biddle*s policy. In July, 1839, the Bank of the United 
 States paid a semi-annual dividend of four per cent — its 
 last one. 
 
 The success of the cotton speculation led to a plan for 
 renewing it on a grander scale. On June 6, an unsigned 
 circular was published at New York, which proposed a 
 scheme for advancing three-fourths of the value at fourteen 
 cents on all cotton consigned to Biddle and Humphreys.
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS OF 1837 387 
 
 They were to "hold on until prices vigorously rally." The 
 agent, Mr. Wilder, declared that this had nothing to do with 
 the United States Bank, so far as he knew. It was, how- 
 ever, a scheme of the Bank. The Southwestern notes were 
 falling lower and lower, and the post notes issued in the 
 Southwest the year before were now falling due, and were 
 not paid. The pressure of this fell on Philadelphia, where 
 money was up to fifteen per cent and the banks were cur- 
 tailing. The news from England was also bad. Cotton was 
 down two cents. The specie of the Bank of England was 
 rapidly declining and money was at five per cent. The 
 arrangements from this side in 1837 had simply consisted 
 in renewals or extensions, and as yet few payments had 
 been made. Stocks, etc., were sent over, but they fell 
 upon a glutted and stringent market and the prices de- 
 clined. These securities therefore did not furnish means of 
 payment, and specie shipments were found to be neces- 
 sary. The Bank of the United States had prevented any 
 shipment of specie by offering all the bills demanded at 
 one hundred and nine and a half, and Mr. Jandon had 
 been obliged to adopt the most reckless means to meet 
 these bills. In August he wrote to Biddle and Humphreys 
 to supply him with money at any sacrifice of cotton. "Life 
 or death to the Bank of the United States is the issue." 
 The Bank here urged Bevan and Humphreys to direct 
 their agents to meet Jandon's demands and the Bank 
 assumed the loss. In August the Bank sent an agent 
 to New York, to draw all the bills he could sell on 
 Hottinguer at Paris, to draw the proceeds in specie from 
 the New York banks, and to ship it to meet the bills, 
 the object being to force the New York banks to sus- 
 pend in order that their example might again be quoted. 
 The Bank also sold its post notes at a discount of eighteen 
 per cent per annum in Boston, New York, Baltimore, and 
 smaller places, and gathered up capital to meet the emer-
 
 388 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 gency at Philadelphia caused by the failure of the Southern 
 remittances. The money markets in all these cities were 
 very stringent until October. On the ninth of that month 
 the Bank of the United States failed on drafts from New 
 York, and on the tenth the news was received that the 
 drafts on Hottinguer had been protested. He had given 
 notice that he would not pay unless he was covered, and the 
 drafts arrived before the specie did. Jandon succeeded in 
 getting Rothschild to take up the bills. The amount was 
 seven million francs. 
 
 The banks south and west of New York and some of 
 the Rhode Island banks now suspended again. Specie 
 at Philadelphia was at one hundred and seven to one 
 hundred and seven and one-half. United States Bank 
 stock at seventy. On October 15, it was at eighty, and 
 sold at New York at one-fourth premium. Scarcely any 
 New York City notes were in circulation. 
 
 This suspension was the real catastrophe of the specu- 
 lative period which preceded. A great and general liqui- 
 dation now began. Perhaps as many as two hundred of 
 these banks never resumed. The stagnation of industry 
 lasted for three or four years. The public improvements 
 so rashly begun were suspended or abandoned. The 
 states were struggling with the debts contracted. Some 
 repudiated; some suspended the payment of interest. 
 The New England states and New York escaped all the 
 harsher features of this depression and emerged from it 
 first. In proportion as we go further south and west we 
 find the distress more intense and more prolonged. The 
 recovery was never marked by any distinct point of time, 
 but came gradually and imperceptibly. 
 
 The credit of the Bank of the United States bore up 
 wonderfully under the shock of its second suspension. Its 
 friends were ready to attribute its misfortunes to con- 
 spiracies, jealousy, or any other cause but its own faults.
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS OF 1837 389 
 
 They did not indeed know its internal history. It might 
 have recovered if it had not been ruined from within. 
 The cotton speculations showed a loss, in the summer of 
 
 1840, after saddling the Bank with all possible charges, 
 of $630,000 for the speculators. The legislature of Pennsyl- 
 vania ordered the banks to resume January 15, 1841. On 
 the first of January, 1841, a statement of the assets of the 
 Bank was made, when it appeared that they consisted of a 
 mass of doubtful and worthless securities. The losses to 
 date were over five millions, according to the report of the 
 directors, but over seventeen millions, taking the stocks at 
 their market value. The Bank resumed January 15, 
 with the other Philadelphia banks, and the great Bank 
 loaned the state four hundred thousand dollars, agreeing 
 to loan as much more. In twenty days the Philadelphia 
 banks lost eleven millions in specie, of which six millions 
 were taken from the Bank of the United States. On 
 February 4 the Bank failed for the third and last time. 
 Its final failure was said to be due to stock jobbers. Suits 
 were at once begun in such numbers that all hope of ever 
 resuscitating it had to be abandoned. Its deposits, when 
 it failed, were one million one hundred thousand dollars 
 and its notes in circulation two million eight hundred thou- 
 sand dollars. Twenty-seven millions out of the thirty-five 
 of its capital were held in Europe. The stock, in March, 
 
 1841, was at seventeen. A committee of the stockholders 
 reported in April, showing the internal history of the 
 Bank for five years. This brought out from Mr. Biddle 
 six letters of explanation, defense, and recrimination, which 
 are valuable chiefly for the further insight they give into 
 the history. As to the winding up of the Bank it is very 
 difiicult to obtain information. Private inquiries lead to 
 the following results. Three trusts were constituted: one 
 for the city banks to which the Bank owed five or six 
 millions; one for the note-holders and depositors; and one
 
 390 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 for the other creditors. The city banks, the note-holders, 
 and the depositors were ultimately paid in full. The other 
 claims were bought up by one or two persons who took the 
 assets. What they made of them is not matter of history. 
 
 The attempt of the Pennsylvania banks to resume in 
 January, 1841, had been the signal for similar attempts 
 in the other states. The banks on the seaboard as far 
 south as South Carolina generallj^ resumed, and in the 
 Western and Gulf states some took the same step. All 
 were indebted to the Northeast, and were asked to pay as 
 soon as they said they were ready to pay. Like the Phila- 
 delphia banks they succumbed to this demand. The 
 Virginia banks held out until April, when the suspension 
 was once more universal south of New York. 
 
 All the states except New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode 
 Island, Connecticut, and Delaware had debts, amounting 
 in all to nearly two hundred millions. The Southern 
 States had generally contracted these debts to found banks. 
 The Middle and Western States had contracted debts for 
 public works. In the former case the profits of the banks 
 were expected to cover the interest on the debt. In the 
 latter case the works were expected to be remunerative in 
 a short time, and the interest was provided for in the mean- 
 time by bank dividends (on stocks owned by the state, 
 which only constituted another debt), by taxes on banks, 
 and by royalties. Both schemes were plausible and might 
 have been successful if managed with good judgment and 
 moderation. Under the actual circumstances they were 
 subject to political control, the methods of which were 
 reckless and ignorant. The consequence was that when 
 credit collapsed and the English market no longer absorbed 
 the state stocks with avidity, the states found themselves 
 heavily indebted, bound to pay large interest charges, 
 and without the anticipated revenue. The state banks 
 of the South had loaned their borrowed capital to legis-
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS OF 1837 391 
 
 lators and politicians, and had no assets but "suspended 
 debt." The improvement states had become heavily 
 indebted to their own banks and depended on bank divi- 
 dends to pay interest. The state banks all held state 
 stocks as assets, and when these declined in value, the 
 banks became insolvent. Thus the banking system was 
 interlocked with the state finances and with the mania for 
 improvements unwisely planned and attempted without 
 reference to the capital at command. The aversion to 
 taxation was very strong, and as taxation was delayed, 
 one state after another defaulted on its interest. The 
 delinquent states were Pennsylvania (which laid taxes in 
 1840, but inadequate to meet the deficiency), IVIichigan 
 (of which the Bank of the United States held two millions 
 in bonds not paid for when it failed), Mississippi (of which 
 the same bank held five millions in bonds the obligation 
 of which was disputed and never met), Indiana (whose 
 debt was one-fifth of the total valuation), Illinois, Lou- 
 isiana, Maryland and Arkansas, and Florida territory — 
 total amount, one hundred and eleven millions. In five 
 years the Bank of the United States gave to Pennsyl- 
 vania three millions, subscribed nearly half a million to 
 public improvements by corporations, and loaned the state 
 eight and one-half millions. In 1857-1858 Pennsylvania 
 sold out her works, which had cost thirty-five millions, for 
 eleven millions. The bonds deposited in New York to 
 secure circulation had a par value of four and six-tenths 
 millions, but were worth only one and six-tenths millions 
 on the first of January, 1843. As early as March, 1841, 
 this decline caused a panic in "Safety Fund" and "Free 
 Bank" notes at New York. 
 
 Pennsylvania now entered on another experiment which 
 threatened to ruin her remaining banks as the reckless de- 
 mands on the Bank of the United States had helped to ruin 
 that institution. On May 3, 1841, the legislature passed.
 
 392 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 over a veto, a "Relief Act." The object was to secure a 
 loan of three millions from the banks. The Act allowed 
 them to issue that amount in small notes which they were 
 to subscribe to a five per cent loan. They were to redeem 
 the notes in five per cent stock on demand in amounts 
 over one hundred dollars. The stocks were then at eighty 
 and specie at seven per cent premium. 
 
 The best financial writer in the country at that time 
 (Gouge) said of this Act: Pennsylvania, "after having bor- 
 rowed as much as she could in the old-fashioned way from 
 banks and brokers, and domestic and foreign capitalists, re- 
 solved to extort a loan of a dollar a head from every washer- 
 woman and woodsawyer and everybody else within her 
 limits who had a dollar to lend. But as washerwomen and 
 woodsawyers and other dollar people cannot long dispense 
 with the use of their funds, it was necessary to give these 
 certificates of loan in a circulating form, so that the 
 burden might be shifted from one to another day by day, 
 or, if necessary, two or three times a day." 
 
 The summer of 1841 was marked by intense distress 
 in Pennsylvania. A table of the best investment stocks 
 of Philadelphia shows a shrinkage between August, 1838, 
 and August, 1841, from sixty million to three and one-half 
 millions. The wages class was exposed to the bitterest 
 poverty and distress. The Pennsylvanians attributed the 
 trouble to the want of a protective tariff. For a time, 
 in the autumn, the Relief notes seemed to act beneficially. 
 The banks took them and they circulated at par with the 
 rest of the state currency. In January, 1842, the Girard 
 Bank failed, and about the same time the Pennsylvania 
 and three others less important, and by March a crisis 
 was reached worse than anything which had preceded. A bill 
 was suddenly passed by the legislature commanding im- 
 mediate resumption. An amendment was proposed that 
 the banks should no longer be bound to receive the Relief
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS OF 1837 393 
 
 notes, although the state should do so. The amendment 
 was afterwards withdrawn, but the Relief notes were ruined. 
 They fell, some to seventy-five and some to fifty in state 
 currency and then became merchandise, after six months 
 and three days of use. Capital was now not to be had 
 at four per cent per month, but this bankruptcy had 
 cleared the situation. The eleven banks which had not 
 failed agreed to resume on March 18. The exchanges with 
 New York turned in favor of Philadelphia. The years 
 1842 and 1843 were years of great depression. The banks 
 throughout the west and south were liquidating, after which 
 they either perished or resumed. From 1843 a new sound 
 and healthy development of industry and credit began. 
 The recovery, however, was very slow, and banks sprang 
 up again sooner and faster than anything else. 
 
 The total amount of Relief notes issued in Pennsylvania 
 was two and one tenth millions. In January, 1843, the 
 amount outstanding was, of depreciated $639,834, of 
 specie value (issued by banks which had resumed) $240,801. 
 Bicknell's Reporter said: "If any one can devise an imme- 
 diate plan whereby the people can get rid of about $700,000 
 of paper trash, he will be entitled to the name of a public 
 benefactor." In February, 1843, the Legislature ordered 
 the Treasurer to cancel $100,000 of Relief notes at once and 
 $.100,000 monthly until all were destroyed, but in June, 
 1843, there were still $684,521 out. 
 
 This is certainly a melancholy story of the way in which 
 people who enjoy the most exceptional chances of wealth 
 and prosperity can squander them by ignorance of political 
 economy and recklessness in political management. Banks 
 were regarded as means of borrowing capital, not as insti- 
 tutions for lending it. If there was anywhere a group 
 of needy speculators, they secured a bank charter, elected 
 themselves directors, gave their notes for the stock, printed 
 a lot of bank notes, loaned the notes to themselves, and
 
 394 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 went out and with the notes bought the capital they 
 wanted. Bank after bank failed with an immense cir- 
 culation afloat and no assets but the notes of its directors, 
 who had failed too. When the United States had thirty 
 or forty millions surplus on hand and these banks could get 
 the custody and handling of it for an indefinite period, 
 because the country had no need for it, it can readily be 
 understood why banks multiplied. The banks were en- 
 couraged to lend this deposit freely to the public, which they 
 were by no means loath to do, for that was the only way 
 to gain a profit on it. They lent it, not once but two or 
 three times over. The New York bank commissioners 
 pointed out the danger of a system in which the borrower 
 came directly into contact with the bank which issued the 
 currency. If a man was eager to borrow and pay high in- 
 terest and the bank had only to print the notes to accom- 
 modate him, there was every stimulus to over-issue. If 
 the borrower engaged in any enterprise he raised the price 
 of everything he bought. When he became engaged in 
 his enterprise and wanted more capital, he went back to the 
 bank more eager and more ready to pay high interest than 
 ever, and the operation was repeated. In 1836, on the top 
 of the inflation, the rates for money were twelve and fif- 
 teen per cent throughout the year, with a very tight money 
 market. The banks and the business community could not 
 throw the blame on each other. They stimulated each other 
 and went on in their folly hand in hand. The penalties, 
 however, were not fairly distributed. The banks "sus- 
 pended," as they called it; that is, when asked to pay their 
 debts, they said they would not; and they enjoyed a com- 
 plete immunity in this respect, while people outside who 
 could not pay had to fail. 
 
 I have tried, within the limits to which I am bound, to 
 show how many elements were combined in this period 
 and how they were all interwoven. There are the political
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS OF 1837 395 
 
 elements, the tariff element, the movement of population 
 to the new land, the fiscal operations of the general govern- 
 ment, the revolution in the coinage, the mania for public 
 improvements, the reckless creation of state debts, and the 
 war on the United States Bank. Any one of these might 
 have accounted for a financial crisis in an old country, 
 and the fact that the catastrophe produced by all combined 
 was not greater here is a striking proof of the vitality of 
 the country and the wonderful advantages which it was 
 wasting. 
 
 On the four or five years of inflated prosperity there 
 followed four or five years of the most slow and grinding 
 distress. 1843 is the year of lowest prices in our history, 
 and the year of severest restriction in industry. In 1842 
 the United States Treasury was under protest and actually 
 bankrupt, and American credit was so low that an agent of 
 the general government who was sent to Europe to try 
 to place a loan of only twelve million dollars there could 
 not do it at all. In that same year, however, out of what 
 income it did have, the general government distributed six 
 hundred thousand dollars, which came from land, amongst 
 the states. As for calling back any of the twenty-eight 
 millions deposited with the states, no effort of the kind 
 was ever made. The states were complaining that the 
 fourth installment, to which they had a right, had never 
 been paid to them. The question is sometimes mooted 
 whether a national debt is a curse or a blessing. There can 
 be no doubt whatever that a national surplus is a curse. 
 
 In the years before 1837 there had been a great deal of 
 eloquence spent upon "the credit system." After 1837 
 this matter was dropped. By the credit system they meant 
 the multiplication of bank notes which were false promises. 
 The notion was that the system of using these in business 
 gave poor men an easier chance to get rich. At first they 
 were loaned easily at low rates. Then, as prices rose and
 
 S96 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 speculation became active, interest advanced. The "poor 
 men" found themselves forced to submit to more and more 
 ruinous renewals, all the heavier because of the usury 
 law, until they lost all they had ever really owned. The 
 question, then, is how much better off than they were would 
 the poor men of 1830 have been in 1845 if they had gone 
 on slowly earning and saving capital and making no use of 
 credit at all. As it was, the poor men of 1830, after suppos- 
 ing themselves rich in 1836, were all bankrupt in 1845. 
 Such is the course of every inflation of the currency. It is 
 proved by hundreds of instances; and there is no delusion 
 which it seems so hard to stamp out of the minds of men as 
 this, that in business we can make something out of nothing, 
 although we cannot in chemistry or mechanics. Nothing 
 more surely tempts the man without capital to his ruin 
 than the easy credit which accompanies the first stages of 
 inflation. 
 
 It is worth while also to reflect for a moment on the results 
 of the two plans for dealing with the crisis: the New York 
 plan and the Philadelphia plan. "When an error has been 
 committed in this world, we always have to bear the pen- 
 alty for it. If we do not like the stripes on one side we can 
 turn and take them on the other, but when nature inflicts 
 penalties for her broken laws we never can squirm out 
 of the way. In this case, then, when the folly had been 
 perpetrated the punishment had to be suffered. The only 
 choice was whether to take it quick and heavy, or light 
 and long. The New Yorkers chose the former way. The 
 contraction was severe and painful while it lasted, but it 
 was soon over. From May, 1838, the New York banks 
 resumed and held on without further default and the New 
 Y^ork business recovered and entered upon a new course 
 of growth from that time. The Philadelphians took the 
 other course. They made it easy for the debtors and waited 
 for the storm to blow over. The consequence was that the
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS OF 1837 397 
 
 debts increased still further. The advantage in trade over 
 New York proved shortlived and terribly expensive, for 
 the goods were not paid for. The confusion and distress 
 lasted for four years longer than in New York, and the 
 total loss was very much greater. For the last five years 
 we have been under the same necessity as that which 
 oppressed the country in 1837. We have been following 
 the Philadelphia plan and I may give you my opinion that 
 we have not been wise. I think that we might have es- 
 caped three years ago with far less loss, and might have 
 been three years further on the road to new prosperity. 
 
 In conclusion let me draw your attention to the lesson 
 of this history in regard to resumption. There was no 
 resumption, you see, until the currency had been reduced to 
 the limits of the actual specie necessity of the country or 
 even below it. Either voluntarily or by bankruptcy the 
 redundant paper had to be withdrawn. Such has been 
 the case in every other instance of resumption that I know 
 of, which has been real and permanent. Applying this to 
 our own present circumstances I ask myself whether the 
 amount of paper now in circulation is in excess of the re- 
 quirement of the country, and there seems to me every 
 reason to believe that it is. If that is so, resumption 
 cannot be real and permanent until a portion of it has 
 been redeemed and withdrawn. The interest in resumption 
 of the great body of industrious, sober, and thrifty citizens 
 cannot be exaggerated. Renewed prosperity on a solid 
 basis is impossible until after a complete return to specie 
 value. There are those, however, who want to live by 
 anything but honest labor, who find their best chance 
 when prices are fluctuating and currency is continually 
 changing in value. They have schemes and interests 
 which resumption must destroy. They have done all 
 they could to make it fail and they are watchful and eager 
 to see it fail. If it does fail it will be a great national
 
 398 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 calamity, on account of the authority which it will offer 
 to these prophets of evil if for no other reason. Resump- 
 tion with us now stands at just that point where the 
 lightest preponderance of force may turn it one way or the 
 other — may insure its success or cause its failure. It is 
 a great gain to get our faces set in the right direction. It 
 arouses the national pride in the success of resumption. 
 It silences opposition and malevolent efforts against it. 
 It makes it very much easier to take the requisite steps 
 to insure success, for they involve no pain at all, nothing 
 but economy and prudence in the national finances; the 
 avoidance of unnecessary expenditure and the postpone- 
 ment for a time of certain expenditures proper in them- 
 selves. If the country needs six hundred million dollars 
 to do its business with, then the withdrawal of a portion 
 of the paper would simply bring gold into circulation, and 
 resumption would be placed beyond a doubt. If the 
 country does not want six hundred million dollars to do 
 its business with, then we cannot sustain specie payments 
 with that amount afloat, and we have still before us more 
 of the experience of 1842 and 1843.
 
 THE SCIENCE OF SOCIOLOGY
 
 THE SCIENCE OF SOCIOLOGY' 
 
 IN the present state of the science of sociology the man 
 who has studied it at all is very sure to feel great self- 
 distrust in trying to talk about it. The most that one of 
 us can do at the present time is to appreciate the promise 
 which the science offers to us, and to understand the lines 
 of direction in which it seems about to open out. As for 
 the philosophy of the subject, we still need the master to 
 show us how to handle and apply its most fundamental 
 doctrines. I have the feeling all the time, in studying and 
 teaching sociology, that I have not mastered it yet in such 
 a way as to be able to proceed in it with good confidence 
 in my own steps, I have only got so far as to have an 
 almost overpowering conviction of the necessity and value 
 of the study of that science. 
 
 Mr. Spencer addressed himself at the outset of his lit- 
 erary career to topics of sociology. In the pursuit of those 
 topics he found himself forced (as I understand it) to seek 
 constantly more fundamental and wider philosophical 
 doctrines. He came at last to fundamental principles of 
 the evolution philosophy. He then extended, tested, con- 
 firmed, and corrected these principles by inductions from 
 other sciences, and so finally turned again to sociology, 
 armed with the scientific method which he had acquired. 
 To win a powerful and correct method is, as we all know, 
 to win more than half the battle. ^Mien so much is se- 
 cured, the question of making the discoveries, solving the 
 problems, eliminating the errors, and testing the results, 
 is only a question of time and of strength to collect and 
 master the data. 
 
 ^ Speech at the Farewell Banquet to Herbert Spencer, held November 9, 1882. 
 
 401
 
 402 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 We have now acquired the method of studying sociology 
 scientifically so as to attain to assured results. We have 
 acquired it none too soon. The need for a science of life 
 in society is urgent, and it is increasing every year. It is 
 a fact which is generally overlooked that the great advance 
 in the sciences and the arts which has taken place during 
 the last century is producing social consequences and giv- 
 ing rise to social problems. We are accustomed to dwell 
 upon the discoveries of science and the development of 
 the arts as simple incidents, complete in themselves, which 
 oflter only grounds for congratulation. But the steps 
 which have been won are by no means simple events. 
 Each one has consequences which reach beyond the domain 
 of physical power into social and moral relations, and these 
 effects are multiplied and reproduced by combination with 
 each other. The great discoveries and inventions redis- 
 tribute population. They reconstruct industries and force 
 new organization of commerce and finance. They bring 
 new employments into existence and render other employ- 
 ments obsolete, while they change the relative value of 
 many others. They overthrow the old order of society, 
 impoverishing some classes and enriching others. They 
 render old political traditions grotesque and ridiculous, and 
 make old maxims of statecraft null and empty. They 
 give old vices of human nature a chance to parade in new 
 masks, so that it demands new skill to detect the same old 
 foes. They produce a kind of social chaos in which con- 
 tradictory social and economic phenomena appear side by 
 side to bewilder and deceive the student who is not fully 
 armed to deal with them. New interests are brought into 
 existence, and new faiths, ideas, and hopes, are engendered 
 in the minds of men. Some of these are doubtless good 
 and sound; others are delusive; in every case a competent 
 criticism is of the first necessity. In the upheaval of society 
 which is going on, classes and groups are thrown against
 
 THE SCIENCE OF SOCIOLOGY 403 
 
 each other in such a way as to produce class hatreds and 
 hostilities. As the old national jealousies, which used to 
 be the lines on which war was waged, lose their distinctness, 
 class jealousies threaten to take their place. Political and 
 social events which occur on one side of the globe now 
 affect the interests of population on the other side of the 
 globe. Forces which come into action in one part of hu- 
 man society rest not until they have reached all human 
 society. The brotherhood of man is coming to be a real- 
 ity of such distinct and positive character that we find it 
 a practical question of the greatest moment what kind of 
 creatures some of these hitherto neglected brethren are. 
 Secondary and remoter effects of industrial changes, which 
 were formerly dissipated and lost in the delay and friction 
 of communication, are now, by our prompt and delicate 
 mechanism of communication, caught up and transmitted 
 through society. 
 
 It is plain that our social science is not on the level of 
 the tasks which are thrown upon it by the vast and sudden 
 changes in the whole mechanism by which man makes the 
 resources of the globe available to satisfy his needs, and 
 by the new ideas which are born of the new aspects which 
 human life bears to our eyes in consequence of the develop- 
 ment of science and the arts. Our traditions about the 
 science and art of living are plainly inadequate. They 
 break to pieces in our hands when w^e try to apply them 
 to the new cases. A man of good faith may come to the 
 conviction sadly, but he must come to the conviction 
 honestly, that the traditional doctrines and explanations 
 of human life are worthless. 
 
 A progress which is not symmetrical is not true; that 
 is to say, every branch of human interest must be devel- 
 oped proportionately to all the other branches, else the 
 one which remains in arrears will measure the advance 
 which may be won by the whole. If, then, we cannot
 
 404 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 produce a science of life in society which is broad enough 
 to solve all the new social problems which are now forced 
 upon us by the development of science and art, we shall 
 find that the achievements of science and art will be over- 
 whelmed by social reactions and convulsions. 
 
 We do not lack for attempts of one kind and another 
 to satisfy the need which I have described. Our discus- 
 sion is in excess of our deliberation, and our deliberation 
 is in excess of our information. Our journals, platforms, 
 pulpits, and parliaments are full of talldng and writing 
 about topics of sociology. The only result, however, of 
 all this discussion is to show that there are half a dozen 
 arbitrary codes of morals, a heterogeneous tangle of eco- 
 nomic doctrines, a score of religious creeds and ecclesias- 
 tical traditions, and a confused jumble of humanitarian 
 and sentimental notions which jostle each other in the 
 brains of the men of this generation. It is astonishing to 
 watch a discussion and to see how a disputant, starting 
 from a given point of view, will run along on one line of 
 thought until he encounters some fragment of another 
 code or doctrine, which he has derived from some other 
 source of education; whereupon he turns at an angle, and 
 goes on in a new course until he finds himself face to face 
 with another of his old prepossessions. What we need is 
 adequate criteria by which to make the necessary tests 
 and classifications, and appropriate canons of procedure, 
 or the adaptation of universal canons to the special tasks 
 of sociology. 
 
 Unquestionably it is to the great philosophy which 
 has now been established by such ample induction in the 
 experimental sciences, and which offers to man such new 
 command of all the relations of life, that we must look 
 for the establishment of the guiding lines in the study of 
 sociology. I can see no boundaries to the scope of the 
 philosophy of evolution. That philosophy is sure to em-
 
 THE SCIENCE OF SOCIOLOGY 405 
 
 brace all the interests of man on this earth. It will be 
 one of its crowning triumphs to bring light and order into 
 the social problems which are of universal bearing on all 
 mankind. Mr. Spencer is breaking the path for us into 
 this domain. We stand eager to follow him into it, and 
 we look upon his work on sociology as a grand step in the 
 history of science. When, therefore, we express our earnest 
 hope that Mr. Spencer may have health and strength to 
 bring his work to a speedy conclusion, we not only express 
 our personal respect and good-will for himself, but also 
 our sympathy with what, I doubt not, is the warmest wish 
 of his own heart, and our appreciation of his great services 
 to true science and to the welfare of mankind.
 
 INTEGRITY IN EDUCATION
 
 INTEGRITY IN EDUCATION^ 
 
 IN addressing you on the present occasion, I am naturally 
 led to speak of matters connected with education. We 
 are met here amid surroundings which, to the great ma- 
 jority of us, are unfamiliar, but we are assembled in the 
 atmosphere of our school days and under the inspiration 
 of school memories. Some of us are rapidly approaching, 
 if we have not already reached, the time when our interest 
 in education re-arises in behalf of the next generation. 
 Many are engaged in the work of teaching. Others have 
 only just finished a stage in their education. I therefore 
 propose to speak for a few minutes about integrity in edu- 
 cation, believing that it is a subject of great importance 
 at the present time, and one which may justly command 
 your interest. 
 
 By integrity in education, I mean the opposite of all 
 sensationalism and humbug in education. I would in- 
 clude under it as objects to be aimed at in education, not 
 only the pursuit of genuine and accurate information and 
 wide knowledge of some technical branch of study, but 
 also real discipline in the use of mental powers, sterling 
 character, good manners, and high breeding. 
 
 Modern sensationalism is conquering a wide field for 
 itself. It is a sort of parasite on high civilization. Its 
 motto is that seeming is as good as being. Its intrinsic 
 fault is its hollowness, insincerity, and falsehood. It deals 
 in dash, flourish, and meretricious pretense. It resides in 
 the form, not in the substance; in the outward appearance, 
 not in the reality. It arouses disgust whenever it is per- 
 
 * Address delivered in Hartford. 
 
 409
 
 410 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 ceived; but the worst of it is that its forms are so various, 
 its manifestations are sometimes so dehcate, and it often 
 Hes so near to the real and the true, that is it difficult to 
 distinguish it. Life hurries past us very rapidly. The 
 interests which demand our attention are very numerous 
 and important. We have not time to scrutinize them all. 
 Then, too, the publicity of everything nowadays prevents 
 modest retirement from being a sign of merit. We go on 
 the principle that if anything is good, it is for the public. 
 Publicity is honorable and proper recognition, and those 
 who have charge of the public trumpets have not time, if 
 they have the ability, to discriminate and criticize very 
 closely. 
 
 These reflections account suflSciently for the growth of 
 sensationalism in general. Probably each one sees the 
 mischief which it does in his own circle or profession more 
 distinctly than elsewhere. I have certainly been struck 
 by its influence on education. I see it in common-school 
 education as well as in the universities. It attaches to 
 methods as well as to subjects. It develops a dogmatism 
 of its own. Men without education, or experience as 
 teachers, often take up the pitiful role of another class 
 which has come to be called "educators." They start off 
 with a whim or two which they elaborate into theories of 
 education. These they propound with great gravity in 
 speech and writing, producing long discussions as to plans 
 and methods. They are continually searching for a patent 
 method of teaching, or a royal road to learning, when, in 
 fact, the only way to learn is by the labor of the mind in 
 observing, comparing, and generalizing, and any patent 
 method which avoids this irksome labor produces sham 
 results and fails of producing the mental power and dis- 
 cipline of which education consists. 
 
 Persons of this class are generally impatient until they 
 have attained some opportunity of putting their notions
 
 INTEGRITY IN EDUCATION 411 
 
 in practice, and then it is all over with any institution 
 which becomes subject to their wild empiricism. 
 
 r^piU o^IJi : deStUlsed. is a co.pa.ative.y 
 
 In aff-lir The real mischief is that men should be pro- 
 
 r 1 who' have no real education, but only a perverse 
 
 duced who have no re ^^^ meretricious 
 
 irifanes/ Such education 'falls in with the outward 
 nhenomena of a sensational era and strengthens the .m- 
 Sssrnswhieb a young and --P-ienced t^- J^f 
 
 Lm our modern -f ^^^ „^^t ^fo J' ~e ^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 talents that success or tailure is me uui^ 
 ^ wron- that the man to be admired is the one who m- 
 venT cWer tricks to circumvent a rival or opponent, or 
 losLp over a troublesome principle. Young people are 
 mortacute in their observations, and ^W ^--^^^^^^ 
 and form generalizations more logically and consistently 
 
 nf life either of one kind or another. H, theretore, jou 
 have an educational system consisting oHormal cram fo 
 recitation or examination, it there is a skimmmg of text 
 booS an empty acquisition of terms, a memorizing o 
 resut only, you may pursue high-sounding studies and 
 "cover a great deal of ground," you may have an elab- 
 orate curriculum and boast of your proficiency in difficuR 
 branches, but you will have - educatior. J ou may 
 nroduce men who can spend a lifetime dawdling over 
 Tfies or men who always scatter their force when they 
 t y to think, but you will not have intelligent men with 
 nids well-disciplined and well under control, who are 
 Te to apply their full force to any new exigency, or any 
 new problem, and to grasp and conquer it.
 
 412 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 The fault here is plain enough. People forget, or do not 
 perceive, that simplicity and modesty are the first requisites 
 in scientific pursuits. We have to begin humbly and with 
 small beginnings if we want to go far. Inflation and pre- 
 tense only lead to vanity and dilletantism, not to strength 
 and fruitful activity. If we advance eagerly, we deceive 
 ourselves by the notion that we are making grand progress. 
 We are only leaving much undone which we shall have to 
 go back and repair. If, on the other hand, we proceed 
 slowly and with painstaking, every step of advance is sure 
 and genuine. It forms a great vantage-ground for the 
 next step. It strengthens and confirms the mental powers. 
 They come to act with certainty by scientific processes, 
 not by guesses, and this mental discipline enables us to 
 apply our powers wherever we need them. A new task 
 is not a dead wall which is impassable to us because we have 
 never seen one like it before. It is only a new case for the 
 application of old and familiar processes. I never see any- 
 thing more pitiable than the helpless floundering in a new 
 subject of a young man far on in his education who has 
 never yet learned to use his mind. 
 
 In what I have already said about the philosophy of life 
 which a young person forms during the process of educa- 
 tion, I have suggested that education must exert a great 
 influence on character. It is sometimes asserted that 
 education ought to mold character — ought to have that 
 object and work towards it, of set purpose. I do not deny 
 this, but I beg you to observe that it obscures the truth. 
 The truth is that education inevitably forms character one 
 way or the other. The error is in speaking as if academical 
 instruction could be carried on without training character, 
 unless the set purpose were entertained. One might read 
 many books on mathematics and the sciences without any 
 very direct moral culture, but everything we learn about 
 this world in which we live reacts in some sort of principle
 
 INTEGRITY IN EDUCATION 413 
 
 for the regulation of our conduct here. This, however, is 
 not the most important thing. A school is a miniature 
 society. Do we not all know how it forms an atmosphere 
 of its own, how the members make a code of their own, 
 and a public opinion of their own? And then, what a 
 position the teacher holds in this little community. What 
 a dangerous and responsible eminence he occupies. What 
 criticism he undergoes. What an authority his example 
 exerts. So, in this little society, general notions of con- 
 duct are unconsciously formed, principles are adopted, 
 habits grow. Every member in his place gives to, and takes 
 from, the common life. It may be well doubted whether 
 there is any association of life which exerts greater influence 
 on character than does the school, and its influence comes, 
 too, just as the formative period, when impressions are 
 most easily received and sink deepest. 
 
 Here then is where sensationalism may do its greatest 
 harm, and where integrity of method is most important. 
 The untruthfulness of sensationalism here becomes a germi- 
 nal principle, which develops into manifold forms of un- 
 truthfulness in character. Young people cannot practice 
 show and pretense and yet be taught to believe that the 
 only important thing is what you are, and not at all what 
 people think about you. They cannot practice the devices 
 which give a semblance of learning, and yet be taught to 
 believe that shams are disgraceful and that the frank 
 honesty which owns the worst is a noble trait. They may 
 learn to be ashamed when caught in a false pretense, but 
 they will not learn shame at deceit. I do not say that 
 they will lie or steal, but it is a pitiful code which defines 
 honesty as refraining from seizing other people's property. 
 Honesty is a far wider virtue than not-stealing. It em- 
 braces rectitude of motive and purpose, completeness and 
 consistency of principle, and delicacy of responsibility. 
 Truthfulness is the very cornerstone of character, and an
 
 414 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 instinct of dislike for whatever is false or meretricious is 
 one of the feelings which all sound education must incul- 
 cate. It cannot do so, however, unless its personnel and 
 its methods are all animated by unflinching integrity. 
 
 I mentioned also, at the outset, amongst those things 
 which are embraced in education and to which I desire to 
 see the principle of integrity applied, good manners. Some 
 people make an ostentatious display of neglect for good 
 manners. They think it democratic, or a sign of good 
 fellowship, to be negligent in this respect. They think it 
 something to be boasted of that they have no breeding. 
 Some others make manners supersede education and 
 training and even character. It is the latter error which 
 most invades the sphere of education. We are familiar 
 with its forms. It gives us the mock gentleman of the 
 drawing-room under the same coat with the rowdy of the 
 bar-room. \Mien this system triumphs, it fits our young 
 people out with a few fashionable phrases, which suffice for 
 the persiflage of the drawing-room, when a scientific sub- 
 ject by chance comes up. Girls are the victims of this 
 system far more than boys, but in "cultivated circles" 
 cases are common of this kind, in which a smattering of 
 books has been engrafted on the culture of the dancing 
 school. Young men and young women who have tacked 
 together a few miscellaneous phrases current amongst the 
 learned will deliver you their opinions roundly on the 
 gravest problems of philosophy and science. The phrases 
 which stick in their minds the longest are those which 
 are epigrammatic and paradoxical, whether true or not. 
 In fact, they could not analyze or criticize their mental 
 stock if they should try. They have never learned to con- 
 sider a subject and form an opinion. 
 
 It does not follow, however, that boorishness is erudi- 
 tion, or that it does not belong to education to teach the 
 good manners which are good simply because they are the
 
 INTEGRITY IN EDUCATION 415 
 
 spontaneous expression of a sound heart and a well-trained 
 mind. Envy, malice, and selfishness are the usual springs 
 of bad manners. They belong to the untrained and brut- 
 ish man, and it is the province of true education to eradi- 
 cate them. Hence it is that where true education is 
 wanting we may often find the worst manners with the 
 greatest social experience, and the truest courtesy where 
 there has been genuine discipline, but little acquaintance 
 with social forms. 
 
 I have not started this train of thought in order to tell 
 you now that we have enjoyed the true method of educa- 
 tion, and that others have not, but there are some things 
 connected with this institution which we may remember 
 with pleasure in view of the reflections which I have 
 presented. 
 
 This school was founded so long ago that it already has 
 a body of graduates who are useful and influential men in 
 this city, and many others are scattered up and down the 
 country, useful and honorable, if not celebrated citizens. 
 It was not founded without some struggle, but the more 
 enlightened views prevailed and the results have vindi- 
 cated those views, I suppose to the satisfaction of every- 
 body. The enterprise enjoyed at the outset the patronage 
 of a body of men of remarkably broad views and sound 
 public spirit. We who profited by its instruction in our 
 time may properly remember those men on this occasion 
 with gratitude and respect. One of them, surpassed by 
 none in zeal to work for and intelligence to plan such an 
 institution, has only just passed away. Your city has been 
 fortunate in possessing such citizens. 
 
 The plan on which the school was founded was remark- 
 ably wise and farseeing. It has placed the highest educa- 
 tion within the reach of every boy in your city who had 
 sufiicient industry and self-denial to seek it. Many of you 
 are now in the position of active and responsible citizens.
 
 416 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 You must regard this institution as one of the boasts of 
 your city. Guard it well. You may not boast of it only. 
 You owe it a debt which you must pay. Every boy and 
 girl who has graduated here owes a debt to the common 
 school system of America. Every man for whom this 
 school has opened a career which would otherwise have 
 been beyond his reach, owes a tenfold debt, both to the 
 common school system and to the class in which he was 
 born. Sectarian interests, private school interests, prop- 
 erty interests, and some cliques of "culture" falsely so 
 called, are rallying against the system a force which people 
 as yet underrate. There is no knowing how soon the 
 struggle may open, and you may be called upon to pay the 
 allegiance you owe. 
 
 This school has also been remarkably fortunate in the 
 selection of the teachers who have presided over it. We 
 cannot exaggerate the value of this selection. It is by the 
 imperceptible influence of the teacher's character and ex- 
 ample that the atmosphere of a school is created. It is 
 from this that the pupils learn what to admire and what 
 to abhor, what to seek and what to shun. It is from this 
 that they learn what methods of action are honorable and 
 what ones are unbecoming. They learn all this from 
 methods of discipline as well as from methods of instruc- 
 tion. They may learn craft and intrigue, or they may 
 learn candor and sincerity. They may learn to win suc- 
 cess at any cost, or they may learn to accept failure with 
 dignity, when success could only be won by dishonor. 
 
 Y^ou know well what has always been the tone impressed 
 on this institution by the teachers we had here. We had 
 many, both gentlemen and ladies, whom we remember 
 with respect and affection. Our later experience of the 
 world and of life has only served to show us more dis- 
 tinctly, in the retrospect, how elevated was their tone, 
 how sincere their devotion, how simple and upright their
 
 INTEGRITY IN EDUCATION *" 
 
 methods of dealing with us. They were not taskmasters 
 To us. and their work was not a harsh and ungrateful rou- 
 
 " One" figre' will inevitably arise before the minds of all 
 when these words are said, the figure of one who died with 
 the harness on. I have never seen anywhere, in my ex- 
 perience, a man of more simple and unconscious high- 
 breeding one who combined more thoroughly the dignity 
 of official authority with the suavity of unrestrained inter- 
 course with his pupils. It is a part of the good fortune 
 Xh came to us and to this city from this institution that 
 To many young people here enjoyed his persona influence. 
 iTfoflows. as a natural consequence, from these facts 
 that we enjoyed here to a high degree what I have described 
 as integrity in education. Sensationalism of any kmd has 
 U 'been foreign to the system here. It must perish 
 in such an atmosphere. We had instruction which was real 
 and solid, which conceded nothing to show and sacrificed 
 nothing to applause. We learned to work patiently for 
 real and enduring results. We learned the faith that 
 what is genuine must outlast and prevail over what is 
 meretricious. We learned to despise empty display^ We 
 had also a discipline which was complete and sufiicient. 
 but which was attained without friction. There was no 
 sentimentaUty, no petting, no affectation of free and ea^y 
 manners. Discipline existed because it was necessary, and 
 it was smooth because it was reasonable. 
 
 Now there is nothing to which people apply more severe 
 criticism, as they grow old. than to their education. They 
 find the need of it every day, and they have to ask whether 
 it was sufficient and suited to the purpose or not. it is 
 because we find, I think, that our education here does 
 stand this test that we are able to meet here on an occasion 
 like this with genuine interest and sympathy. The years 
 in their flight have sacttered us and brought us weighty
 
 418 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 cares and new interests. We could not lay these aside to 
 come back here for purposes of mere sentiment, or to re- 
 peat conventional phrases. We meet on the ground of 
 grateful recollection of benefits received, benefits which we 
 can specify and weigh and measure. 
 
 This school must be regarded as a local institution. It 
 belongs to this city and its advantages are offered to the 
 young people who grow up here. I have referred to the 
 exceptional wisdom and enlightenment which presided over 
 its foundation and have nourished its growth. In con- 
 clusion, let me refer to what concerns its present and its 
 future. We are reminded by all we see about us here that 
 its building and its appliances are far better than they were 
 in our day. Its prosperity bears witness to its present 
 good management. But, gentlemen, these good things are 
 not to be preserved without vigilance and labor. The 
 same wisdom and enlightenment must preside over the 
 future as over the past. I doubt not that the value of this 
 institution to your city is so fully appreciated, and the 
 methods by which it has been developed are so well under- 
 stood, that any peril to it or to them would arouse your 
 earnest efforts for its defence. Keep it as it has been, 
 devoted to correct objects by sound methods. Sacrifice 
 nothing to the eclat of hasty and false success. Concede 
 nothing to the modern quackery of education. Resist the 
 specious schemes of reckless speculators on educational 
 theories. It is not to be expected that you can escape these 
 dangers any more than other people, and you have to be 
 on your guard against them. You want here an educational 
 institution which shall, in its measure, instruct your chil- 
 dren in the best science and thought of the day. You want 
 it to make them masters of themselves and of their powers. 
 You want it to make them practical in the best and only 
 true sense, by making them efiicient in dealing intelli- 
 gently with all the problems of life. The country needs
 
 INTEGRITY IN EDUCATION 419 
 
 such citizens to-day. The state needs them. Your city 
 needs them. They are needed in all the trades and pro- 
 fessions. You must look to such institutions as this to 
 provide them, and you must keep it true to its methods 
 and purpose if you want it to turn out men of moral courage, 
 high principle, and devotion to duty.
 
 DISCIPLINE
 
 DISCIPLINE 
 
 IT occurs very frequently to a person connected as a 
 teacher with a great seat of learning to meet persons 
 who, having completed a course of study and having spent 
 a few years in active life, are led to make certain reflec- 
 tions upon their academical career. There is a great uni- 
 formity in the comments which are thus made, so far as I 
 have heard them, and they enforce upon me certain con- 
 victions. I observe that an academical life is led in a 
 community which is to a certain extent closed, isolated, 
 and peculiar. It has a code of its own as well for work as 
 for morals. It forms a peculiar standpoint, and life, as 
 viewed from it, takes on peculiar forms and peculiar colors. 
 It is scarcely necessary to add that the views of life thus 
 obtained are distorted and incorrect. 
 
 I should not expect much success if I should undertake 
 to correct those views by description in words. It is only 
 in life itself, that is, by experience, that men correct their 
 errors. They insist on making experience for themselves. 
 They delude themselves with hopes that they are peculiar 
 in their persons and characters, or that their circumstances 
 are peculiar, and so that in some way or other they can 
 perpetrate the old faults and yet escape the old penalties. 
 It is only when life is spent that these delusions are dis- 
 pelled and then the power and the opportunity to put the 
 acquired wisdom to practice is gone by. Thus the old 
 continually warn and preach and the young continually 
 disregard and suffer. 
 
 Although I could not expect better fortune than others 
 if I should thus preach, yet there are some things which, 
 as I have often been led to think, young men in your situa- 
 tion might be brought to understand with great practical 
 
 423
 
 424 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 advantage, and which, if you did understand them, and act 
 upon them, would save you from the deepest self-reproach 
 and regret which I so often hear older men express; and 
 the present occasion seems a better one than I can other- 
 wise obtain, for presenting those things. I allude to some 
 wider explanations of the meaning and purpose of aca- 
 demical pursuits. I do not mean theories of education 
 about which people dispute, but I mean the purposes which 
 any true education has in view, and the responsibilities it 
 brings with it. It surely is not advisable that men of your 
 age should pursue your education as a mere matter of 
 routine, learning prescribed lessons, performing enforced 
 tasks, resisting, unintelligent, and uninterested. Such an 
 experience on your part would not constitute any true 
 education. It would not involve any development of 
 capability in you. It could only render you dull, fond of 
 shirking, slovenly in your work, and superficial in your 
 attainments. Unless I am greatly mistaken, some counter- 
 action to such a low and unworthy conception of academical 
 life may be secured by showing its relation to real life, and 
 attaching things pursued here to practical and enduring 
 benefits. I have known men to get those benefits with- 
 out knowing it; and I believe that you would get them 
 better if you got them intelligently, and that you would 
 appreciate them better if you got them consciously. 
 
 In the first place, it will be profitable to look at one or 
 two notions in regard to the purpose of education which 
 do not seem to be sound. One is that it is the purpose of 
 education to give special technical skill or dexterity and 
 to fit a man to get a living. We may admit at once that 
 the object of study is to get useful knowledge. It was, 
 indeed, the error of some old systems of academical pur- 
 suits that they gave only a special dexterity and that too 
 in such a direction as the making of Greek and Latin verses, 
 which is a mere accomplishment and not a very good one
 
 DISCIPLINE 425 
 
 at that. It must be ranged with dancing and fencing; it 
 is not as high as drawing, painting, or music. There is, 
 moreover, a domain in which special technical training is 
 proper. It is the domain of the industrial school, for giv- 
 ing a certain theoretical knowledge of persons who will be 
 engaged for life in the mechanic arts. With this limita- 
 tion, however, we have at once given to us the bounds 
 which preclude this notion from covering the true con- 
 ception of an academic career. It does not simply provide 
 technical training for a higher class of arts which require 
 longer preparation. You know that this conception is 
 widely held through our American community, and that 
 it is laid down with great dogmatic severity by persons 
 who sometimes, unfortunately, are in a position to turn 
 their opinions into law. It is one of the great obstacles 
 against which all efforts for higher education amongst us 
 have to contend. 
 
 I pass on, however, to another opinion just now much 
 more fashionable and held by people who are, at any rate, 
 much more elegant than the supporters of the view just 
 mentioned, that is, the opinion that what we expect from 
 education is "culture." Culture is a word which offers 
 us an illustration of the degeneracy of language. If I may 
 define culture, I have no objection to admitting that it is 
 the purpose of education to produce it; but since the word 
 came into fashion, it has been stolen by the dilettanti and 
 made to stand for their own favorite forms and amounts 
 of attainments. Mr. Arnold, the great apostle, if not the 
 discoverer, of culture, tried to analyze it and he found it to 
 consist of sweetness and light. To my mind, that is like 
 saying that coffee is milk and sugar. The stuff of culture 
 is all left out of it. So, in the practice of those who accept 
 this notion, culture comes to represent only an external 
 smoothness and roundness of outline without regard to 
 intrinsic qualities.
 
 426 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 We have got so far now as to begin to distinguish dif- 
 ferent kinds of culture. There is chromo culture, of which 
 we heard much a little while ago, and there is bouffe culture, 
 which is only just invented. If I were in the way of it, I 
 should like to add another class, which might be called 
 sapolio culture, because it consists in putting a high polish 
 on plated ware. There seems great danger lest this kind 
 may come to be the sort aimed at by those who regard 
 culture as the end of education. 
 
 A truer idea of culture is that which regards it as equiva- 
 lent to training, or the result of training, which brings into 
 intelligent activity all the best powers of mind and body. 
 Such a culture is not to be attained by writing essays about 
 it, or by forming ever so clear a literary statement or 
 mental conception of what it is. It is not to be won by 
 wishing for it, or aping the external manifestations of it. 
 We men can get it only by industrious and close applica- 
 tion of the powders we want to develop. We are not sure 
 of getting it by reading any number of books. It requires 
 continual application of literary acquisitions to practice 
 and it requires a continual correction of mental concep- 
 tions by observation of things as they are. For the sake 
 of distinguishing sharply between the true idea of culture 
 and the false, I have thought it better to call the true 
 culture discipline, a word which perhaps brings out its 
 essential character somewhat better. 
 
 Here let me call your attention to one very broad gener- 
 alization on human life which men continually lose sight 
 of, and of which culture is an illustration. The great and 
 heroic things which strike our imagination are never at- 
 tainable by direct efforts. This is true of wisdom, glory, 
 fame, virtue, culture, public good, or any other of the great 
 ends which men seek to attain. We cannot reach any of 
 these things by direct effort. They come as the refined 
 result, in a secondary and remote way, of thousands of
 
 DISCIPLINE 427 
 
 acts which have another and closer end in view. If a man 
 aims at wisdom directly, he will be very sure to make an 
 affectation of it. He will attain only to a ridiculous pro- 
 fundity in commonplaces. Wisdom is the result of great 
 knowledge, experience, and observation, after they have 
 all been sifted and refined down into sober caution, trained 
 judgment, skill in adjusting means to ends. 
 
 In like manner, one who aims at glory or fame directly 
 will win only that wretched caricature which we call noto- 
 riety. Glory and fame, so far as they are desirable things, 
 are remote results which come of themselves at the end of 
 long and repeated and able exertions. 
 
 The same holds true of the public good or the "cause," 
 or whatever else we ought to call that end which fires the 
 zeal of philanthropists and martyrs, \^^len this is pur- 
 sued directly as an immediate good, there arise extrava- 
 gances, fanaticisms, and aberrations of all kinds. Strong 
 actions and reactions take place in social Hfe, but not 
 orderly growth and gain. The first impression no doubt is 
 that of noble zeal and self-sacrifice, but this is not the sort 
 of work by which society gains. The progress of society 
 is nothing but the slow and far remote result of steady, 
 laborious, painstaking growth of individuals. The man 
 who makes the most of himself and does his best in his 
 sphere is doing far more for the public good than the phil- 
 anthropist who runs about with a scheme which would set 
 the world straight if only everybody would adopt it. 
 
 This view cuts down a great deal of the heroism which 
 fills such a large part of our poetry, but it brings us, I 
 think, several very encouraging reflections. The first is 
 that one does not need to be a hero to be of some impor- 
 tance in the world. Heroes are gone by. We want now a 
 good supply of eflScient workaday men, to stand each in 
 his place and do good work. The second reflection to which 
 we are led is that we do not need to be straining our eyes
 
 428 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 continually to the horizon to see where we are coming out, 
 or, in other words, we do not need to trouble ourselves 
 with grand theories and purposes. The determination to 
 do just what lies next before us is enough. The great re- 
 sults will all come of themselves and take care of them- 
 selves. We may spare ourselves all grand emotions and 
 heroics, because the more simply and directly we take the 
 business of life, the better will be the result. The third 
 inference which seems to be worth mentioning is that we 
 come to understand the value of trifles. 
 
 All that I have said here about wisdom, fame, glory, 
 "public good," as ends to be aimed at, holds good also of 
 culture. It becomes a sham and affectation when we make 
 it an immediate end, and comes in its true form only as a 
 remote and refined result of long labor and discipline. 
 
 Before I speak of it, however, in its direct relation to 
 education, let me introduce one other observation on the 
 doctrine I have stated that we cannot aim at the great 
 results directly. That is this: the motive to all imme- 
 diate efforts is either self-interest or the desire to gratify 
 one's tastes and natural tendencies. I say that all the 
 grand results which make up what we call social progress 
 are the results of millions of efforts on the part of millions 
 of people, and that the motive to each effort in the heart 
 of the man who made it was the gratification of a need or 
 a tendency of his nature. I know that some may consider 
 this a selfish doctrine, eliminating all self-sacrifice and 
 martyr or missionary spirit, but to me it is a pleasure to 
 observe that we are not at war with ourselves, and that 
 the intelligent pursuit of our best good as individuals is 
 the surest means to the good of society. Moreover, do 
 you imagine that if you set out to make the most of your- 
 self in any position in which you are placed, that you will 
 have no chance for self-sacrifice, and no opportunity of 
 martyrdom offered you.'^ Do you think that a man who
 
 DISCIPLINE 429 
 
 employs thoroughly all the means he possesses to make his 
 one unit of humanity as perfect as possible, can do so with- 
 out at every moment giving and receiving with the other 
 units about him? Do you think that he can go on far 
 without finding himself stopped by the question whether 
 his comrades are going in the same direction or not? Will 
 he not certainly find himself forced to stand against a tide 
 which is flowing in the other direction? It will certainly 
 be so. The real martyrs have always been the men who 
 were forced to go one way while the rest of the community 
 in which they lived were going another, and they were 
 swept down by the tide. I promise you that if you pursue 
 what is good for yourself, you need not take care for the 
 good of society; I warn you that if you pursue what is 
 good, you will find yourself limited by the stupidity, igno- 
 rance, and folly of the society in which you live; and I 
 promise you also that if you hold on your way through the 
 crowd or try to make them go with you, you will have 
 ample experience of self-sacrifice and as much martyrdom 
 as you care for. 
 
 Now, if I have not led you too deep into social philos- 
 ophy, let us turn again to culture. We find that culture 
 comes from thought, study, observation, literary and scien- 
 tific activity, and we find that men practice these for gain, 
 for professional success, for immediate pleasure, or to 
 gratify their tastes. The great motive of interest provides 
 the energy and this culture is but a secondary result. It 
 is a significant fact to observe that when the motive of 
 interest is removed, culture becomes flaccid and falls into 
 dilletantism. 
 
 I think that we have gained a standpoint now from 
 which we can study undergraduate life and make observa- 
 tions on it which have even scientific value. During an 
 undergraduate career, the motive of interest in each suc- 
 cessive step is wanting. There is no immediate object of
 
 430 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 pleasure or gain in the lesson to be learned next. Only 
 exceptionally is it true that the learning of the lesson will 
 gratify a taste or fill a desire. The university honors are 
 only artificial means of arousing the same great motive, 
 which is in the social body what gravitation is in physics. 
 The penalties which are here to be dreaded are but imita- 
 tions of life's penalties. I think that many who have 
 undertaken to give advice and rebuke and warning to 
 young men in a state of pupilage have failed because they 
 have not fully analyzed or correctly grasped this fact, that 
 the academical world is a little community by itself in 
 which the great natural forces which bind older men to 
 sobriety and wisdom act only imperfectly. Life is far less 
 interesting when the successive steps are taken under com- 
 pulsion or for a good which is remote and only known by 
 hearsay, than it is when every step is taken for an imme- 
 diate profit. I doubt very much whether the hope of cul- 
 ture or self-sacrificing zeal for the public good would make 
 older men toil in lawyer's oflBces and counting-houses, 
 unless there were such immediate rewards as wealth and 
 professional success. In real life it is true that men must 
 do very many things which are disagreeable and wliich 
 they do not want to do, but there too the disagreeable 
 things are made easier to bear. The troubles of academical 
 life seem to be arbitrary troubles, inflicted by device of 
 foolish or malicious men. Troubles of that kind always 
 rouse men to anger and rankle in their hearts. But there 
 is no railing against those ills of life which are inherent in 
 the constitution of things. A man who rails at those is 
 laughed at. So the man just emancipated from academical 
 life finds himself freed from conventional rules but sub- 
 jected to penalties for idleness and extravagance and folly 
 infinitely heavier than any he has been accustomed to, and 
 inflicted without warning or mercy or respite. On the other 
 hand, he finds that life presents opportunities and attrac-
 
 DISCIPLINE 431 
 
 tions for him to work, where work has a zest about it which 
 comes from contact with Hving things. His academical 
 weapons and armor are stiff and awkward at first and he 
 may very probably come to despise them, but longer ex- 
 perience will show that his education, if it was good, gave 
 him rather the power to use any weapons than special skill 
 in the use of particular ones. Special technical skill always 
 tends to routine. Although it is an advantage in itself, it 
 may under circumstances become a limitation. The only 
 true conception of a "liberal" education is that it gives a 
 broad discipline to the whole man, which uses routine 
 without being conquered by it and can change its direc- 
 tion and application when occasion requires. 
 
 This brings me then to speak of the real scope and ad- 
 vantage of a disciplinary education. A man who has en- 
 joyed such an education has simply had his natural powers 
 developed and reduced to rule, and he has gained for him- 
 self an intelligent control of them. Before an academical 
 audience it is not necessary for me to stop to clear away 
 the popular notions about untutored powers and self-made 
 men. It is enough to say that the "self-made" man is, 
 by the definition, the first bungling essay of a bad work- 
 man. An undeveloped human mind is simply a bundle of 
 possibilities. It may come to much or little. If it is highly 
 trained by years of patient exercise, judiciously imposed, it 
 becomes capable of strict and methodical action. It may 
 be turned to any one of a hundred tasks which offer them- 
 selves to us men here on earth. It may have gained this 
 discipline in one particular science or another, and it may 
 have special technical acquaintance with one more than 
 another. Such will almost surely be the case, but there is 
 not a more mistaken, one-sided, and mischievous con- 
 troversy than that about the science which should be made 
 the basis of education. Every science has, for disciplinary 
 purposes, its advantages and its limitations. The man who
 
 432 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 is trained on chemistry will become a strict analyst and 
 will break up heterogeneous compounds of all kinds, but 
 he will be likely also to rest content with this destructive 
 work and to leave the positive work of construction or 
 synthesis to others. The man who is trained on history will 
 be quick to discern continuity of force or law under dif- 
 ferent phases, but he will be content with broad phases and 
 heterogeneous combinations such as histor;y offers, and will 
 not be a strict analyst. The man who is trained on mathe- 
 matics will have great power of grasping purely concep- 
 tional relations, or abstract ideas, which are, however, 
 most sharply defined; but he will be likely to fasten upon 
 a subordinate factor in some other kind of problem, espe- 
 cially if that factor admits of more complete abstraction 
 than any of the others. The man who is trained on the 
 science of language approaches the continuity and develop- 
 ment of history with a guiding thread in his hand, and his 
 comparisons, furnishing stepping-stones now on the right 
 and now on the left, lead him on in a course where induc- 
 tion and deduction go so close together that they can 
 hardly be separated; but the study of language again 
 always threatens to degenerate into a cram of grammati- 
 cal niceties and a fastidiousness about expression, under 
 which the contents are forgotten. Now, in individual 
 affairs, family, social, and political affairs, all these powers 
 of mind find occasion for exercise. They are needed in 
 business, in professions, in technical pursuits; and the 
 man best fitted for the demands of life would be the man 
 whose powers of mind of all these diverse orders and kinds 
 had all been harmoniously developed. How shallow then 
 is the idea that education is meant to give or can give a 
 mass of monopolized information, and how important it 
 is that the student should understand what he may expect 
 and what he may not expect from his education. As your 
 education goes on, you ought to gain in your power of
 
 DISCIPLINE 433 
 
 observation. Natural incidents, political occurrences, social 
 events, ought to present to you new illustrations of general 
 principles with which your studies have made you familiar. 
 You ought to gain in power to analyze and compare, so 
 that all the fallacies which consist in presenting things as 
 like, which are not like, should not be able to befog your 
 reason. You ought to become able to recognize and test a 
 generalization, and to distinguish between true generaliza- 
 tions and dogmas on the one hand, or commonplaces on 
 another, or whimsical speculations on another. You ought 
 to know when you are dealing with a true law which you 
 may follow to the uttermost; when you have only a general 
 truth; when you have an hypothetical theory; when you 
 have a possible conjecture; and when you have only an 
 ingenious assumption. These are most important distinc- 
 tions on either side. Some people are affected by a notion, 
 fashionable just now, that it belongs to culture never to 
 go too far. Mr. Brook, in "Middlemarch," you remember, 
 is a type of that culture. He believed in things up to a 
 certain point and was always afraid of going too far. We 
 have a good many aspirants after culture nowadays whose 
 capital consists in a superficial literary tradition and the 
 same land of terror of going too far. They would put a 
 saving clause in the multiplication table, and make reser- 
 vations in the rule of three. On the other hand, we have 
 those who can never express anything to which they are 
 inclined to assent without gushing. A simple opinion 
 must be set forth in a torrent fit to enforce a great scien- 
 tific truth. One is just as much the sign of an imperfect 
 training as the other, and you meet with both, as my de- 
 scription shows, in persons who pride themselves on their 
 culture. I will not deny that they are cultivated; I only 
 say that they are not well disciplined, that is, not well 
 educated. 
 
 Your education, if it is disciplinary, ought also to teach
 
 434 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 you the value of clear thinking, that is, of exact definitions, 
 clear propositions, well-considered opinions. What a flood 
 of loose rhetoric, distorted fact, and unclear thinking is 
 poured out upon us whenever a diflBcult question falls into 
 popular discussion! You cannot find that people who 
 assume to take part in the discussion have a clear defini- 
 tion in their minds of even what they conceive the main 
 terms in the discussion to mean. They do not seem able 
 to make a proposition which will bear handling so as to 
 see what it is, and whether it is true or not. They cannot 
 analyze even such facts as they have collected, and hence 
 cannot draw inferences which are sound. It needs but 
 little discussion of any great political or social question to 
 show instances of this, and to show the immense impor- 
 tance of having in the community men of trained and dis- 
 ciplined intellects, who can think with some clearness and 
 resist plain confusion of terms and thought. For instance, 
 I saw the other day a long argument on an important 
 public topic which turned upon the assertion and belief 
 on the part of the writer that a mathematical ratio and a 
 subjective opinion were things of the same nature and 
 value. Perhaps, when he was at school, his father thought 
 there was no use in studying algebra and geometry. It 
 would not make so much difference if he would not now 
 meddle with things for which he did not prepare himself, 
 but it is this kind of person who is the pest of every science, 
 traversing it with his whims and speculations; and perhaps 
 I feel the more strongly the importance of this point be- 
 cause the political, economic, and social sciences suffer 
 from the want of high discipline more than any others. 
 
 I ought not to pass without mention here the mischief 
 which is done in every science by its undisciplined advo- 
 cates who, while admitted to its inner circle, distract its 
 progress and throw it into confusion by neglect of strict 
 principles, by incorrect analyses or classifications, or by
 
 DISCIPLINE 435 
 
 flinching in the face of fallacies. They render the ranks 
 unsteady and delay the march, and the reason is because 
 they have never had rigorous discipline either before or 
 since they enlisted. 
 
 If your education is disciplinary, it ought also to teach 
 you how to organize. I add this point especially because 
 I esteem it important and it is rarely noticed. It is really 
 a high grade of discipline which enables men to organize 
 voluntarily. If men begin to study and think, they move 
 away from tradition and authority. The first effect is to 
 break up and dissolve their inherited and traditional opin- 
 ions as to religion, politics, and society. This is a neces- 
 sary process of transition from formal and traditional dogma 
 to intelligent conviction. It applies to all the notions of 
 religion, as has often been noticed, but it applies none the 
 less to politics and to one's notions of life. The common- 
 places of patriotism, the watchwords of parties and tradi- 
 tion, the glib and well-worn phrases and terms have to be 
 analyzed again, and under the process much of their dignity 
 and sanctity evaporates. So too one's views of life, of the 
 meaning of social phenomena, and of the general rules for 
 men to pursue with each other, undergo a recasting. Now 
 during this process, men diverge and break up. They do 
 not agree. They differ by less and more, and also by the 
 various recombinations of the factors which they make. 
 Pride, vanity, and self-seeking come in to increase this 
 divergence, it being regarded as a sign of independence 
 of thought. .,, 
 
 It is not too much to say that so long as this divergence 
 exists, it is a sign of a low and imperfect development of 
 science. If pride and vanity intermingle, they show that 
 discipline has not yet done its perfect work. It is only on 
 a higher stage of culture or discipline that self is so over- 
 borne in zeal for the scientific good that opinions converge 
 and organization becomes possible. But you are well
 
 436 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 aware that without organization we men can accomplish 
 very Httle. It is not the freedom of the barbarian who 
 would rather live alone than undergo the inevitable coer- 
 cion of the neighborhood of others that we want. We 
 want only free and voluntary coordination, but it belongs 
 to discipline itself to teach us that we must have coordina- 
 tion in order to attain to any high form of good. 
 
 I have now tried to show you the scope, advantages, and 
 needs of a disciplinary education. I have one remark more 
 to make in this connection. A man with a well-disciplined 
 mind possesses a tool which he can use for any purpose 
 which he needs to serve. I do not consider it an important 
 question by the study of what sciences he shall get this dis- 
 cipline, for, if he gets it, the acquisition of information in 
 any new department of learning will be easy for him, and 
 he will be strong, alert, and well equipped for any exigency 
 of life. 
 
 Before quitting the subject, I desire to point out its rela- 
 tion to one other matter, that is, to morals, or manners. 
 It is a common opinion that the higher man attains, the 
 freer he becomes. A moment's reflection will show that 
 this is not true — but rather quite the contrary. The 
 rowdy has far less restraints to consider than the gentle- 
 man. "Noblesse oblige" was perverted in its application, 
 perhaps, before the Revolution, but it contains a sound 
 principle and a great truth. The higher you go in social 
 attainments, the greater will be the restraints upon you. 
 The gait, the voice, the manner, the rough independence, 
 of one order of men is unbecoming in another. Education 
 above all brings this responsibility. Discipline in manners 
 and morals does not belong to the specific matter of educa- 
 tion, but it follows of itself on true education. The educated 
 man must work by himself without any overseer over him. 
 He finds his compulsion in himself and it holds him to his 
 task longer and closer than any external compulsion.
 
 DISCIPLINE 437 
 
 This responsibility to self we call honor, and it is one 
 of the highest fruits of discipline when discipline, having 
 wrought through intellect, has reached character. Honor 
 falls under the rule which I mentioned early in this lecture. 
 You cannot reach it because you want it. You cannot 
 reach it by direct effort. It cannot be taught to you as a 
 literary theory. True honor can only grow in men by the 
 long practice of conduct which is good and noble under 
 motives which are pure. We laugh at the artificial honor 
 of the Middle Ages and despise that of the dueling code, 
 but let us not throw away the kernel with the shell. Honor 
 is a tribunal within one's self whose code is simply the best 
 truth one knows. There are no advocates, no witnesses, 
 and no technicalities. To feel one's seK condemned by 
 that tribunal is to feel at discord with one's self and to sus- 
 tain a wound which rankles longer and stings more deeply 
 than any wound in the body. It is the highest achievement 
 of educational discipline to produce this sense of honor in 
 minds of young men, which gives them a guide in the midst 
 of temptation and at a time when all codes and standards 
 seem to be matter of opinion. I have said some things 
 about lack of discipline in thought and discussion, but 
 that is nothing compared with the lack of discipline in 
 conduct which you see in a man who has never known 
 wliat honor is, whose whole moral constitution is so form- 
 less and flabby that it can perform none of its functions, 
 and who is continually seeking some special plea, or sophis- 
 try, or deceptive device for paying homage to the right 
 while he does the wrong. Education ought to act against 
 all this and in favor of a high code of honor, not simply 
 the education of schools and academies, but that together 
 with the education of home and family. Our great educa- 
 tional institutions ought to have an atmosphere of their 
 own and impose traditions of their own, for the power which 
 controls in the academic community is not the voice of
 
 4S8 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 authority but the voice of academic public opinion. That 
 might root out falsehood and violence and meanness of 
 every kind, which no penalties of those in authority could 
 ever reach; and I submit that such a public opinion would 
 be becoming in a body of young men of good home advan- 
 tages and the best educational opportunities the country 
 affords. Call it high training, or culture, or discipline, or 
 high breeding, or what you will, it is only the sense of 
 what we owe to ourselves, and it is greater and greater 
 according to our opportunities.
 
 THE COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH
 
 THE COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH 
 
 Note by the Editor 
 
 AMONG Professor Sumner's papers there turned up 
 a curiosity which I do not like to pass over altogether, 
 although it is more appropriate, perhaps, to the purposes 
 of the biographer. Apparently Sumner amused himself, 
 along in the seventies or early eighties, in figuring to him- 
 self the state of the world under a socialistic regime of the 
 sort which he was always ridiculing and opposing. He did 
 this by imagining the contents of a socialist newspaper, 
 the New Era, of the date July 4, 1950, consisting of edito- 
 rials, news notes, public announcements, criminal cases, and 
 even a book review. The whole caricatures in high 
 colors the phenomena attending such a regime in its 
 period of exuberance. "The following," he writes, "is a 
 complete and verbatim copy of a [New York City] news- 
 paper of the date given. It is printed on a small quarter 
 sheet of coarse paper. The printing is so bad that it is 
 hard to read, and the typographical errors, all of which 
 have been corrected, are inexcusable." 
 
 The motto of the paper is: "Let the Rich Pay! Let 
 the Poor Enjoy!" The responsible editor is Lasalle Smith, 
 and the proprietors Marx Jones, Chairman of the New 
 York City Board of Ethical Control, Cabet Johnson, Chair- 
 man of the Board of Arbitration for Wages and Prices, 
 Babceuf Brown, Chairman of the Board of Control for 
 Rents and Loans, and Rousseau Peters, President of the 
 Cooperative Bank. A notice warns readers that "This 
 paper is published strictly under the cooperative rules 
 
 441
 
 442 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 established by the Typographical Union in our office and 
 under the direction of the council of the same. The Com- 
 mittee of Grievances gives its assent and approval to 
 each number before it is published. All subscriptions are 
 payable monthly in advance to the Treasurer of the Typo- 
 graphical Union. The Typographical Union, being a mem- 
 ber of the organized Cooperative Commonwealth, has police 
 powers for the collection of all sums due to it." 
 
 A special notice reads as foUows: 
 
 We send copies of this edition of our paper to a large 
 number of persons who have not hitherto cooperated in our 
 enterprise but whom we have enrolled until they signify 
 their refusal. We call especial attention to the names and 
 standing in the Cooperative Commonwealth of the pro- 
 prietors of this journal. We believe that many of those 
 whom we now invite to cooperate, and who have been under 
 suspicion of being monopolists, capitalists, recalcitrants, and 
 reactionists, will see that they cannot better establish their 
 credit for civism than by accepting our invitation. 
 
 The following extracts are from the editorials: 
 Our reports of the Ethical Tribunal show that our noble 
 Board of Ethical Control needs to guard diligently our 
 interests. Another pestilent preacher has been condemned 
 to the chain gang. At least we make sure that our streets 
 will be cleaned, a task which no cooperators could be asked 
 to perform, since all the ancient lawyers, professors, and 
 preachers are now condemned to this business. The 
 stubbornness and incorrigibility of these classes towards the 
 Commonwealth is astonishing. 
 
 The Board of Ethical Control announce as the result of 
 the plebiscite which was taken on April 1 last, that, by a
 
 COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH 443 
 
 vote of 5319 to 782, the Commonwealth voted to retain the 
 present Board of Ethical Control for ten years, instead of 
 reelecting them annually as heretofore. This is as it 
 should be. TNTiy disturb the tranquillity of our happy 
 state by constant elections when our affairs are entrusted 
 to such competent hands .'^ 
 
 The agents of the Board of Ethical Control reported 213 
 persons found dead in the streets at the dawn of day, 174 
 bearing marks of violence; the rest, not having coopera- 
 tors' tickets, were ancient monopolists who had apparently 
 perished of want. The Grand Cooperator said that he 
 should submit to the Board of Ethical Control the ques- 
 tion whether it is edifying to continue these reports. 
 
 There follow extracts from the inaugural of G. P. M. C* 
 Lasalle Brown, which begin with the sentiment: 
 
 Of old ye were enslaved by those who said: Work! Save! 
 Study! We emancipate you by saying: Enjoy! Enjoy! 
 Enjoy ! 
 
 The first right of everyone born on this earth is the 
 right to enjoy. The Cooperative Commonwealth assures 
 this right to all its members. 
 
 • We have not abolished private property. We only 
 hold that every man is considered to have devoted his 
 property to public use. W^e have not abolished landlords, 
 capitalists, employers, or captains of industry. We retain 
 and use them. Such members of a society are useful and 
 necessary if only they be held firmly in check and forced 
 to contribute to the public good. 
 
 We need "history" and "statistics" to batter down 
 all the old system, but we should be the dupes of our own 
 
 ^ These initials, as wdll be seen below, mean Grand Passed Master Cooperator, 
 while G. C. indicates the lower grade of Grand Cooperator.
 
 444 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 processes if we used them against ourselves. All sensible 
 cooperators should know that history and statistics are 
 far greater swindles than science. 
 
 There are dangers in the Cooperative Commonwealth 
 which demand vigilance. There is danger of jealousy and 
 division amongst cooperators. Harmony is essential to the 
 Cooperative Commonwealth and we must have it at any 
 price. 
 
 Some say that our Commonwealth is weak. It is the 
 strongest state that ever existed. No one before our time 
 ever knew the power of a "mob," as it used to be called. 
 At a tap of the bell, every cooperator is at hand. Our only 
 danger is factious division of this power. Let every co- 
 operator have rewards for harmony and penalties for fac- 
 tion — strict, sure, and heavy ! 
 
 There is danger from science. The evolution heresy is 
 a worse foe to cooperation than the old Christian dogma. 
 Stamp it out! 
 
 There is danger from the virus of the old anarchism 
 — worst of all because it is often enough like the truth to 
 deceive the elect. It means liberty and individualism. 
 Stamp it out! 
 
 Under the heading "Domestic News'* occurs the 
 following: 
 
 The Commissioners of Emigration have detected several 
 persons striving to leave the city for Long Island, carrying 
 gold with them. It is well known that many rich persons, 
 animated by selfishness and disregarding their duties as 
 trustees of their wealth for the public, have escaped to the 
 wilds of Long Island beyond the Commune of Brooklyn, 
 carrying with them all the gold which they could obtain. 
 Hence the Commissioners of Emigration have arranged to 
 patrol the East River by the Commonwealth galleys and 
 have limited the ferry transits to the Fulton ferry be-
 
 COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH 445 
 
 tween 8 and 9 a.m. and 5 and 6 p.m. Any persons found 
 carrying away gold will be sent to the galleys and the 
 gold confiscated. Gold is needed to buy supplies for the 
 Commonwealth. 
 
 No dispatches from Philadelphia have been received for 
 a fortnight. A steamboat of 100 tons burden is cruising in 
 the Hudson River, taking toll of all goods in transit across 
 the river. Reports disagree as to the character of the 
 persons on this boat. By some it is asserted to be manned 
 by cooperators who, being poor, are putting into effect ethi- 
 cal claims against material goods. By others it is said to 
 be manned by a gang of monopolist scoundrels and vaga- 
 bonds, who, driven to desperation by the boycott and plan 
 of campaign, seek this means to perpetuate their existence. 
 It behooves the Board of Ethical Control to learn which 
 of these reports is correct before taking action. 
 
 A report comes from the West that the Indians have 
 seized Illinois, killing the whites and taking possession of 
 the improvements. They have imbibed the ancient capi- 
 talistic notions and are impervious to ethical and coopera- 
 tive doctrines. They are rapidly increasing in numbers, 
 strange as it may seem, for we have read in ancient books 
 that they were dying out a century ago. It is suggested 
 that they now increase because they are conquering, 
 and that they will go on doing so until they exterminate 
 all whites from the continent. In the absence of private 
 mails, we humbly suggest that our Board of Ethical Con- 
 trol should communicate with similar boards of the 
 communes to the westward. 
 
 Under the heading "Industrial": 
 
 The Board of Equalization of Production have set the 
 amounts of various commodities which may be produced
 
 446 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 during the coming fall season. Those whom it concerns 
 are to call at the office of the Board at once, pay the fees, 
 and obtain their instructions. The penalty of over-pro- 
 duction is fixed at 100 cooperative units per unit of prod- 
 uct, half to the informer. 
 
 The Board of Arbitration for Contracts will sit daily at 
 their office in Cooperative Hall from 10 to 12 a.m. to ap- 
 prove of contracts. The fee is 1000 cooperative units from 
 each party. Notice is called to the ordinance of the Board 
 of Ethical Control: "If two or more persons make a con- 
 tract without the presence and approval of the Board of 
 Arbitration or otherwise than in conformity with the 
 regulations of said Board, they may be fined according to 
 the circumstances of the case." 
 
 The Cooperative Railroad Commission, having found a 
 mechanic to repair the locomotive, announce that they 
 will recommence regular weekly trips to Yonkers on next 
 Monday. A train will start at 9 a.m., or as soon thereafter 
 as convenient. Accommodation for twenty-five passengers. 
 Passports may be obtained until noon on Saturday. They 
 must be vised by the Railroad Commission and by the 
 Cooperative Guardians of Public Morals at their office in 
 the Cooperative Workhouse not later than two o'clock on 
 the same time. The fare to Y^onkers will be 10,000 coopera- 
 tive units. On account of the inter-county commerce law, 
 all freight and passengers will be trans-shipped at Yonkers. 
 To prevent vexatious inquiries, the Commission hereby 
 announce that they are not informed whether or when 
 trains will be dispatched to points beyond. 
 
 Since the Commonwealth was founded, as our readers 
 know, cooperators have refused to work in coal mines. No 
 great harm has come of this since the factories and ma-
 
 COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH 447 
 
 chinery have been abolished and railroads and steamers 
 have almost gone out of use. Some coal, however, is a 
 convenience, and our readers will see with pleasure that 
 delinquents in considerable numbers are being sent to 
 these mines under an agreement with our Board of Ethical 
 Control with the similar authority of the Lehigh Commune 
 in the ancient state of Pennsylvania. 
 
 We are informed that a number of ancient'capitalists and 
 monopolists, being in a starving condition, recently applied 
 to the Board of the said Commune for leave to go into an 
 abandoned coal mine and work it for their own support. 
 
 A week ago yesterday. Cooperative Association 2391, 
 A. P. D., bricklayers, 7824, M. X. H., plasterers, 4823 
 N. K. J., hodcarriers, F. L. M. 8296, joiners, met to con- 
 sider the state of the building trades. On account of the 
 decrease in the population, by which great numbers of 
 houses are vacant, building has ceased for years past and 
 these once great associations have dwindled down. The 
 Board of Ethical Control has caused public buildings to 
 be constructed in order to give them work and has ordered 
 landlords to make repairs to the same end. The confer- 
 ence on Friday, a week ago, was to consider further meas- 
 ures of relief. It was decided that no vacant house ought 
 to be allowed to stand. Some maintained that no repairs 
 ought to be allowed at all, in order that new houses might 
 become necessary, but others thought that this would take 
 away what little work is now obtained. G. C. Marx Rog- 
 ers, former professor of political economy, made a speech 
 in which he proposed that all houses now vacant and all 
 ruins now standing which give shelter to unregistered vaga- 
 bonds and boycotted persons should be destroyed; also 
 that a committee be appointed to inspect all existing dwell- 
 ings, mark those which are out of repair and unfit for co- 
 operative residences, and that these latter should then
 
 448 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 be razed to the ground. This would cause an immediate 
 demand for new houses. This proposition was unanimously 
 adopted. 
 
 On Wednesday last the cooperative associations afore- 
 said met to hear the report of the committee. Twelve 
 hundred and forty-seven houses had been noted so far as 
 unfit for residences. The joint associations passed a decree 
 against said houses, as a beginning, and ordered the com- 
 mittee of the whole to proceed to execute it. 
 
 They marched in a body to Bleecker Street, the northern- 
 most limit of the ruined houses and demolished them en- 
 tirely. They then moved southerly, destroying all vacant 
 houses. Gradually, a number of persons gathered to look 
 on. The agents of Ethical Supervision kept this crowd at 
 a distance and secured the joint Cooperative Associations 
 full independence in the execution of their decree. 
 
 In East Canal Street, Nonconformist Jonathan Merritt, 
 lessee of a block of tenements, tried to dissuade or prevent 
 the destruction of his buildings. He was roughly handled, 
 his skull split open and his arm broken by the cooperators. 
 The agents of Ethical Supervision took him in on a charge 
 of disturbing the public peace. 
 
 When it came to the destruction of occupied buildings, 
 the tenants objected. By the ordinance of the Board of 
 Lodgings and Rents, each had been allotted to his domi- 
 cile and was, of course, bound to keep it until allowed to 
 change. It was also feared that no lodgings could be found. 
 The Board of Lodgings and Rents immediately convened 
 and issued new allotments of domicile. Suspects, noncon- 
 formists, recalcitrants, and reactionists were sent to lodge 
 in the ancient churches and the cooperators were assigned 
 to their tenements. 
 
 The revival and prosperity of the building trades is now 
 assured.
 
 COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH 449 
 
 Under the heading "Misdemeanors": 
 
 Of all forms of incivism, the most reprehensible is hoard- 
 ing gold. All good cooperators who know of cases of this 
 criminal selfishness are bound to report it at the Bureau of 
 Ethical Supervision under penalty of incivism on the one 
 hand and a reward of ten per cent of the sum on the other. 
 All gold must be exchanged at the bank of G. C. Cabet 
 Rogers for cooperative units. 
 
 An audacious lampoon has been printed at some secret 
 press, the authors of which must be discovered at all cost. 
 It is a blasphemous parody of the Cooperative Catechism. 
 The Commission of Ethical Inquiry has directed all its 
 powerful machinery to detect the authors of this outrage. 
 Let every cooperator oppoint himself a detective to help. 
 Search every house in your neighborhood ! Trust nobody! 
 Every person found in possession of a copy of this pamph- 
 let will be summarily removed from the Commonwealth. 
 
 The supply of potatoes which forms the staple food of 
 the mass of our population is obtained from the northern 
 part of the commune, in what was formerly Westchester 
 County. The great fields there are tilled by the dehn- 
 quents under taxes and fines, incorrigible monopolists, sur- 
 vival capitalists and others under judicial sentence, under 
 the direction of the Board of Ethical Control. The con- 
 victs work from sunrise to sunset, in order to mark the dis- 
 tinction between them and honorable cooperators, who 
 work but five hours per day. The product of the fields on 
 its way to the town is subjected to toll by the free coop- 
 erative associations of the suburbs. Hence it always 
 threatens to be inadequate. Good cooperators cannot 
 better serve the Commonwealth than by ferreting out 
 violators of the ordinances and other persons guilty of 
 incivism.
 
 450 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 Karl Marx Jones, agent of the Board of Equalization of 
 Distribution, has disappeared. It is thought that he has 
 gone towards Boston. He reported to the Board, it will 
 be remembered, two weeks ago, a case of hoarding of gold. 
 He was sent to collect it and was made custodian of it. 
 It has disappeared. The Board count upon the aid of 
 communes to the eastward to recover the gold, but not 
 very confidently. He left all his cooperative units behind 
 him. 
 
 Ordinances of the Committee of Inquiry appears as 
 follows : 
 
 Boycotts are declared against Robert Dorr, for saying 
 that the Cooperative Commonwealth is only a scheme to 
 let a few exploit all the rest; Matthew Brown, for saying 
 that it is all a woman's honor is worth to appear on the 
 street of the Cooperative Commonwealth, even thickly 
 veiled, for she runs the risk of attracting the attention of 
 someone against whom no one can defend her; James 
 Rowe, for refusing to aid the agents of the society in tak- 
 ing from her home without public scandal a woman charged 
 with incivism; John White, for hiding gold coin; William 
 Peck, for saying that Grand Cooperator Lasalle Brown 
 secured the boycott of Elihu Snow to get his property away 
 from him; Edward Grant, for saying that the Cooperative 
 Commonwealth is only slavery m disguise and the treat- 
 ment of persons convicted of incivism is slavery without 
 disguise; Peter Moon, for saying that the Plan of Cam- 
 paign is only a scheme to allow a man's debtors to rob 
 him of a small fraction of their debts if they will let some 
 of the Grand Cooperators rob him of all the remainder. 
 
 A considerable number of minor offences are tried before 
 Grand Cooperator Rodbertus Pease, Member of the Board 
 of Ethical Control:
 
 COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH 451 
 
 George Wood, aged sixty, was arraigned for carrying a 
 pistol at night, not being a member of any cooperative 
 club and therefore not entitled so to do. He declared that 
 the streets were unsafe at night and that he never went out 
 after dark if he could help it, but that he was compelled 
 to go for a doctor for his sick grandchild and took the pistol 
 for security. He was met by two cooperators who asked 
 him to contribute to the Aged Cooperators' Retreat. On 
 his declaring that he had nothing, they searched him and 
 found the pistol. They then demanded his cooperator's 
 ticket. As he had none, they took him to the Bureau of 
 Ethical Supervision, where he was detained until morning. 
 The two complainants appeared against him. They de- 
 clared that they were poor men. On examination it ap- 
 peared that he was an incorrigible adherent of the ancient 
 monopolism. He was fined 10,000 cooperative units, half 
 to the informers. He began to lament at this, saying that 
 he was very poor — poorer than the complainants; but the 
 Grand Cooperator declared that no man could be a poor 
 man who was not a cooperator. 
 
 The Emigration Commissioners whose sole duty is to 
 prevent any immigrants from coming into our commune 
 put at the bar Fritz Meyer, charged with immigrating. 
 He pretended to be a sailor on the Ferdinand Lasalle, but 
 did not return on board of her before she sailed. In defence 
 he pleaded that he was left by accident. He was con- 
 demned to serve on the yacht of the Board of Ethical Con- 
 trol at the pleasure of said Board. 
 
 Ulysses Perkins and others, some of whom were coopera- 
 tors and some not, complained that their neighborhood was 
 annoyed by the Cooperative Brotherhood who hold their 
 evening festivals at Cooperative Hall. They declared that 
 there was shouting and singing and that windows were 
 broken in spite of the heavy shutters. Their complaint 
 was dismissed as an attempt to oppress organized labor.
 
 452 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 and the cooperators amongst them were especially repri- 
 manded. The Grand Cooperator remarked that the 
 prejudice against beer which was manifested in ancient 
 prohibitory and license laws was not respected by the 
 ethical judgment of our time. 
 
 On Monday last, several persons appeared to complain 
 that the roads outside of the city are infested by robbers. 
 They were detained and the Board of Ethical Control sent 
 out delegates to inquire. They reported yesterday, when 
 the complainants were brought before the tribunal to hear 
 their report. They denied that there was any robbery, 
 since robbery means undue exaction of rent or of work for 
 wages. The word was used by the complainants in the 
 ancient capitalistic sense. The delegates found many 
 cooperators enjoying holiday in the fields and by the way- 
 side. Some of them were playful and resented the exclusive 
 manner of passers-by who did not engage in sport. They 
 asked for treats, and they had appointed a committee to 
 solicit funds for their games. Some bands of banished 
 monopolists were reported to be infesting the woods, liv- 
 ing by chance or by tilling some small fields which have 
 not been allotted to them, and plotting against the Com- 
 monwealth. The Grand Cooperator said that such per- 
 sons would be promptly dealt with and dispatched a force 
 of guardians of Ethical Order against them. The com- 
 plainants were discharged with a reprimand for misrepre- 
 senting the innocent enjoyment of the cooperators in the 
 suburb. 
 
 William Johnson, employer, was arraigned for contumacy. 
 The Board of Arbitration ordered him to pay 1000 coopera- 
 tive units per day of six hours. He closed his works. The 
 Grand Cooperator ordered a second charge for malicious 
 lockout and fined him 10,000 cooperative units per day 
 until he should reopen his works. 
 
 Eliza Marcy, cook, actress, 26, was charged with de-
 
 COOPERATI\^ COMMONWEALTH 453 
 
 famation of Emily Wilson, cooperative seamstress. The 
 accused presented a certificate of patronage from G. M. C. 
 Brissot Robinson and was discharged from custody, a re- 
 script of the charge being transmitted to G. M. C. Robin- 
 son for such action as he should deem proper. 
 
 Maria Waters, arraigned for working at type-setting be- 
 low man's rates, pleaded poverty and distress as an excuse. 
 She is the daughter of an ancient monopolist from whom 
 she inherited $100,000 before the abolition of inheritance. 
 She had therefore been denied admittance to any coopera- 
 tive society. She was fined 1000 cooperative units and 
 sent to the Ethical Workhouse to work it out. 
 
 Patrick Boyle, cooperative bricklayer, for mending his 
 own table, he not being a member of the furniture-makers* 
 union, was arraigned as a scab and sentenced to forfeit his 
 cooperative ticket, be graded as a non-conformist, and 
 pay 1000 cooperative units fine. Being unable to pay, he 
 was put under G. M. C. Scroggs to work it out. 
 
 Under " Benefits and Amusements " : 
 
 In addition to the three regular Labor Days of July, the 
 10th, 20th, and 30th, the Board of Ethical Control has 
 decreed an extra one on the 18th, with full wages. Com- 
 monwealth galleys will be ready to convey cooperators 
 and their famihes to Blackwell's Island, where the dancing 
 and dining rooms m the ancient prisons of despotism will 
 be arranged for their entertainment. There will be a free 
 circus at 3 p.m. and a free variety entertainment in the 
 evening. The two latter have been provided by the liber- 
 ality of G. P. M. C. Lasalle Brown. 
 
 Rents remitted for June and all arrears before January 1.
 
 454 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 All cobperators in good standing are entitled to pensions 
 of 100 cooperative units per week, with rations of coopera- 
 tive bread and beer. 
 
 The agents of the Board of Equalization of Distribution 
 will begin next Monday the distribution of July pensions 
 to all cooperators m good and regular standing. The agents 
 will call at the residences of cobperators. There has been 
 some delay which has occasioned just murmurs. It has 
 been due to delinquencies of tax-payers, amongst whom 
 not a little old capitalistic virus remains. 
 
 Masked Ball on every Sunday evening in the ancient 
 Trinity Church. Cooperative Enjoyment Association. 
 Admission 100 c. u. All persons must wear cooperative 
 medals displayed. 
 
 " Foreign News " reports the following debacle: 
 
 It will be remembered that about three years ago the 
 last remnant of English landlords was exiled to Guiana. 
 The Commune of London granted them a ship, of which 
 an immense number blocked the Thames, not having occu- 
 pation, and they were allowed to navigate it if they could. 
 Their children were taken away from them, to be educated 
 in the principles of cooperation. From this mistaken com- 
 plaisance a series of evil consequences have flowed. 
 
 Some of the exiles have had yachting experience and most 
 of them, being trained in the ancient athletic sports, were 
 able to na\dgate the ship. Instead of obeying the law, 
 they sailed to Gibraltar and captured the ancient fortress. 
 There they obtained arms and cannons, of which they put 
 a number on board their ship and returned to London. 
 Their first step was to seize the Columbus, a fine steamer of 
 1000 tons burden, one of the newest and in best repair of 
 those lying in the river. They then filled her bunkers with
 
 COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH 455 
 
 coal and wood which they took by force from the Common- 
 wealth barges in the river. They next seized the arsenals 
 at Greenwich and Norwich, carried off a great number of 
 repeating rifles and ammunition, and destroyed all the rest. 
 The cooperators of London, being taken unawares and 
 being prepared only to cope with the city monopolists, who 
 had been disarmed, were unable to interfere. 
 
 The pirates moored their vessel opposite the city and 
 sent a message of the G. P. M. C. by a captured coop- 
 erator that they would bombard the city if their children 
 were not all delivered to them. A hundred of them landed 
 with repeating rifles and revolvers and marched to the 
 cooperative factories, where they set free all who chose 
 to join them. In short, they departed after securing their 
 children, a vast quantity of tools and machinery, arms, 
 supplies, and ammunition. A large number of flunkies 
 and snobs joined them, suflBcient to man one or two other 
 vessels. 
 
 It now appears that they have taken possession of the 
 Island of Sicily and made it a base of concentration for a 
 grand political reaction. They have proclaimed as far as 
 possible that their island is a refuge for landlords, monopo- 
 lists, and capitalists, and the roads of Europe are crowded 
 with vagabonds seeking to reach this nest of pirates. The 
 pirate state is growing. It is a republic like one of our 
 ancient states. It has an army of 5000 men who boast that 
 with the arms which they possess they can march from one 
 end of Europe to another. They control the Mediterranean 
 and all its coasts. They have served notice on the com- 
 munal commonwealths of the Continent that they will 
 avenge any coercion exercised against any persons who 
 seek to join them, and six months ago they sent a force 
 of 6000 men to Lyons to set free a band of aristocrats who 
 were imprisoned there and were threatened with the 
 guillotine.
 
 456 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 It is said that there are no artisans now who are able 
 to manufacture repeating rifles like those which these 
 robbers possess, except amongst themselves — they having 
 hired mechanics to recover the art. Even the guns yet 
 remaining on the Continent cannot be used because the 
 art of making the amnmnition is lost. It was a great mis- 
 take to let these pestilent scoundrels loose. Their state 
 threatens the whole cooperative movement. Its existence 
 has greatly strengthened the coUectivists among coopera- 
 tors, for it is said that the big empires must be restored (on 
 cooperative principles) to cope with them. 
 
 "Personal Items " record the following: 
 
 G. P. M. C. Lasalle Brown last evening gave a grand ball 
 and house-warming in his new house on Fifth Avenue. 
 By demolishing and removing the unsightly ruined houses 
 in the neighborhood, a beautiful park and garden have 
 been added to this fine tenement. It was illuminated last 
 evening by thousands of lamps and torches carried by the 
 convicts who are under discipline in the household of the 
 G. P. M. C. The guests were members of the Board of 
 Ethical Control and their families, some of whom, remem- 
 bering their own antecedents, observed with interest 
 amongst the convicts sons and daughters of ancient monopo- 
 lists, and in some cases white-haired survivals from the age 
 of bankers, railroad kings, and merchant princes. Such 
 are the revenges of history! 
 
 One hundred new carriages for the Board of Ethical Con- 
 trol have just arrived. They are of the most superb work- 
 manship and cost $5000 in gold each. They belong, of 
 course, to the Commonwealth and can only be used under 
 permission of the Board of Ethical Control. They have 
 been put, one each, under the care of separate members of
 
 COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH 457 
 
 the Board, as no private individual is allowed to violate 
 equality by owning a carriage. We noticed with pleasure 
 yesterday the families of Grand Cooperators in these car- 
 riages in the park. 
 
 Non-conformists and others like them outside the pale of 
 the Commonwealth have, of late years, when they found 
 their position disagreeable, adopted the plan of attaching 
 themselves voluntarily as retainers or vassals to coopera- 
 tors, especially to the leading members of the Board of 
 Ethical Control. In this way they secure some of the 
 advantages of cooperation. In order to show their posi- 
 tion and relationship, they wear special tokens or marks. 
 The clients of the newly inaugurated G. P. M. C. have 
 just been put into uniform or livery. They attended him 
 in a body on his recent visit to his country seat at River- 
 dale, where they did guard duty. Added to his personal 
 bodyguard of cooperators and friends, they made an im- 
 posing body. This country-seat, by the way, has just been 
 surrounded by a high stone wall. 
 
 There occurs an obituary of one of the community's 
 leading lights : 
 
 G. C. Brissot Cunningham died at 01 Fifth Avenue on 
 W^ednesday last. He was born May 16, 1905 and was edu- 
 cated for a lawyer. In 1930, putting himself in the fore- 
 most rank of the cooperative movement and identifying 
 himself with the most radical section, he was admitted to 
 the bar. By the abolition of inheritance, he found himself, 
 on the death of his father in the following year, thrown 
 entirely on his own resources. He then passed through 
 some years of obscurity and great poverty, which taught 
 him to feel for the poor. 
 
 Allying himself with the noble band which supported 
 our present G. P. M. C, he helped to bring about the foun-
 
 458 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 dation of the cooperation in 1940 and was elected member 
 of the Board of Ethical Control. In the Board he filled 
 many of the most important and responsible positions on 
 the several committees and was regularly reelected. He 
 devoted himself to securing the Commonwealth, flinching 
 from no measure to establish it. He believed thoroughly 
 in the motto "Enjoy." After he became a member of the 
 
 Board of Ethical Control, the former mansion of the s 
 
 on Fifth Avenue was allotted to him and furnished from 
 the Commonwealth storehouse of forfeited property. He 
 there kept up a munificent hospitality on the most altru- 
 istic principles. He neither cared to know whence his 
 income came nor whither it went. In the spirit of a true 
 cooperator, whatever belonged to the Commonwealth was 
 his and whatever was his was free to any cooperator. His 
 popularity with the masses was shown yesterday when they 
 turned out in a body for his funeral. The non-cooperators 
 who had felt his scourge were naturally absent. A few of 
 them who could not conceal their joy at his death were 
 summarily corrected by the cooperators. By his death at 
 the early age of forty-five, our Commonwealth has lost a 
 valuable supporter. 
 
 [According to the ordinance adopted by the Board of 
 Ethical Control, February 10, 1945, since he died a mem- 
 ber of the Board, his family will have a pension of $15,000 
 per annum in gold for twenty-five years and the use of his 
 house for the same time. The Board will fill the vacancy 
 next week. — Editor of this paper.] 
 
 The Text-book of Cooperation, ordained by the Board of 
 Ethical Control for schools, is reviewed as follows: 
 
 This book is an authoritative exposition of the Coopera- 
 tive Commonwealth in the commune form. It is to super- 
 sede all other books except the primer, writing-book, and
 
 COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH 459 
 
 elementary arithmetic. We have done with all the ancient 
 rubbish. All the books which have not been destroyed are 
 under the control of the Board of Ethical Control. Es- 
 pecially we are now rid of all pernicious trash about his- 
 tory, law, and political economy. The present book 
 contains all that a good cooperator needs to know. Its 
 tone is strictly ethical. By separating all children of in- 
 corrigibles and survivals from their parents and educating 
 them on this book, we may soon hope to bring all capitalis- 
 tic tradition to an end. 
 
 It is plainly proved here that the first right of every 
 man and woman is the right to capital. This right is valid 
 up to the time when he or she gets capital, when it becomes 
 ethically subject to the similar right of someone else, who 
 has no capital as yet, to have some. This principle carried 
 out is the guarantee of justice and equality and is the fun- 
 damental principle of the Cooperative Commonwealth in 
 the middle of the twentieth century. 
 
 The text-book describes the organization of our Com- 
 monwealth, with the duties of cooperators, and gives a 
 list of the ordinances of the Board of Control. 
 
 There are now 1000 members of the Board of Ethical 
 Control and 10,000 agents in their employ, chosen by 
 lot monthly from all cooperators. The Board is divided 
 into ten Boards of 100 each for various branches of duty. 
 The members receive no salary but are remunerated by 
 fees. They enjoy no privileges or rights in the Common- 
 wealth, but have the duty of regulating all cooperative 
 affairs according to their conscientious convictions of jus- 
 tice. The ten chairmen of Boards form an exclusive com- 
 mission which decrees boycotts and plans of campaign. 
 There are no laws or lawyers in the system and no courts 
 or juries of the ancient type, now happily almost forgotten. 
 There are no police, no detectives, no army, no militia, and 
 no prisons. The ancient prison at Sing Sing, which is now
 
 460 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 within the limits of this commune, is turned into a Cooj>- 
 erators' Retreat. Under this happy regime no cobperator 
 can do wrong. Our only culprits are recalcitrants, suspects, 
 incorrigibles, survivals, and other would-be perpetuators of 
 the old regime of monoply and capitalistic extortion. Such 
 persons are compelled to expiate their selfishness and in- 
 civism by hard labor, but they are taken for this purpose 
 into the households or factories of the members of the 
 Board of Ethical Control, where they are subject to ethical 
 discipline and produce those things which are essential to 
 the community and which the Board of Ethical Control 
 contracts to provide. The employments are such as free 
 cooperators consider disagreeable, unhealthy, or degrading. 
 
 The Committee of Inquiry into Incivism is a committee 
 of the Board of Ethical Control and has the high and im- 
 portant duty of watching over cooperative duties. Its 
 number and members are unknown, lest they should be 
 objects of malice. Its sessions and procedure are secret. 
 It employs 100 agents but has a right to command 
 the services at any time of all cooperators. Com- 
 plaints of incivism may be lodged night or day by any 
 cooperator in the lion's mouth in the court of the Coopera- 
 tive Hall (ancient United States postoffice). 
 
 The Committee proceeds against persons guilty of in- 
 civism by boycotts chiefly. This measure puts the culprit 
 outside the pale of the Commonwealth which he has 
 maligned or in which he has refused to take his share. Such 
 persons become vagabonds, and disappear or perish. 
 
 The chapter on cooperative religion is in the form of a 
 catechism and is to be thoroughly learned by heart by all 
 pupils. It inculcates the doctrines of our social creed by 
 which each one is bound to serve the health, wealth, and 
 happiness of every other. Those who have the means of 
 material enjoyment shall put them at the disposition and 
 use of those who have them not. It impresses above all the
 
 COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH 461 
 
 great duty of civism, or conformity to cooperative organiza- 
 tion and obedience to the Board of Ethical Control. 
 
 There is complete equality and no distinction of class in 
 the Cooperative Commonwealth. Every man, woman, and 
 child is eligible to the Board of Ethical Control. The only 
 distinction is of merit and service to the Commonwealth. 
 In this the members of the Board of Ethical Control 
 stand first. There is no second. Outside of the Coopera- 
 tive Committee are, in order of demerit and detestation, 
 probationers (cooperators who have forfeited their coopera- 
 tive tickets for fault but who may be restored to member- 
 ship), survivals (employers, capitalists, landlords, usurers, 
 subject to the Commonwealth and continuing the ancient 
 functions of such persons), nonconformists (stubborn per- 
 sons who refuse to conform to the new order), recalcitrants 
 (any of the former who have been subject to discipline five 
 times), incorrigibles (after twenty cases of discipline), sus- 
 pects (so decreed if charged but not convicted of incivism), 
 reactionists (once cooperators but convicted of disorgani- 
 zation) and convicts (under boycott or plan of compaign). 
 Every person must be registered and have always on his 
 person a brass medal hung by a chain about his neck, 
 bearing his designation and number, with the letters desig- 
 nating his group, domicile, also district, ward, and arron- 
 dissement. This constitutes his social designation. These 
 medals are given out by the Board of Ethical Supervision. 
 The fee is 1000 cooperative units, repeated each time that 
 the person is re-classified and a new medal issued. 
 
 Advertisements are included, as, for example: 
 
 John Moon, licensed to sell pistols and ammunition. 
 A few revolvers newly imported from the commune of 
 Hartford at great difficulty and expense. Bliss Bldg. 
 
 Henry Black, pistols and bowie-knives. Sales strictly
 
 462 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 within the ordinances. Every purchaser required to show 
 cooperator's ticket, and sales registered. 268 Felicity 
 Boulevard. 
 
 Elias Israel, pawn broker, loans at 10% per month on 
 cooperative private property only. Sales of forfeited goods 
 every Sunday. 618 Joy Avenue. 
 
 The editor has no compunction about publishing these 
 extracts, though it may be objected that they can be at 
 most of historical or personal interest. Perhaps, in the 
 light of the antics of the Bolsheviki, even such a parody as 
 the foregoing may seem less wide of the potentialities of 
 the socialistic system. In any case, if modern socialism 
 has renounced some of the wild dreams of its past, that is 
 largely owing to the criticism and ridicule poured upon 
 them by vigorous opponents of the Sumner type. Says 
 a prominent American, writing to the editor subsequently 
 to the publication of one of the foregoing volumes of this 
 series: "I have for many years publicly and privately 
 urged socialists to read — really read — Sumner — as the 
 most doughty and competent foe with whom they have to 
 reckon."
 
 THE FORGOTTEN MAN
 
 THE FORGOTTEN MAN 
 
 [1883] 
 
 I PROPOSE in this lecture to discuss one of the most 
 subtile and widespread social fallacies. It consists in 
 the impression made on the mind for the time being by a 
 particular fact, or by the interests of a particular group of 
 persons, to which attention is directed while other facts or 
 the interests of other persons are entirely left out of account. 
 I shall give a number of instances and illustrations of this 
 in a moment, and I cannot expect you to understand what 
 is meant from an abstract statement until these illustrations 
 are before you, but just by way of a general illustration 
 I will put one or two cases. 
 
 WTienever a pestilence like yellow fever breaks out in 
 any city, our attention is especially attracted towards it, 
 and our sympathies are excited for the sufferers. If con- 
 tributions are called for, we readily respond. Yet the 
 number of persons who die prematurely from consumption 
 every year greatly exceeds the deaths from yellow fever 
 or any similar disease when it occurs, and the suffering 
 entailed by consumption is very much greater. The suf- 
 fering from consumption, however, never constitutes a 
 public question or a subject of social discussion. If an 
 inundation takes place anywhere, constituting a public 
 calamity (and an inundation takes place somewhere in 
 the civilized world nearly every year), public attention is 
 attracted and public appeals are made, but the losses by 
 great inundations must be insignificant compared with the 
 losses by runaway horses, which, taken separately, scarcely 
 obtain mention in a local newspaper. In hard times in- 
 
 465
 
 466 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 solvent debtors are a large class. They constitute an 
 interest and are able to attract public attention, so that 
 social philosophers discuss their troubles and legislatures 
 plan measures of relief. Insolvent debtors, however, are 
 an insignificant body compared with the victims of common- 
 place misfortune, or accident, who are isolated, scattered, 
 ungrouped and ungeneralized, and so are never made the 
 object of discussion or relief. In seasons of ordinary 
 prosperity, persons who become insolvent have to get out 
 of their troubles as they can. They have no hope of relief 
 from the legislature. The number of insolvents during a 
 series of years of general prosperity, and their losses, greatly 
 exceed the number and losses during a special period of 
 distress. 
 
 These illustrations bring out only one side of my sub- 
 ject, and that only partially. It is when we come to 
 the proposed measures of relief for the evils which have 
 caught public attention that we reach the real subject 
 which deserves our attention. As soon as A observes some- 
 thing which seems to him to be wrong, from which X is 
 suffering, A talks it over with B, and A and B then propose 
 to get a law passed to remedy the evil and help X. Their 
 law always proposes to determine what C shall do for X 
 or, in the better case, what A, B and C shall do for X. As 
 for A and B, who get a law to make themselves do for X 
 what they are willing to do for him, we have nothing to say 
 except that they might better have done it without any 
 law, but what I want to do is to look up C. I want to 
 show you what manner of man he is. I call him the 
 Forgotten Man. Perhaps the appellation is not strictly 
 correct. He is the man who never is thought of. He is 
 the victim of the reformer, social speculator and philan- 
 thropist, and I hope to show you before I get through that 
 he deserves your notice both for his character and for the 
 many burdens which are laid upon him.
 
 THE FORGOTTEN MAN 467 
 
 No doubt one great reason for the phenomenon which I 
 bring to your attention is the passion for reflection and 
 generahzation which marks our period. Since the printing 
 press has come into such wide use, we have all been en- 
 couraged to philosophize about things in a way which was 
 unknown to our ancestors. They lived their lives out in 
 positive contact with actual cases as they arose. They 
 had little of this analysis, introspection, reflection and 
 speculation which have passed into a habit and almost 
 into a disease with us. Of all things which tempt to gener- 
 alization and to philosophizing, social topics stand foremost. 
 Each one of us gets some experience of social forces. Each 
 one has some chance for observation of social phenomena. 
 There is certainly no domain in which generalization is 
 easier. There is nothing about which people dogmatize 
 more freely. Even men of scientific training in some 
 department in which they would not tolerate dogmatism 
 at all will not hesitate to dogmatize in the most reckless 
 manner about social topics. The truth is, however, that 
 science, as yet, has won less control of social phenomena 
 than of any other class of phenomena. The most complex 
 and diflScult subject which we now have to study is the 
 constitution of human society, the forces which operate in 
 it, and the laws by which they act, and we know less about 
 these things than about any others which demand our 
 attention. In such a state of things, over-hasty generaliza- 
 tion is sure to be extremely mischievous. You cannot take 
 up a magazine or newspaper without being struck by the 
 feverish interest with which social topics and problems are 
 discussed, and if you were a student of social science, you 
 would find in almost all these discussions evidence, not 
 only that the essential preparation for the discussion is 
 wanting, but that the disputants do not even know that 
 there is any preparation to be gained. Consequently we 
 are bewildered by contradictory dogmatizing. We find in
 
 468 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 all these discussions only the application of pet notions and 
 the clashing of contradictory "views." Remedies are 
 confidently proposed for which there is no guarantee offered 
 except that the person who prescribes the remedy says that 
 he is sure it will work. We hear constantly of "reform," 
 and the reformers turn out to be people who do not like 
 things as they are and wish that they could be made nicer. 
 We hear a great many exhortations to make progress from 
 people who do not know in what direction they want to go. 
 Consequently social reform is the most barren and tire- 
 some subject of discussion amongst us, except aesthetics. 
 
 I suppose that the first chemists seemed to be very hard- 
 hearted and unpoetical persons when they scouted the 
 glorious dream of the alchemists that there must be some 
 process for turning base metals into gold. I suppose that 
 the men who first said, in plain, cold assertion, there is no 
 fountain of eternal youth, seemed to be the most cruel and 
 cold-hearted adversaries of human happiness. I know that 
 the economists who say that if we could transmute lead 
 into gold, it would certainly do us no good and might do 
 great harm, are still regarded as unworthy of belief. Do 
 not the money articles of the newspapers yet ring with the 
 doctrine that we are getting rich when we give cotton and 
 wheat for gold rather than when we give cotton and wheat 
 for iron? 
 
 Let us put down now the cold, hard fact and look at it 
 just as it is. There is no device whatever to be invented 
 for securing happiness without industry, economy, and 
 virtue. We are yet in the empirical stage as regards all 
 our social devices. We have done something in science and 
 art in the domain of production, transportation and ex- 
 change. But when you come to the laws of the social 
 order, we know very little about them. Our laws and 
 institutions by which we attempt to regulate our lives under 
 the laws of nature which control society are merely a series
 
 THE FORGOTTEN MAN 469 
 
 of haphazard experiments. We come into collision with 
 the laws and are not intelligent enough to understand 
 wherein we are mistaken and how to correct our errors. 
 We persist in our experiments instead of patiently setting 
 about the study of the laws and facts in order to see where 
 we are wrong. Traditions and formulae have a dominion 
 over us in legislation and social customs which we seem 
 unable to break or even to modify. 
 
 For my present purpose I ask your attention for a few 
 moments to the notion of liberty, because the Forgotten 
 Man would no longer be forgotten where there was true 
 liberty. You will say that you know what liberty is. 
 There is no term of more common or prouder use. None 
 is more current, as if it were quite beyond the need of 
 definition. Even as I write, however, I find in a leading 
 review a new definition of civil liberty. Civil liberty the 
 writer declares to be "the result of the restraint exercised 
 by the sovereign people on the more powerful individuals 
 and classes of the community, preventing them from availing 
 themselves of the excess of their power to the detriment of 
 the other classes." You notice here the use of the words 
 "sovereign people" to designate a class of the population, 
 not the nation as a political and civil whole. WTierever 
 "people" is used in such a sense, there is always fallacy. 
 Furthermore, you will recognize in this definition a very 
 superficial and fallacious construction of English con- 
 stitutional history. The writer goes on to elaborate that 
 construction and he comes out at last with the conclusion 
 that "a government by the people can, in no case, become 
 a paternal government, since its law-makers are its manda- 
 taries and servants carrying out its will, and not its fathers 
 or its masters." This, then, is the point at which he 
 desires to arrive, and he has followed a familiar device in 
 setting up a definition to start with which would produce 
 the desired deduction at the end.
 
 470 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 In the definition the word "people" was used for a 
 class or section of the population. It is now asserted 
 that if that section rules, there can be no paternal, that 
 is, undue, government. That doctrine, however, is the 
 very opposite of liberty and contains the most vicious 
 error possible in politics. The truth is that cupidity, 
 selfishness, envy, malice, lust, vindictiveness, are constant 
 vices of human nature. They are not confined to classes 
 or to nations or particular ages of the world. They pre- 
 sent themselves in the palace, in the parliament, in the 
 academy, in the church, in the workshop, and in the 
 hovel. They appear in autocracies, theocracies, aristoc- 
 racies, democracies, and ochlocracies all alike. They 
 change their masks somewhat from age to age and from one 
 form of society to another. All history is only one long 
 story to this effect: men have struggled for power over 
 their fellow-men in order that they might win the joys of 
 earth at the expense of others and might shift the burdens 
 of life from their own shoulders upon those of others. It is 
 true that, until this time, the proletariat, the mass of 
 mankind, have rarely had the power and they have not 
 made such a record as kings and nobles and priests have 
 made .of the abuses they would perpetrate against their 
 fellow-men when they could and dared. But what folly 
 it is to think that vice and passion are limited by classes, 
 that liberty consists only in taking power away from nobles 
 and priests and giving it to artisans and peasants and that 
 these latter will never abuse it! They will abuse it just as 
 all others have done unless they are put under checks and 
 guarantees, and there can be no civil liberty anywhere 
 unless rights are guaranteed against all abuses, as well from 
 proletarians as from generals, aristocrats, and ecclesiastics. 
 
 Now what has been amiss in all the old arrangements.'' 
 The evils of the old military and aristocratic governments 
 was that some men enjoyed the fruits of other men's labor;
 
 THE FORGOTTEN MAN 471 
 
 that some persons' lives, rights, interests and happmess 
 were sacrificed to other persons' cupidity and lust. What 
 have our ancestors been striving for, under the name of 
 civil liberty, for the last five hundred years? They have 
 been striving to bring it about that each man and woman 
 might five out his or her life according to his or her own 
 notions of happiness and up to the measure of his or her 
 own virtue and wisdom. How have they sought to accom- 
 plish this.?* They have sought to accomplish it by setting 
 aside all arbitrary personal or class elements and introducing 
 the reign of law and the supremacy of constitutional institu- 
 tions like the jury, the habeas corpus, the independent 
 judiciary, the separation of church and state, and the 
 ballot. Note right here one point which will be important 
 and valuable when I come more especially to the case of 
 the Forgotten Man : whenever you talk of liberty, you must 
 have two men in mind. The sphere of rights of one of these 
 men trenches upon that of the other, and whenever you 
 establish liberty for the one, you repress the other. When- 
 ever absolute sovereigns are subjected to constitutional 
 restraints, you always hear them remonstrate that their 
 liberty is curtailed. So it is, in the sense that their power 
 of determining what shall be done in the state is limited 
 below what it was before and the similar power of other 
 organs in the state is widened. WTienever the privileges 
 of an aristocracy are curtailed, there is heard a similar 
 complaint. The truth is that the line of limit or demarca- 
 tion between classes as regards civil power has been moved 
 and what has been taken from one class is given to another. 
 We may now, then, advance a step in our conception of 
 civil liberty. It is the status in which we find the true 
 adjustment of rights between classes and individuals. 
 Historically, the conception of civil liberty has been con- 
 stantly changing. The notion of rights changes from one 
 generation to another and the conception of civil liberty
 
 472 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 changes with it. If we try to formulate a true definition of 
 civil liberty as an ideal thing towards w^hich the develop- 
 ment of political institutions is all the time tending, it 
 would be this: Civil liberty is the status of the man who is 
 guaranteed by law and civil institutions the exclusive em- 
 ployment of all his own powers for his own welfare. 
 
 This definition of liberty or civil liberty, you see, deals 
 only with concrete and actual relations of the civil order. 
 There is some sort of a poetical and metaphysical notion of 
 liberty afloat in men's minds which some people dream 
 about but which nobody can define. In popular language 
 it means that a man may do as he has a mind to. AMien 
 people get this notion of liberty into their heads and combine 
 with it the notion that they live in a free country and ought 
 to have liberty, they sometimes make strange demands 
 upon the state. If liberty means to be able to do as you 
 have a mind to, there is no such thing in this world. Can 
 the Czar of Russia do as he has a mind to.'* Can the Pope 
 do as he has a mind to.'* Can the President of the United 
 States do as he has a mind to? Can Rothschild do as he 
 has a mind to? Could a Humboldt or a Faraday do as he 
 had a mind to? Could a Shakespeare or a Raphael do as 
 he had a mind to? Can a tramp do as he has a mind to? 
 Where is the man, whatever his station, possessions, or 
 talents, who can get any such liberty? There is none. 
 There is a doctrine floating about in our literature that we 
 are born to the inheritance of certain rights. That is an- 
 other glorious dream, for it would mean that there was 
 something in this world which we got for nothing. But 
 what is the truth? We are born into no right whatever but 
 what has an equivalent and corresponding duty right along- 
 side of it. There is no such thing on this earth as something 
 for nothing. Whatever we inherit of wealth, knowledge, 
 or institutions from the past has been paid for by the labor 
 and sacrifice of preceding generations; and the fact that
 
 THE FORGOTTEN MAN 473 
 
 these gains are carried on, that the race lives and that the 
 race can, at least within some cycle, accumulate its gains, 
 is one of the facts on which civilization rests. The law of 
 the conservation of energy is not simply a law of physics; 
 it is a law of the whole moral universe, and the order and 
 truth of all things conceivable by man depends upon it. ^ 
 If there Were any such liberty as that of doing as you have 
 a mind to, the human race would be condemned to ever- 
 lasting anarchy and war as these erratic wills crossed and 
 clashed against each other. True Hberty lies in the equi- 
 librium of rights and duties, producing peace, order, and 
 ^^armony. As I have defined it, it means that a man's 
 righL-to take power and wealth out of the social product is 
 mea.siired_by_ihe energy and. wisdoni which he has con- 
 tributed to the social effort. 
 
 Now if I have set this idea before you with any distinct- 
 ness and success, you see that civil liberty consists of a set 
 of civil institutions and laws which are arranged to act as 
 impersonally as possible. It does not consist in majority 
 rule or in universal suffrage or in elective systems at all. 
 These are devices which are good or better just in the 
 degree in which they secure liberty. The institutions of 
 civil liberty leave each man to run his career in life in his 
 own way, only guaranteeing to him that whatever he does 
 in -the way of industry, economy, prudence, sound judg- 
 ment, etc., shall redound to his own welfare and shall not 
 be diverted to some one else's benefit. Of course it is a 
 necessary corollary that each man shall also bear the 
 penalty of his own vices and his own mistakes. If I want 
 to be free from any other man's dictation, I must under- 
 stand that I can have no other man under my control. 
 
 Now with these definitions and general conceptions in 
 mind, let us turn to the special class of facts to which, as 
 I said at the outset, I invite your attention. We see that 
 under a regime of liberty and equality before the law, we
 
 474 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 get the highest possible development of independence, 
 self-reliance, individual energy, and enterprise, but we get 
 these high social virtues at the expense of the old senti- 
 mental ties which used to unite baron and retainer, master 
 and servant, sage and disciple, comrade and comrade. 
 We are agreed that the son shall not be disgraced even by 
 the crime of the father, much less by the crime of a more 
 distant relative. It is a humane and rational view of 
 things that each life shall stand for itself alone and not be 
 weighted by the faults of another, but it is useless to deny 
 that this view of things is possible only in a society where 
 the ties of kinship have lost nearly all the intensity of 
 poetry and romance which once characterized them. The 
 ties of sentiment and sympathy also have faded out. We 
 have come, under the regime of liberty and equality before 
 the law, to a form of society which is based not on status, 
 but on free contract. Now a society based on status is 
 one in which classes, ranks, interests, industries, guilds, 
 associations, etc., hold men in permanent relations to each 
 other. Custom and prescription create, under status, ties, 
 the strength of which lies in sentiment. Feeble remains of 
 this may be seen in some of our academical societies to-day, 
 and it is unquestionably a great privilege and advantage 
 for any man in our society to win an experience of the 
 sentiments which belong to a strong and close association, 
 just because the chances for such experience are nowadays 
 very rare. In a society based on free contract, men come 
 together as free and independent parties to an agreement 
 which is of mutual advantage. The relation is rational, 
 even rationalistic. It is not poetical. It does not exist 
 from use and custom, but for reasons given, and it does not 
 endure by prescription but ceases when the reason for it 
 ceases. There is no sentiment in it at all. The fact is 
 that, under the regime of liberty and equality before the 
 law, there is no place for sentiment in trade or politics as
 
 THE FORGOTTEN MAN 475 
 
 public interests. Sentiment is thrown back into private 
 life, into personal relations, and if ever it comes into a 
 public discussion of an impersonal and general public 
 question it always produces mischief. 
 
 Now you know that "the poor and the weak" are con- 
 tinually put forward as objects of public interest and public 
 obligation. In the appeals which are made, the terms 
 "the poor" and "the weak" are used as if they were terms 
 of exact definition. Except the pauper, that is to say, 
 the man who cannot earn his living or pay his way, there 
 is no possible definition of a poor man. Except a man who 
 is incapacitated by vice or by physical infirmity, there is no 
 definition of a weak man. The paupers and the physically 
 incapacitated are an inevitable charge on society. About 
 them no more need be said. But the weak who constantly 
 arouse the pity of humanitarians and philanthropists are 
 the shiftless, the imprudent, the negligent, the impractical, 
 and the inefficient, or they are the idle, the intemperate, the 
 extravagant, and the vicious. Now the troubles of these 
 persons are constantly forced upon public attention, as if 
 they and their interests deserved especial consideration, 
 and a great portion of all organized and unorganized effort 
 for the common welfare consists in attempts to relieve these 
 classes of people. I do not wish to be understood now as 
 saying that nothing ought to be done for these people by 
 those who are stronger and wiser. That is not my point. 
 ^Miat I want to do is to point out the thing which is over- 
 looked and the error which is made in all these charitable 
 efforts. The notion is accepted as if it were not open to 
 any question that if you help the inefficient and vicious you 
 may gain something for society or you may not, but that 
 you lose nothing. This is a complete mistake. Whatever 
 capital you divert to the support of a shiftless and good- 
 for-nothing person is so much diverted from some other 
 employment, and that means from somebody . else. I
 
 476 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 would spend any conceivable amount of zeal and eloquence 
 if I possessed it to try to make people grasp this idea. 
 Capital is force. If it goes one way it cannot go another. 
 If you give a loaf to a pauper you cannot give the same 
 loaf to a laborer. Now this other man who would have 
 got it but for the charitable sentiment which bestowed it 
 on a worthless member of society is the Forgotten IVIan. 
 The philanthropists and humanitarians have their minds 
 all full of the wretched and miserable whose case appeals 
 to compassion, attacks the sympathies, takes possession of 
 the imagination, and excites the emotions. They push on 
 towards the quickest and easiest remedies and they forget 
 the real victim. 
 
 Now who is the Forgotten Man? He is the simple, 
 honest laborer, ready to earn his living by productive 
 work. We pass him by because he is independent, self- 
 supporting, and asks no favors. He does not appeal to 
 the emotions or excite the sentiments. He only wants 
 to make a contract and fulfill it, with respect on both 
 sides and favor on neither side. He must get his living 
 out of the capital of the country. The larger the capital 
 is, the better living he can get. Every particle of capital 
 which is wasted on the vicious, the idle, and the shiftless is 
 so much taken from the capital available to reward the 
 independent and productive laborer. But we stand with 
 our backs to the independent and productive laborer all 
 the time. We do not remember him because he makes no 
 clamor; but I appeal to you whether he is not the man who 
 ought to be remembered first of all, and whether, on any 
 sound social theory, we ought not to protect him against 
 the burdens of the good-for-nothing. In these last years I 
 have read hundreds of articles and heard scores of sermons 
 and speeches which were really glorifications of the good- 
 for-nothing, as if these were the charge of society, recom- 
 mended by right reason to its care and protection. We
 
 THE FORGOTTEN MAN 477 
 
 are addressed all the time as if those who are respectable 
 were to blame because some are not so, and as if there were 
 an obligation on the part of those who have done their 
 duty towards those who have not done their duty. Every 
 man is bound to take care of himself and his family and to 
 do his share in the work of society. It is totally false that 
 one who has ^lone so is bound to bear the care and charge 
 of those who are wretched because they have not done so. 
 The silly popular notion is that the beggars live at the 
 expense of the rich, but the truth is that those who eat and 
 produce not, live at the expense of those who labor and 
 produce. The next time that you are tempted to subscribe 
 a dollar to a charity, I do not tell you not to do it, because 
 after you have fairly considered the matter, you may think 
 it right to do it, but I do ask you to stop and remember 
 the Forgotten Man and understand that if you put your 
 dollar in the savings bank it will go to swell the capital of 
 the country which is available for division amongst those 
 who, while they earn it, will reproduce it with increase. 
 
 Let us now go on to another class of cases. There are a 
 great many schemes brought forward for "improving the 
 condition of the working classes." I have shown already 
 that a free man cannot take a favor. One who takes a 
 favor or submits to patronage demeans himself. He falls 
 under obligation. He cannot be free and he cannot assert 
 a station of equality with the man who confers the favor on 
 him. The only exception is where there are exceptional 
 bonds of affection or friendship, that is, where the senti- 
 mental relation supersedes the free relation. Therefore, 
 in a country which is a free democracy, all propositions to 
 do something for the working classes have an air of patronage 
 and superiority which is impertinent and out of place. No 
 one can do anything for anybody else unless he has a surplus 
 of energy to dispose of after taking care of himself. In the 
 United States, the working classes, technically so called.
 
 478 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 are the strongest classes. It is they who have a surplus to 
 dispose of if anybody has. WTiy should anybody else offer 
 to take care of them or to serve them.'^ They can get what- 
 ever they think worth having and, at any rate, if they are 
 free men in a free state, it is ignominious and unbecoming 
 to introduce fashions of patronage and favoritism here. 
 A man who, by superior education and experience of busi- 
 ness, is in a position to advise a struggling man of the 
 wages class, is certainly held to do so and will, I believe, 
 always be willing and glad to do so; but this sort of activity 
 lies in the range of private and personal relations. 
 
 I now, however, desire to direct attention to the public, 
 general, and impersonal schemes, and I point out the fact 
 that, if you undertake to lift anybody, you must have a 
 fulcrum or point of resistance. All the elevation you give 
 to one must be gained by an equivalent depression on some 
 one else. The question of gain to society depends upon the 
 balance of the account, as regards the position of the persons 
 who undergo the respective operations. But nearly all the 
 schemes for "improving the condition of the working 
 man" involve an elevation of some working men at the 
 expense of other working men. When you expend capital 
 or labor to elevate some persons who come within the 
 sphere of your influence, you interfere in the conditions of 
 competition. The advantage of some is won by an equiva- 
 lent loss of others. The difference is not brought about 
 by the energy and effort of the persons themselves. If it 
 were, there would be nothing to be said about it, for we 
 constantly see people surpass others in the rivalry of life 
 and carry off the prizes which the others must do without. 
 In the cases I am discussing, the difference is brought about 
 by an interference which must be partial, arbitrary, acci- 
 dental, controlled by favoritism and personal preference. 
 I do not say, in this case, either, that we ought to do no 
 work of this kind. On the contrary, I believe that the
 
 THE FORGOTTEN MAN 479 
 
 arguments for it quite outweigh, in many cases, the argu- 
 ments against it. What I desire, again, is to bring out the 
 forgotten element which we always need to remember in 
 order to make a wise decision as to any scheme of this 
 kind. I want to call to mind the Forgotten Man, because, 
 in this case also, if we recall him and go to look for him, we 
 shall find him patiently and perseveringly, manfully and 
 independently struggling against adverse circumstances 
 without complaining or begging. If, then, we are led to 
 heed the groaning and complaining of others and to take 
 measures for helping these others, we shall, before we know 
 it, push down this man who is trying to help himself. 
 
 Let us take another class of cases. So far we have said 
 nothing about the abuse of legislation. We all seem to be 
 under the delusion that the rich pay the taxes. Taxes are 
 not thrown upon the consumers with any such directness 
 and completeness as is sometimes assumed; but that, in 
 ordinary states of the market, taxes on houses fall, for the 
 most part, on the tenants and that taxes on commodities 
 fall, for the most part, on the consumers, is beyond question. 
 Now the state and municipality go to great expense to 
 support policemen and sheriffs and judicial ojSicers, to 
 protect people against themselves, that is, against the 
 results of their own folly, vice, and recklessness. Who 
 pays for it.^ Undoubtedly the people who have not been 
 guilty of folly, vice, or recklessness. Out of nothing comes 
 nothing. We cannot collect taxes from people who produce 
 nothing and save nothing. The people who have some- 
 thing to tax must be those who have produced and saved. 
 
 When you see a drunkard in the gutter, you are dis- 
 gusted, but you pity him. When a policeman comes and 
 picks him up you are satisfied. You say that "society" 
 has interfered to save the drunkard from perishing. Society 
 is a fine word, and it saves us the trouble of thinking to say 
 that society acts. The truth is that the policeman is paid
 
 480 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 by somebody, and when we talk about society we forget 
 who it is that pays. It is the Forgotten Man again. It is 
 the industrious workman going home from a hard day's 
 work, whom you pass without noticing, who is mulcted 
 of a percentage of his day's earnings to hire a policeman to 
 save the drunkard from himself. All the public expenditure 
 to prevent vice has the same effect. Vice is its own curse. 
 If we let nature alone, she cures vice by the most frightful 
 penalties. It may shock you to hear me say it, but when 
 you get over the shock, it will do you good to think of it: 
 a drunkard in the gutter is just where he ought to be. 
 Nature is working away at him to get him out of the way, 
 just as she sets up her processes of dissolution to remove 
 whatever is a failure in its line. Gambling and less men- 
 tionable vices all cure themselves by the ruin and dissolu- 
 tion of their victims. Nine- tenths of our measures for 
 preventing vice are really protective towards it, because 
 they ward off the penalty. "Ward off," I say, and that is 
 the usual way of looking at it; but is the penalty really 
 annihilated? By no means. It is turned into police and 
 court expenses and spread over those who have resisted 
 vice. It is the Forgotten Man again who has been sub- 
 jected to the penalty while our minds were full of the 
 drunkards, spendthrifts, gamblers, and other victims of 
 dissipation. Who is, then, the Forgotten Man.? He is the 
 clean, quiet, virtuous, domestic citizen, who pays his debts 
 and his taxes and is never heard of out of his little circle. 
 Yet who is there in the society of a civilized state who 
 deserves to be remembered and considered by the legislator 
 and statesman before this man? 
 
 Another class of cases is closely connected with this last. 
 There is an apparently invincible prejudice in people's 
 minds in favor of state regulation. All experience is against 
 state regulation and in • favor of liberty. The freer the 
 civil institutions are, the more weak or mischievous state
 
 THE FORGOTTEN MAN 481 
 
 regulation is. The Prussian bureaucracy can do a score of 
 things for the citizen which no governmental organ in the 
 United States can do; and, conversely, if we want to be 
 taken care of as Prussians and Frenchmen are, we must 
 give up something of our personal liberty. 
 
 Now we have a great many well-intentioned people 
 among us who believe that they are serving their country 
 when they discuss plans for regulating the relations of 
 employer and employee, or the sanitary regulations of 
 dwellings, or the construction of factories, or the way 
 to behave on Sunday, or what people ought not to eat 
 or drink or smoke. All this is harmless enough and well 
 enough as a basis of mutual encouragement and mis- 
 sionary enterprise, but it is almost always made a basis 
 of legislation. The reformers want to get a majority, 
 that is, to get the power of the state and so to make 
 other people do what the reformers think it right and 
 wise to do. A and B agree to spend Sunday in a cer- 
 tain way. They get a law passed to make C pass it in 
 their way. They determine to be teetotallers and they get 
 a law passed to make C be a teetotaller for the sake of D 
 who is likely to drink too much. Factory acts for women 
 and children are right because w^omen and children are not 
 on an equal footing wuth men and cannot, therefore, make 
 contracts properly. Adult men, in a free state, must be 
 left to make their own contracts and defend themselves. 
 It will not do to say that some men are weak and unable to 
 make contracts any better than women. Our civil institu- 
 tions assume that all men are equal in political capacity and 
 all are given equal measure of political power and right, 
 which is not the case with women and children. If, then, 
 we measure political rights by one theory and social respon- 
 sibilities by another, we produce an immoral and vicious 
 relation. A and B, however, get factory acts and other 
 acts passed regulating the relation of employers and em-
 
 482 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 ployee and set armies of commissioners and inspectors 
 traveling about to see to things, instead of using their 
 efforts, if any are needed, to lead the free men to make 
 their own conditions as to what kind of factory buildings 
 they will work in, how many hours they will work, what they 
 will do on Sunday and so on. The consequence is that 
 men lose the true education in freedom which is needed to 
 support free institutions. They are taught to rely on 
 government officers and inspectors. The whole system of 
 government inspectors is corrupting to free institutions. 
 In England, the liberals used always to regard state regula- 
 tion with suspicion, but since they have come to power, 
 they plainly believe that state regulation is a good thing — 
 if they regulate — because, of course, they want to bring 
 about good things. In this country each party takes 
 turns, according as it is in or out, in supporting or denounc- 
 ing the non-interference theory. 
 
 Now, if we have state regulation, what is always for- 
 gotten is this: Who pays for it.-^ Who is the victim of it.^^ 
 There always is a victim. The workmen who do not 
 defend themselves have to pay for the inspectors who 
 defend them. The whole system of social regulation by 
 boards, commissioners, and inspectors consists in relieving 
 negligent people of the consequences of their negligence and 
 so leaving them to continue negligent without correction. 
 That system also turns away from the agencies which are 
 close, direct, and germane to the purpose, and seeks others. 
 Now, if you relieve negligent people of the consequences of 
 their negligence, you can only throw those consequences on 
 the people who have not been negligent. If you turn 
 away from the agencies which are direct and cognate to 
 the purpose, you can only employ other agencies. Here, 
 then, you have your Forgotten Man again. The man 
 who has been careful and prudent and who wants to go on 
 and reap his advantages for himself and his children is
 
 THE FORGOTTEN MAN 483 
 
 arrested just at that point, and he is told that he must go 
 and take care of some negligent employees in a factory or 
 on a railroad who have not provided precautions for them- 
 selves or have not forced their employers to provide pre- 
 cautions, or negligent tenants who have not taken care of 
 their own sanitary arrangements, or negligent householders 
 who have not provided against fire, or negligent parents 
 who have not sent their children to school. If the For- 
 gotten INIan does not go, he must hire an inspector to go. 
 No doubt it is often worth his while to go or send, rather 
 than leave the thing undone, on account of his remoter 
 interest; but what I want to show is that all this is unjust 
 to the Forgotten Man, and that the reformers and phi- 
 losophers miss the point entirely when they preach that it is 
 his duty to do all this work. Let them preach to the 
 negligent to learn to take care of themselves. Whenever 
 A and B put their heads together and decide what A, B and 
 C must do for D, there is never any pressure on A and B. 
 They consent to it and like it. There is rarely any pressure 
 on D because he does not like it and contrives to evade it. 
 The pressure all comes on C. Now, who is C? He is 
 always the man who, if let alone, would make a reasonable 
 use of his liberty without abusing it. He would not con- 
 stitute any social problem at all and would not need any 
 regulation. He is the Forgotten Man again, and as soon as 
 he is brought from his obscurity you see that he is just that 
 one amongst us who is what we all ought to be. 
 
 Let us look at another case. I read again and again 
 arguments to prove that criminals have claims and rights 
 against society. Not long ago, I read an account of an 
 expensive establishment for the reformation of criminals, 
 and I am told that we ought to reform criminals, not merely 
 punish them vindictively. Wlien I was a young man, I 
 read a great many novels by Eugene Sue, Victor Hugo, 
 and other Frenchmen of the school of '48, in which the
 
 484 THE FORGOTTEN IVIAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 badness of a bad man is represented, not as his fault, but 
 as the fault of society. Now, as society consists of the bad 
 men plus the good men, and as the object of this declaration 
 was to show that the badness of the bad men was not the 
 fault of the bad men, it remains that the badness of the 
 bad men must be the fault of the good men. No doubt, it 
 is far more consoling to the bad men than even to their 
 friends to reach the point of this demonstration. 
 
 Let us ask, now, for a moment, what is the sense of 
 punishment, since a good many people seem to be quite in 
 a muddle about it. Every man in society is bound in 
 nature and reason to contribute to the strength and welfare 
 of society. He ought to work, to be peaceful, honest, just, 
 and virtuous. A criminal is a man who, instead of working 
 with and for society, turns his efforts against the common 
 welfare in some way or other. He disturbs order, violates 
 harmony, invades the security and happiness of others, 
 wastes and destroys capital. K he is put to death, it is 
 on the ground that he has forfeited ail right to existence in 
 society by the magnitude of his offenses against its welfare. 
 If he is imprisoned, it is simply a judgment of society upon 
 him that he is so mischievous to the society that he must 
 be segregated from it. His punishment is a warning to 
 him to reform himself, just exactly like the penalties in- 
 flicted by God and nature on vice. A man who has com- 
 mitted crime is, therefore, a burden on society and an 
 injury to it. He is a destructive and not a productive force 
 and everybody is worse off for his existence than if he did 
 not exist. Whence, then, does he obtain a right to be 
 taught or reformed at the public expense? The whole 
 question of what to do with him is one of expediency, and 
 it embraces the whole range of possible policies from that 
 of execution to that of education and reformation, but 
 when the expediency of reformatory attempts is discussed 
 we always forget the labor and expense and who must pay.
 
 THE FORGOTTEN MAN 485 
 
 All that the state does for the criminal, beyond forcing him 
 to earn his living, is done at the expense of the industrious 
 member of society who never costs the state anything for 
 correction and discipline. If a man who has gone astray 
 can be reclaimed in any way, no one would hinder such a 
 work, but people whose minds are full of sympathy and 
 interest for criminals and who desire to adopt some sys- 
 tematic plans of reformatory efforts are only, once more, 
 trampling on the Forgotten Man. 
 
 Let us look at another case. If there is a public office to 
 be filled, of course a great number of persons come forward 
 as candidates for it. Many of these persons are urged as 
 candidates on the ground that they are badly off, or that 
 they cannot support themselves, or that they want to earn 
 a living while educating themselves, or that they have 
 female relatives dependent on them, or for some other 
 reason of a similar kind. In other cases, candidates are 
 presented and urged on the ground of their kinship to 
 somebody, or on account of service, it may be meritorious 
 service, in some other line than that of the duty to be 
 performed. Men are proposed for clerkships on the ground 
 of service in the army twenty years ago, or for custom- 
 house inspectors on the ground of public services in the 
 organization of political parties. If public positions are 
 granted on these grounds of sentiment or favoritism, the 
 abuse is to be condemned on the ground of the harm done 
 to the public interest; bwt I now desire to point out another 
 thing which is constantly forgotten. If you give a position 
 to A, you cannot give it to B. If A is an object of senti- 
 ment or favoritism and not a person fit and competent to 
 fulfill the duty, who is B.'^ He is somebody who has nothing 
 but merit on his side, somebody who has no powerful 
 friends, no political influence, some quiet, unobtrusive 
 individual who has known no other way to secure the 
 chances of life than simply to deserve them. Here we have
 
 486 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 the Forgotten Man again, and once again we find him worthy 
 of all respect and consideration, but passed by in favor of 
 the noisy, pushing, and incompetent. Who ever remembers 
 that if you give a place to a man who is unfit for it you are 
 keeping out of it somebody, somewhere, who is fit for it? 
 
 Let us take another case. A trades-union is an associa- 
 tion of journeymen in a certain trade which has for one of 
 its chief objects to raise wages in that trade. This object 
 can be accomplished only by drawing more capital into the 
 trade, or by lessening the supply of labor in it. To do the 
 latter, the trades-unions limit the number of apprentices 
 who may be admitted to the trade. In discussing this 
 device, people generally fix their minds on the beneficiaries 
 of this arrangement. It is desired by everybody that 
 wages should be as high as they can be under the conditions 
 of industry. Our minds are directed by the facts of the case 
 to the men who are in the trade already and are seeking 
 their own advantage. Sometimes people go on to notice 
 the effects of trades-unionism on the employers, but 
 although employers are constantly vexed by it, it is seen 
 that they soon count it into the risks of their business and 
 settle down to it philosophically. Sometimes people go 
 further then and see that, if the employer adds the trades- 
 union and strike risk to the other risks, he submits to it 
 because he has passed it along upon the public and that 
 the public wealth is diminished by trades-unionism, which 
 is undoubtedly the case. I do not remember, however, 
 that I have ever seen in print any analysis and observation 
 of trades-unionism which takes into account its effect in 
 another direction. The effect on employers or on the 
 public would not raise wages. The public pays more for 
 houses and goods, but that does not raise wages. The 
 surplus paid by the public is pure loss, because it is only 
 paid to cover an extra business risk of the employer. If 
 their trades-unions raise wages, how do they do it? They
 
 THE FORGOTTEN MAN 487 
 
 do it by lessening the supply of labor in the trade, and this 
 they do by limiting the number of apprentices. All that 
 is won, therefore, for those in the trade, is won at the ex- 
 pense of those persons in the same class in life who want to 
 get into the trade but are forbidden. Like every other 
 monopoly, this one secures advantages for those who are 
 in only at a greater loss to those who are kept out. Who, 
 then, are those who are kept out and who are always for- 
 gotten in all the discussions.'* They are the Forgotten Men 
 again; and what kind of men are they.'* They are those 
 young men who want to earn their living by the trade in 
 question. Since they select it, it is fair to suppose that 
 they are fit for it, would succeed at it, and would benefit 
 society by practicing it; but they are arbitrarily excluded 
 from it and are perhaps pushed down into the class of un- 
 skilled laborers. When people talk of the success of a 
 trades-union in raising wages, they forget these persons 
 who have really, in a sense, paid the increase. 
 
 Let me now turn your attention to another class of cases. 
 I have shown how, in time past, the history of states has 
 been a history of selfishness, cupidity, and robbery, and I 
 have affirmed that now and always the problems of govern- 
 ment are how to deal with these same vices of human 
 nature. People are always prone to believe that there is 
 something metaphysical and sentimental about civil affairs, 
 but there is not. Civil institutions are constructed to 
 protect, either directly or indirectly, the property of men 
 and the honor of women against the vices and passions of 
 human nature. In our day and country, the problem 
 presents new phases, but it is there just the same as it ever 
 was, and the problem is only the more difficult for us be- 
 cause of its new phase which prevents us from recognizing 
 it. In fact, our people are raving and struggling against 
 it in a kind of blind way, not yet having come to recognize 
 it. More than half of their blows, at present, are mis-
 
 488 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 directed and fail of their object, but they will be aimed 
 better by and by. There is a great deal of clamor about 
 watering stocks and the power of combined capital, which 
 is not very intelligent or well-directed. The evil and abuse 
 which people are groping after in all these denunciations is 
 jobbery. 
 
 By jobbery I mean the constantly apparent effort to 
 win wealth, not by honest and independent production, 
 but by some sort of a scheme for extorting other people's 
 product from them. A large part of our legislation con- 
 sists in making a job for somebody. Public buildings are 
 jobs, not always, but in most cases. The buildings are 
 not needed at all or are costly far beyond what is useful or 
 even decently luxurious. Internal improvements are jobs. 
 They are carried out, not because they are needed in them- 
 selves, but because they will serve the turn of some private 
 interest, often incidentally that of the very legislators who 
 pass the appropriations for them. A man who wants a 
 farm, instead of going out where there is plenty of land 
 available for it, goes down under the Mississippi River to 
 make a farm, and then wants his fellow-citizens to be 
 taxed to dyke the river so as to keep it off his farm. The 
 Californian hydraulic miners have washed the gold out of 
 the hillsides and have washed the dirt down into the valleys 
 to the ruin of the rivers and the farms. They want the 
 federal government to remove this dirt at the national 
 expense. The silver miners, finding that their product is 
 losing value in the market, get the government to go into 
 the market as a great buyer in the hope of sustaining the 
 price. The national government is called upon to buy or 
 hire unsalable ships; to dig canals which will not pay; 
 to educate illiterates in the states which have not done 
 their duty at the expense of the states which have done 
 their duty as to education; to buy up telegraphs which no 
 longer pay; and to provide the capital for enterprises of
 
 THE FORGOTTEN MAN 489 
 
 which private individuals are to win the profits. We are 
 called upon to squander twenty millions on swamps and 
 creeks; from twenty to sixty-six millions on the Mississippi 
 River; one hundred millions in pensions — and there is 
 now a demand for another hundred million beyond that. 
 This is the great plan of all living on each other. The 
 pensions in England used to be given to aristocrats who 
 had political power, in order to corrupt them. Here the 
 pensions are given to the great democratic mass who have 
 the political power, in order to corrupt them. We have 
 one hundred thousand federal office-holders and I do not 
 know how many state and municipal office-holders. Of 
 course public officers are necessary and it is an economical 
 organization of society to set apart some of its members 
 for civil functions, but if the number of persons drawn 
 from production and supported by the producers while 
 engaged in civil functions is in undue proportion to the 
 total population, there is economic loss. If public offices 
 are treated as spoils or benefices or sinecures, then they 
 are jobs and only constitute part of the pillage. 
 
 The biggest job of all is a protective tariff. This device 
 consists in delivering every man over to be plundered by his 
 neighbor and in teaching him to believe that it is a good 
 thing for him and his country because he may take his turn 
 at plundering the rest. Mr. Kelley said that if the internal 
 revenue taxes on whisky and tobacco, which are paid to 
 the United States government, were not taken off, there 
 would be a rebellion. Just then it was discovered that 
 Sumatra tobacco was being imported, and the Connecticut 
 tobacco men hastened to Congress to get a tax laid on it 
 for their advantage. So it appears that if a tax is laid on 
 tobacco, to be paid to the United States, there will be a 
 rebellion, but if a tax is laid on it to be paid to the farmers 
 of the Connecticut Valley, there will be no rebellion at all. 
 The tobacco farmers having been taxed for protected manu-
 
 490 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 factures are now to be taken into the system, and the 
 workmen in the factories are to be taxed on their tobacco 
 to protect the farmers. So the system is rendered more 
 complete and comprehensive. 
 
 On every hand you find this jobbery. The government 
 is to give every man a pension, and every man an office, 
 and every man a tax to raise the price of his product, and 
 to clean out every man's creek for him, and to buy all his 
 unsalable property, and to provide him with plenty of cur- 
 rency to pay his debts, and to educate his children, and to 
 give him the use of a library and a park and a museum and 
 a gallery of pictures. On every side the doors of waste and 
 extravagance stand open; and spend, squander, plunder, 
 and grab are the watchwords. We grumble some about it 
 and talk about the greed of corporations and the power 
 of capital and the wickedness of stock gambling. Yet we 
 elect the legislators who do all this work. Of course, we 
 should never think of blaming ourselves for electing men 
 to represent and govern us, who, if I may use a slang expres- 
 sion, give us away. AMiat man ever blamed himself for his 
 misfortune? We groan about monopolies and talk about 
 more laws to prevent the wrongs done by chartered corpora- 
 tions. WTio made the charters.'* Our representatives. 
 Who elected such representatives.'^ We did. How can we 
 get bad law-makers to make a law which shall prevent 
 bad law-makers from making a bad law.'^ That is, really, 
 what we are trying to do. If we are a free, self-governing 
 people, all our misfortunes come right home to ourselves 
 and we can blame nobody else. Is any one astonished to 
 find that men are greedy, whether they are incorporated or 
 not.f* Is it a revelation to find that we need, in our civil 
 affairs, to devise guarantees against selfishness, rapacity, 
 and fraud.f* I have ventured to affirm that government 
 has never had to deal with anything else. 
 
 Now, I have said that this jobbery means waste, plunder.
 
 THE FORGOTTEN MAN 491 
 
 and loss, and I defined it at the outset as the system of 
 making a chance to extort part of his product from some- 
 body else. Now comes the question: Who pays for it all? 
 The system of plundering each other soon destroys all that 
 it deals with. It produces nothing. Wealth comes only 
 from production, and all that the wrangling grabbers, 
 loafers, and jobbers get to deal with comes from some- 
 body's toil and sacrifice. "WTio, then, is he who provides 
 it all? Go and find him and you will have once more 
 before you the Forgotten Man. You will find him hard at 
 work because he has a great many to support. Nature has 
 done a great deal for him in giving him a fertile soil and an 
 excellent climate and he wonders why it is that, after all, 
 his scale of comfort is so moderate. He has to get out of 
 the soil enough to pay all his taxes, and that means the 
 cost of all the jobs and the fund for all the plunder. The 
 Forgotten Man is delving away in patient industry, sup- 
 porting his family, paying his taxes, casting his vote, 
 supporting the church and the school, reading his news- 
 paper, and cheering for the politician of his admiration, but 
 he is the only one for whom there is no provision in the 
 great scramble and the big divide. 
 
 Such is the Forgotten Man. He works, he votes, generally 
 he prays — but he always pays — yes, above all, he pays. 
 He does not want an office; his name never gets into the 
 newspaper except when he gets married or dies. He keeps 
 production going on. He contributes to the strength of 
 parties. He is flattered before election. He is strongly 
 patriotic. He is wanted, whenever, in his little circle, 
 there is work to be done or counsel to be given. He may 
 grumble some occasionally to his wife and family, but he 
 does not frequent the grocery or talk politics at the tavern. 
 Consequently, he is forgotten. He is a commonplace man. 
 He gives no trouble. He excites no admiration. He is 
 not in any way a hero (like a popular orator) ; or a problem
 
 492 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 (like tramps and outcasts); nor notorious (like criminals); 
 nor an object of sentiment (like the poor and weak) ; nor a 
 burden (like paupers and loafers); nor an object out of 
 which social capital may be made (like the beneficiaries of 
 church and state charities); nor an object for charitable 
 aid and protection (like animals treated with cruelty); 
 nor the object of a job (like the ignorant and illiterate); 
 nor one over whom sentimental economists and statesmen 
 can parade their fine sentiments (like ineflBcient workmen 
 and shiftless artisans). Therefore, he is forgotten. All 
 the burdens fall on him, or on her, for it is time to remember 
 that the Forgotten Man is not seldom a woman. 
 
 When you go to Willimantic, they will show you with 
 great pride the splendid thread mills there. I am told 
 that there are sewing-women who can earn only fifty cents 
 in twelve hours, and provide the thread. In the cost of 
 every spool of thread more than one cent is tax. It is paid, 
 not to get the thread, for you could get the thread without 
 it. It is paid to get the Willimantic linen company which 
 is not worth having and which is, in fact, a nuisance, because 
 it makes thread harder to get than it would be if there were 
 no such concern. If a woman earns fifty cents in twelve 
 hours, she earns a spool of thread as nearly as may be in 
 an hour, and if she uses a spool of thread per day, she 
 works a quarter of an hour per day to support the Willi- 
 mantic linen company, which in 1882 paid 95 per cent 
 dividend to its stockholders. If you go and look at the mill, 
 it will captivate your imagination until you remember all 
 the women in all the garrets, and all the artisans' and 
 laborers' wives and children who are spending their hours of 
 labor, not to get goods which they need, but to pay for the 
 industrial system which only stands in their way and 
 makes it harder for them to get the goods. 
 
 It is plain enough that the Forgotten Man and the 
 Forgotten Woman are the very life and substance of society.
 
 THE FORGOTTEN MAN 493 
 
 They are the ones who ought to be first and always remem- 
 bered. They are always forgotten by sentimentalists, 
 philanthropists, reformers, enthusiasts, and every descrip- 
 tion of speculator in sociology, political economy, or political 
 science. If a student of any of these sciences ever comes 
 to understand the position of the Forgotten Man and to 
 appreciate his true value, you will find such student an 
 uncompromising advocate of the strictest scientific thinking 
 on all social topics, and a cold and hard-hearted skeptic 
 towards all artificial schemes of social amelioration. If it 
 is desired to bring about social improvements, bring us a 
 scheme for relieving the Forgotten Man of some of his 
 burdens. He is our productive force which we are wasting. 
 Let us stop wasting his force. Then we shall have a clean 
 and simple gain for the whole society. The Forgotten Man 
 is weighted down with the cost and burden of the schemes 
 for making everybody happy, with the cost of public benefi- 
 cence, with the support of all the loafers, with the loss of 
 all the economic quackery, with the cost of all the jobs. 
 Let us remember him a little while. Let us take some of 
 the burdens off him. Let us turn our pity on him instead 
 of on the good-for-nothing. It will be only justice to him, 
 and society will greatly gain by it. Why should we not 
 also have the satisfaction of thinking and caring for a 
 little while about the clean, honest, industrious, inde- 
 pendent, self-supporting men and women who have not 
 inherited much to make life luxurious for them, but who are 
 doing what they can to get on in the world without begging 
 from anybody, especially since all they want is to be let 
 alone, with good friendship and honest respect. Certainly 
 the philanthropists and sentimentalists have kept our 
 attention for a long time on the nasty, shiftless, criminal, 
 whining, crawling, and good-for-nothing people, as if they 
 alone deserved our attention. 
 
 The Forgotten Man is never a pauper. He almost always
 
 494 THE FORGOTTEN MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 has a little capital because it belongs to the character of the 
 man to save something. He never has more than a little. 
 He is, therefore, poor in the popular sense, although in the 
 correct sense he is not so. I have said already that if you 
 learn to look for the Forgotten Man and to care for him, 
 you will be very skeptical toward all philanthropic and 
 humanitarian schemes. It is clear now that the interest 
 of the Forgotten Man and the interest of "the poor," "the 
 weak," and the other petted classes are in antagonism. 
 In fact, the warning to you to look for the Forgotten Man 
 comes the minute that the orator or writer begins to talk 
 about the poor man. That minute the Forgotten Man is 
 in danger of a new assault, and if you intend to meddle in 
 the matter at all, then is the minute for you to look about 
 for him and to give him your aid. Hence, if you care for 
 the Forgotten Man, you will be sure to be charged with 
 not caring for the poor. Whatever you do for any of the 
 petted classes wastes capital. If you do anything for the 
 Forgotten Man, you must secure him his earnings and 
 savings, that is, you legislate for the security of capital 
 and for its free employment; you must oppose paper 
 money, wildcat banking and usury laws and you must 
 maintain the inviolability of contracts. Hence you must 
 be prepared to be told that you favor the capitalist class, 
 the enemy of the poor man. 
 
 What the Forgotten Man really wants is true liberty. 
 Most of his wrongs and woes come from the fact that there 
 are yet mixed together in our institutions the old mediaeval 
 theories of protection and personal dependence and the 
 modern theories of independence and individual liberty. 
 The consequence is that the people who are clever enough 
 to get into positions of control, measure their own rights 
 by the paternal theory and their own duties by the theory 
 of independent liberty. It follows that the Forgotten 
 Man, who is hard at work at home, has to pay both ways.
 
 THE FORGOTTEN IVIAN 495 
 
 His rights are measured by the theory of liberty, that is, 
 he has only such as he can conquer. His duties are measured 
 by the paternal theory, that is, he must discharge all which 
 are laid upon him, as is always the fortune of parents. 
 People talk about the paternal theory of government as if 
 it were a very simple thing. Analyze it, however, and you 
 see that in every paternal relation there must be two parties, 
 a parent and a child, and when you speak metaphorically, 
 it makes all the difference in the world who is parent and 
 who is child. Now, since we, the people, are the state, 
 w^henever there is any work to be done or expense to be paid, 
 and since the petted classes and the criminals and the 
 jobbers cost and do not pay, it is they who are in the posi- 
 tion of the child, and it is the Forgotten Man who is the 
 parent. What the Forgotten Man needs, therefore, is that 
 we come to a clearer understanding of liberty and to a 
 more complete realization of it. Every step which we win 
 in liberty will set the Forgotten Man free from some of his 
 burdens and allow him to use his powers for himself and for 
 the commonwealth.
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 
 The following bibliography is as nearly exhaustive as we have 
 been able to make it. There are doubtless other articles which 
 have not come under our notice; and there are certainly a number 
 of contributions to the press, signed and unsigned, to which we 
 have no clue. The distribution of those which we have found 
 will indicate the task of any one who should aim at exhaustiveness. 
 
 It has seemed best to us to include the titles of certain unpub- 
 lished writings, especially where these are to be made accessible 
 to students by the deposit of the manuscripts with the Yale 
 University Library (under Sumner Estate). Sumner had a way 
 of writing something out very carefully, perhaps as a lecture, and 
 then laying it away with apparently no thought of publishing it; 
 a number of such manuscripts have been printed for the first time 
 in this series of volumes. There are also a few of Sumner's 
 printed utterances which we possessed in the form of clippings, 
 but could not locate; the titles of such have been included as 
 accessible at the Yale Library. 
 
 There is a good deal of Sumner's writing in the reports of the 
 Connecticut State Board of Education. We have been informed 
 that his services to that Board, extending over twenty years, 
 included much committee work and many carefully written 
 reports. As these are of a somewhat special nature, we refer 
 simply to the documents of the Board. 
 
 It is the intention of the publishers to make of the volumes 
 now in print under uniform style a set of four, to be numbered 
 in the order of their appearance. For the sake of brevity, then, 
 War and Other Essays is referred to below as Vol. I; Earth 
 Hunger and Other Essays, as Vol. II; The Challenge of Facts and 
 Other Essays, as Vol. Ill; and The Forgotten Man and Other 
 Essays, as Vol. IV. 
 
 There are in these volumes a few numbers not written by 
 Sumner, but about him, such as the Memorial Addresses in 
 Vol. III. 
 
 A. G. K. 
 M. R. D. 
 499
 
 500 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 1872. The Books of the Kings, by K. C. W. F. Bahr. Trans- 
 
 lated, Enlarged, and Edited . . . Book 2, by W. G. 
 Sumner, in Lange, J. P., A commentary on the Holy 
 Scripture . . . New York, Scribner, Armstrong & Co., 
 1866-1882, 26 vols., VI, 312 pp. 
 
 The Church's Law of the Interpretation of Scrip- 
 ture. Unpublished manuscript on scientific criticism 
 of the Bible. April 3. 61 pp. (Sumner Estate.) 
 
 Memorial Day Address. Delivered at Morristown, 
 May 30. Printed for the first time in Vol. Ill, pp. 347- 
 362. 
 
 1873. The Solidarity of the Human Race. Unpublished 
 
 manuscript of an address on the influence of ideas and 
 events in one country on conditions in other countries, 
 delivered at the Sheffield Scientific School, January 11. 
 40 pp. (Sumner Estate.) 
 
 Relation of Physical to Moral Good. An address. 
 Unpublished manuscript probably of this date, 35 pp. 
 (Sumner Estate.) 
 
 Introductory Lecture to Courses in Political and 
 Social Science. Printed for the first time in Vol. Ill, 
 pp. 391-403. 
 
 History of Paper Money. Paper money in China, 
 England, Austria, Russia, and the American Colonies. 
 Unpublished manuscrijit, 109 pp. (Sumner Estate.) 
 
 Socialism. Three unpublished manuscripts written be- 
 tween 1873 and 1880 which appear to be preliminary 
 sketches to the essay entitled The Challenge of Facts. 
 38, 12, and 31 pp. respectively. 
 
 1874. A History of American Currency, with chapters on the 
 
 English Bank Restriction and Austrian Paper Money, 
 to which is appended "The Bullion Report." New 
 York, H. Holt & Co., iv, 391 pp., twofold diagram. 
 
 The Lesson of the Panic (of 1873). Unpublished manu- 
 script advocating a return to a sound currency, 20 pp. 
 (Sumner Estate.) 
 
 Have We Had Enough? Unpublished manuscript on the 
 evils of paper money, written soon after the panic of 
 1873, 15 pp. (Sumner Estate.) 
 
 Political Economy. From 300 to 400 pp. of lecture notes 
 for classroom use. (Sumner Estate.)
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 501 
 
 1874. Taxation. What it is, what its relation to other depart- 
 
 ments of poUtical economy is, and what are the general 
 principles by which it must be controlled. Unpublished 
 manuscript probably of this date, 24 pp. (Sumner 
 Estate.) 
 
 1875. American Finance. Boston, Williams. 
 
 The Currency Question. An address delivered about 
 this time opposing the issue of irredeemable paper money. 
 Unpublished manuscript, 96 pp. (Sumner Estate.) 
 
 1876. Monetary Development. (In Woolsey, T. D., and 
 
 others. First Century of the Repubhc. New York, 
 
 Harper & Bros.) 
 Politics in America, 1776-1876. North American Re- 
 view, January, Vol. CXXII, Centennial number, pp. 47- 
 
 87. Reprinted in Vol. IV, pp. 285-333. 
 Shall the "Hard Times" Continue? A review of the 
 
 address of Professor Sumner before the New Haven 
 
 Chamber of Commerce. The Woonsocket Patriot, 
 
 May 19. 
 BouRBONisM. "Real Issues of the Day." New York 
 
 World, May 19. 
 Free Pig-iron. Letter to the New York Mercantile 
 
 Journal, June 3. 
 For President? New Haven Palladium, September 12. 
 
 Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 365-379. 
 Is THE War Over? "Real Issues of the Day." New 
 
 York World, October 9. 
 Fears of a Solid South. "Real Issues of the Day." 
 
 New York World, October 10. 
 Political Status of the Southern States. Letter to 
 
 the New York World, October 16. 
 What Has Become of Reform? "Real Issues of the 
 
 Day." New York World, October 23. 
 The Democratic Reply. To the visiting Republicans in 
 
 New Orleans who refused to enter into a conference upon 
 
 the subject of the counting of the election returns. 
 
 New York Tribune, November 17. 
 "Professor Sumner on Louisiana," Letter to the 
 
 New York World, November 21, in answer to Governor 
 
 Ingersoll's request to express his views on the political 
 
 situation in that state after his visit to New Orleans.
 
 502 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 1876. Impressions in New Orleans. Letter to the New 
 
 York Herald, November 22. 
 
 1877. Lectures on the History of Protection in the United 
 
 States. Delivered before the International Free-trade 
 Alliance. Reprinted from "The New Century." Pub- 
 lished for the International Free-trade Alliance by 
 G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 64 pp. Contents: 
 The National Idea and the American System, Broad 
 Principles Underlying the Tariff Controversy, The 
 Origin of Protection in this Country, The Establishment 
 of Protection in this Country, Vacillation of the Pro- 
 tective Policy in this Country. 
 
 Republican Government. The Chicago Tribune, Janu- 
 ary 1. Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 223-240. 
 
 Protection and Pig-iron. Letter to the Courier, 
 February 12. 
 
 Democracy and Responsible Government. Address 
 at Providence, R. I., June 20, before the Phi Beta Kappa 
 Society of Brown University. The Providence Evening 
 Press, June 21. Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 243-286. 
 
 Silver. Address before the Senior Class of Yale Uni- 
 versity. The New Haven Union, December 12. 
 
 The Silver Question. What it is and how it should be 
 dealt with. New York World, December 12. 
 
 The Commercial Crisis of 1837. Written in 1877 or 
 1878. (There are indications on the manuscript that 
 it was once printed, but efforts to find where have 
 failed.) Published, probably for the first time, in 
 Vol. IV, pp. 371-398. 
 
 1878. Our Revenue System, by A. L. Earle. Preface by W. G. 
 
 Sumner. New York, published for the New York Free- 
 trade Club by G. P. Putnam's Sons, 47 pp. (Economic 
 Monograph No. V.) 
 
 Money and Its Laws. International Review, January 
 and February, Vol. V, pp. 75-81. 
 
 What is Free Trade? Chicago News, January 7. 
 
 Silver. Address in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune, 
 January 9. 
 
 The Silver Question. Lecture before the Manhattan 
 Club of New York City, January 25, on the disastrous
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 503 
 
 1878 results of remonetization. The New York World, 
 January 26. 
 
 A Few Plain Answers. Letter to the New Haven 
 Register, February 28, on the tariff. 
 
 Protection and Revenue in 1877. Lecture dehvered 
 before the New York Free-trade Club, April 18. New 
 York, published for the New York Free-trade Club by 
 G. P. Putnam's Sons. (Economic Monograph No. 
 VIII.) 
 
 Socialism. Scribner's Monthly, October, Vol. XVI, No. 
 6, pp. 887-893. 
 
 Relation of Legislation to Currency. Unpublished 
 manuscript written about this time dealing with the 
 nature of money, coining, paper money, legal tender 
 acts, the monetary experience of England and France, 
 etc., and opposing the abuses of legislation in regard to 
 currency. 45 pp. (Sumner Estate.) 
 
 A Concurrent Circulation of Gold and Silver. 
 Printed for the first time in Vol. IV, pp. 183-210. 
 
 1879. Bimetallism. Princeton Review, November, pp. 546-578. 
 Amortization of Public Debts. Unpublished manu- 
 script, chiefly historical, written about this time. 35 pp. 
 (Sumner Estate.) 
 
 The Influence of Commercial Crises on Opinions 
 about Economic Doctrines. An address probably of 
 this date. Printed for the first time in Vol. IV, pp. 
 213-235. 
 
 The Co-operative Commonwealth. Written in the 
 seventies or eighties. Extracts printed for the first 
 time in Vol. IV, pp. 441^62. 
 
 1880. What Our Boys are Reading. Combined with "Books 
 
 and Reading for the Young," by J. H. Smart. Chas. 
 
 Scribner's Sons. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 367-377. 
 The True Aim of Life. Address to the Seniors in Yale 
 
 University. The New Haven Register, February 1. 
 
 (Not in form for re-printing.) 
 The Theory and Practice of Elections. Princeton 
 
 Review, March, pp. 262-286, and July, pp. 24-41. 
 Two Letters to the New York Times, April 3 and 4, 
 
 giving his reasons for using Spencer's "Study of So- 
 ciology" as a text-book.
 
 504 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 1880. The Administration of Andrew Jackson. Address 
 
 before the Kent Club of the Yale Law School, briefly 
 
 reported in the New York Tribune, April 29. Printed 
 
 in full for the first time in Vol. IV, pp. 337-367. 
 The Revival of Ocean Commerce. A free-trade letter 
 
 to the American Railroad Journal, September 10. 
 Professor Sumner's views respecting the tariff question. 
 
 Letters to the New Haven Register, October 9, 12, and 14. 
 The Financial Questions now before Us. Unpublished 
 
 manuscript written about this time, 8 pp. (Sumner 
 
 Estate.) 
 
 1881. Elections and Civil Service Reform. Princeton Re- 
 
 view, January, pp. 129-148. 
 Panic without Cause. Lecture in Brothers' Hall, New 
 
 Haven, on the recent panic in Wall Street. New Haven 
 
 Register, January 14. 
 The Argument against Protective Taxes. Princeton 
 
 Review, March, pp. 241-259. 
 Shall Americans Own Ships.? North American Review, 
 
 June, Vol. 132, No. CCXCV, pp. 559-5QQ. Reprinted 
 
 in Vol. IV, pp. 273-282. 
 Fortunes made in Thread. Letter to the New York 
 
 Times, June 5, on the peculiar protection given to the 
 
 manufacturers of thread. 
 Sociology. Princeton Review, November, pp. 303-323. 
 
 Reprinted in Vol. I, pp. 167-192. 
 
 1882. Andrew Jackson as a Public Man. What he was, what 
 
 chances he had, and what he did with them. Boston, 
 
 New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, vi, 402 pp. 
 
 (American Statesmen Series.) 
 Political Economy and Political Science. Comp. 
 
 by W. G. Sumner, D. A. Wells, W. E. Foster, R. L. 
 
 Dugdale, and G. H. Putnam. New York Society for 
 
 Political Education. Cover title, 36 pp. Economic 
 
 Tracts No. 2. 
 Protective Taxes and Wages. Philadelphia Tariff 
 
 Commission, 21 pp. Caption title. 
 Bank Checks and Blankets. A free-trade letter to the 
 
 New Haven Register, June 2. 
 The "American System." A letter to the American 
 
 Free- trade League, June.
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 505 
 
 1882. Why should the Men of Iowa Levy Taxes on Them- 
 
 selves TO Benefit Pennsylvanlv? Iowa State Leader, 
 
 September 4. 
 The Free Play of Economic Forces. Letter to the 
 
 Nation regarding Jevons's "State in Relation to Labor," 
 
 September 30. 
 Lumber Prices. Letter to the Northwestern Lumber- 
 man, October 14. 
 Professor Sumner's speech before the Tariff Commission, 
 
 reviewed by George Basil Dixwell, Cambridge, J. Wilson 
 
 & Son, 43 pp. 
 Professor Sumner's "Argument against Protective Taxes," 
 
 reviewed by George Basil Dixwell, Cambridge, J. 
 
 Wilson & Son, 13 pp. 
 Wages. Princeton Review, November, pp. 241-262. 
 
 1883. The Forgotten Man. The original lecture on this 
 
 subject, delivered in New Haven February 8 or 9. 
 28 typewritten pp. Printed for the first time in Vol. IV, 
 pp. 465-495. 
 
 What Social Classes Owe to each Other. First ap- 
 peared in Hari^er's Weekly, February-May, Vol. XXVII, 
 Nos. 1366-1376. New York, Harper & Brothers, 
 169 pp. 
 
 On the Case of a Certain Man who is never 
 Thought Of. Reprinted in Vol. I, pp. 247-253, from 
 "What Social Classes Owe to Each Other," pp. 123-133. 
 
 The Case of the Forgotten Man Further Considered. 
 Reprinted in Vol. I, pp. 257-268, from "What Social 
 Classes Owe to Each Other," pp. 134-152. 
 
 Best Public Opinion. Letter to the Gazette and Free 
 Press, January 12, in reply to T. K. Beecher. 
 
 Let Commercial Relations Alone. Letter to W. H. 
 Knight in the Gazette and Free Press, January 16. 
 
 Letter to Mr. Earle of the American Free-trade League 
 regarding a speech of Mr. Evarts's. Printed in the 
 New York Times, February 6. 
 
 "Professor Sumner on Monetary Science." Letter 
 to the editor of Bradstreet's in which he disagrees with 
 the theory of H. C. Adams that money laws in economics 
 are dependent on the nation's sentiment as expressed in 
 its legislative enactments. February 10.
 
 506 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 1883. "Professor Sumner Replies." Letter to the New 
 Haven Register, February 10, referring to his remarks 
 about the protective tax on thread in his lecture on the 
 "Forgotten Man." 
 
 "Professor Sumner's Presumption." A defense of 
 his letter to Mr. Earle regarding a speech of Mr. Evarts's. 
 New York Times, February 14. 
 
 WiLLiMANTic Linen Mills. Letter to the New York 
 Times, February 16, defending his position as taken 
 against the protective tax on thread. 
 
 Some Facts about Thread. Unpublished manuscript, 
 14 pp., referring to the controversy with the Willimantic 
 Linen Co. (Sumner Estate.) 
 
 A Theorist Answered. A free-trade letter to the New 
 Haven Register, February 26, in reply to a letter signed 
 "Hardpan." 
 
 The Gain to the Country by Protection. Letter to 
 the New York Times, February 27. 
 
 "Professor Sumner Instructs His Critics." A free- 
 trade letter to the New York Times, March 1. 
 
 That Census Puzzle. New York Times, March 2. 
 
 Protective Taxes and Wages. North American Re- 
 view, March, Vol. 136, No. CCCXVI, pp. 270-276. 
 
 A Course of Reading in Political Economy. Prepared 
 for The Critic, March, 4 pp. 
 
 The Tariff on Thread. Letter to the New York Times, 
 March 8. 
 
 Thread. Letter to the Boston Transcript, April 25, 
 regarding the Willimantic Linen Co. 
 
 Thread at Three Cents a Spool. Letter to the New 
 York Times, April 28. 
 
 The Willimantic Mills' Profit. Letter to the Boston 
 Transcript, April 30. 
 
 Letter to the Palladium (New Haven), April 30, regarding 
 the controversy with the Willimantic Linen Co. 
 
 "Professor Sumner's Views." Letter to the New Haven 
 Register, May 26, in answer to Mr. Barrows of the 
 Willimantic Linen Co. 
 
 The Philosophy of Strikes. Harper's Weekly, Septem- 
 ber 15, Vol. XXVII, No. 1395, p. 586. Reprinted in 
 Vol. IV, pp. 239-246.
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 507 
 
 1883. Letter to the New Haven Register, October 18, regarding 
 
 the development of our industries. 
 
 "Professor Sumner's Views Respecting the Tariff 
 Question." New Haven Register, October 19. 
 
 "Mixed Up Mr. Sheldon." Letter to the New Haven 
 Register, October 30, showing Mr. Sheldon's ignorance 
 of tariff laws. 
 
 The Science of Sociology. A Speech at the Farewell 
 Banquet to Herbert Spencer. Delivered November 9, 
 1882, published in "Herbert Spencer on the Americans 
 and the Americans on Herbert Spencer," pp. 35-40. 
 New York, D. Appleton & Company, 96 pp. Reprinted 
 in Vol. IV, pp. 401-405. 
 
 Suggestions on Social Subjects. Passages selected 
 from "What Social Classes owe to Each Other," in 
 the Popular Science Monthly, December, Vol. XXIV, 
 pp. 160-169. 
 
 An American Criticism of British Protectionist 
 Theories. A criticism of Professor Sidgwick's doctrine 
 that protective taxes come out of the foreigner. The 
 London Economist, December 1, Vol. XLI, No. 2,101, 
 pp. 1397-1398. 
 
 The Democratic Theory of Public Offices. Address 
 before the Civil Service Reform Association, Rochester, 
 N. Y. Reasons for reform in the manner of selecting 
 public oflBcers. What would be gained by the change. 
 Printed in the Rochester newspapers of the time. 
 (Sumner Estate.) 
 
 1884. Problems in Political Economy. New York, 12 mo., 
 
 125 pp. H. Holt & Co. 
 Our Colleges before the Country. Princeton Review, 
 
 March, pp. 127-140. Reprinted in Vol. I, pp. 355-373. 
 Sociological Fallacies. North American Review, June, 
 
 Vol. 138, No. CCCXXXI, pp. 574-579. Reprinted m 
 
 Vol. II, pp. 357-364. 
 Evils of the Tariff System. North American Review, 
 
 September, Vol. 139, No. CCCXXXIV, pp. 293-299. 
 
 1885. Protectionism. The -Ism which Teaches that Waste 
 
 makes Wealth. New York, H. Holt & Company, 
 October, 12mo., 170 pp. Reprinted in Vol. IV, pp. 
 9-111.
 
 508 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 1885. Collected Essays in Political and Social Science. 
 
 New York, H. Holt & Company, 173 pp. Contents: 
 Bimetallism, Wages, The Argument against Protective 
 Taxes, Sociology, Theory and Practice of Elections, 
 Presidential Elections and Civil Service Reform, Our 
 Colleges Before the Country. 
 
 Our Currency for the Last Twenty-five Years. 
 Harper's Weekly, January 10- February 7, Vol. XXIX, 
 Nos. 1464-1468. 
 
 Shall Silver be Demonetized? North American Re- 
 view, June, Vol. 140, No. CCCXLIII, pp. 485^89. 
 
 1886. Regulation of Contracts. How far have modern 
 
 improvements in production and transportation changed 
 the principle that men should be left free to make their 
 own bargains? Science, March 5, Vol. VII, No. 161, 
 pp. 225-228. 
 
 What Is Free Trade? In Good Cheer for April, p. 7. 
 Reprinted in Vol. IV, pp. 123-127. 
 
 Can Protection Increase the Wealth of the Coun- 
 try? The Tax-gatherer, May 22, No. 19. 
 
 Industrl\.l War. Forum, September, Vol. II, pp. 1-8. 
 Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 93-102. 
 
 Mr. Blaine on the Tariff. North American Review, 
 October, Vol. 143, No. CCCLIX, pp. 398-405. 
 
 What Is the "Proletariat"? The Independent, Octo- 
 ber 28. Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 161-165. 
 
 Who Win by Progress? The Independent, November 
 25. Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 169-174. 
 
 The New Social Issue. The Independent, December 23. 
 Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 207-212. 
 
 Subjects for Theses and Compositions. Prepared 
 with notes and references attached to the subjects for 
 Senior and Junior Classes, Yale College. I. Honor 
 Theses in Political Science. II. Subjects for Required 
 Compositions. 9 pp. (Sumner Estate.) 
 
 History of the United States of America, 1824-1876. 
 Notes taken by J. C. Schwab, 1886-1887. MS 17^ x 
 25 1 cm. Yale University Library. 
 
 Political Economy. Notes of lectures taken by J. C. 
 Schwab, 1886-1887. MS 17^x25^ cm. Yale Univer- 
 sity Library.
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 509 
 
 1887. What M.vkes the Rich Richer and the Poor Poorer? 
 Popular Science Monthly, January, Vol. XXX, pj). 
 289-296. Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 65-77. 
 
 Socialism. Speech before the Massachusetts Reform 
 Club, Boston, January 8. Boston Sunday Record, 
 January 9. 
 
 Federal Legislation on Railroads. The Independent, 
 January 20. Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 177-182. 
 
 Legisl.\tion by Clamor. The Independent, February 24. 
 Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 185-190. 
 
 The Shifting of Responsibility. The Independent, 
 March 24. Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 193-198. 
 
 Some Points in the New Social Creed. The Inde- 
 pendent, April 21. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 207-211. 
 
 The Indians in 1887. Forum, May, Vol. Ill, pp. 254- 
 262. 
 
 Speculative Legislation. The Independent, May 19. 
 Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 215-219. 
 
 Unrestricted Commerce. Chautauquan, June. 
 
 The Banquet of Life. The Independent, June 23. 
 Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 217-221. 
 
 Some Natural Rights. The Independent, July 28. 
 Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 222-227. 
 
 Strikes and the Industrial Organization. Popular 
 Science News, July, Vol. XXI, No. 7, pp. 93-94. Re- 
 printed in Vol. IV, pp. 249-253. 
 
 State Interference. North American Review, August, 
 Vol. 145, No. CCCLXIX, pp. 109-119. Reprinted in 
 Vol. I, pp. 213-226. 
 
 The Abolition of Poverty. The Independent, Aug- 
 ust 25. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 228-232. 
 
 The State as an "Ethical Person." The Independent, 
 October 6. Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 201-204. 
 
 The Boon of Nature. The Independent, October 27. 
 Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 233-238. 
 
 Civil Service Reform. Chautauquan, November, pp. 78- 
 80. 
 
 Is Liberty a Lost Blessing? The Independent, Novem- 
 ber 24. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 131-135. 
 
 Advantages of Free Trade. The Christian Secretary. 
 (Sumner Estate.)
 
 510 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 1888. Land Monopoly. The Independent, January 12. Re- 
 
 printed in Vol. II, pp. 239-244. 
 
 A Group of Natural Monopolies. The Independent, 
 February 16. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 245-248. 
 
 The Fall in Silver and International Competition. 
 Rand McNally's Banker's Monthly, February, pp. 47- 
 48. 
 
 The First Steps towards a Millennium. Cosmo- 
 politan, March, pp. 32-36. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 
 93-105. 
 
 Another Chapter on Monopoly. The Independent, 
 March 15. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 249-253. 
 
 Trusts and Trades-unions. The Independent, April 19. 
 Reprinted in Vol. IV, pp. 257-262. 
 
 The Family Monopoly. The Independent, May 10. 
 Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 254-258. 
 
 The Family and Property. The Independent, June 14 
 and July 19. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 259-269. 
 
 Tariff Reform. The Independent, August 16. Re- 
 printed in Vol. IV, pp. 115-120. 
 
 The State and Monopoly. The Independent, September 
 13 and October 11. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 270-279. 
 
 "A Condition not a Theory." Free trade. Belford's 
 Monthly Magazine, October, Vol. I, No. 5. 
 
 Democracy and Plutocracy. The Independent, Novem- 
 ber 15. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 283-289. 
 
 Definitions of Democracy and Plutocracy. The 
 Independent, December 20. Reprinted in Vol. II, 
 pp. 290-295. 
 
 1889. The Conflict of Plutocracy and Democracy. The 
 
 Independent, January 10. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 
 296-300. 
 
 Peasant Emancipation in Denmark. Based on a 
 review of Stavnsbaands-l0sningen og landboreformerne. 
 Set fra national0konomiens Standpunkt. Af V. Falbe 
 Hansen, Copenhagen: Gad. 1888. The Nation, Febru- 
 ary 7, No. 1232, pp. 123-124. 
 
 Peasants and Land Tenure in Scandinavia. Un- 
 published manuscript, 20 typewritten pages, written in 
 1889 or later, covering the period from the earliest times 
 to the eighteenth century. (Sumner Estate.)
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 511 
 
 1889. Separation of State and Market. The Independent, 
 February 14. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 30G-311. 
 
 Democracy and Modern Problems. The Independent, 
 March 28. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 301-305. 
 
 Social War in Democracy. The Independent, April 11. 
 Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 312-317. 
 
 An Examination of a Noble Sentiment. The Inde- 
 pendent, May 16. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 212-216. 
 
 Sketch of William Grah.\m Sumner. The Popular 
 Science Monthly, June, Vol. XXXV, pp. 261-268. 
 Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 3-13. 
 
 An Old "Trust." The Independent, June 13. Re- 
 printed in Vol. IV, pp. 265-269. 
 
 What is Civil Liberty.? The Popular Science Monthly, 
 July, Vol. XXXV, pp. 289-303. Reprinted in Vol. II. 
 pp. 109-130. 
 
 Who Is Free.? Is It the Savage.? The Independent, 
 July 18. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 136-140. 
 
 Who Is Free.? Is It the Civilized Man.? The Inde- 
 pendent, August 15. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 140-145. 
 
 Who Is Free.? Is It the Millionaire.? The Inde- 
 pendent, September 12. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 145- 
 150. 
 
 Who Is Free.? Is It the Tramp.? The Independent. 
 October 17. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 150-155. 
 
 Liberty and Responsibility. The Independent, Novem- 
 ber 21. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 156-160. 
 
 Liberty and Law. The Independent, December 26. 
 Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 161-166. 
 
 Do We Want Industrl^l Peace.? Forum, December, 
 Vol. VIII, pp. 406-416. Reprinted in Vol. I, pp 229^ 
 243. 
 
 Free Trade. UnpubHshed manuscript of about this 
 date. I. Definitions of Protection and Protectionism. 
 11. The Medieval Doctrine of Commerce. III. The 
 Sixteenth Century. IV. The Dynastic States. V. Mer- 
 cantilism and the Colonial System. VI. The New 
 Doctrine. VII. Smithianismus. VIII. Protection in 
 the United States. IX. Nineteenth-century Protec- 
 tionism. X. The Present Situation. About 64 type- 
 written pages. (Sumner Estate.)
 
 512 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 1889. The Strikes. Unpublished manuscript written some- 
 
 time in the eighties, 21 typewritten pages. A general 
 survey of the "labor question." (Sumner Estate.) 
 
 A Parable. Written in the eighties. Printed for the 
 first time in Vol. Ill, pp. 105-107. 
 
 The Sphere of Academical Instruction. Address 
 delivered at the celebration of a school anniversary. 
 To judge "what an academy is, what it ought to do, 
 and how it ought to do it; and to judge of its achieve- 
 ments by true standards." Unpublished manuscript 
 of the eighties, 27 pages. (Sumner Estate.) 
 
 Integrity in Education. An address delivered in Hart- 
 ford probably in the eighties. Printed for the first time 
 in Vol. IV, pp. 409-419. 
 
 Discipline. Probably in the eighties. Printed for the 
 first time in Vol. IV, pp. 423-^38. 
 
 The Challenge of Facts. Written sometime in the 
 eighties. Original title was Socialism. Printed for the 
 first time in Vol. Ill, pp. 17-52. 
 
 1890. Alexander Hamilton. ("Makers of America.") New 
 
 York, 12mo., 280 pp., Dodd, Mead & Co. 
 Liberty and Discipline. The Independent, January 16. 
 
 Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 166-171. 
 Does Labor Brutalize? The Independent, February 20. 
 
 Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 187-193. 
 Liberty and Property. The Independent, March 27. 
 
 Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 171-176. 
 Liberty and Opportunity. The Independent, April 24. 
 
 Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 176-181. 
 Why I Am a Free Trader. Twentieth Century, April 24, 
 
 pp. 8-10. 
 Can We Get More Money? Frank Leslie's Illustrated 
 
 Newspaper, May 3, Vol. LXX, No. 1807. 
 Liberty and Labor. The Independent, May 22. Re- 
 printed in Vol. II, pp. 181-187. 
 Proposed Silver Legislation. Frank Leslie's Illustrated 
 
 Newspaper, May 24, Vol. LXX, No. 1810, p. 330. 
 Liberty and Machinery. The Independent, June 12. 
 
 Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 193-198. 
 The Disappointment of Liberty. The Independent, 
 
 July 17. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 198-203.
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 513 
 
 1890. What Emancipates. The Independent, August 14. Re- 
 
 printed in Vol. Ill, pp. 137-142. 
 
 The Demand for Men. The Independent, September 11. 
 Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 111-116. 
 
 The Significance of the Demand for Men. The In- 
 dependent, October 16. Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 119- 
 123. 
 
 What the "Social Question" Is. The Independent, 
 November 20. Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 127-133. 
 
 1891. The Financier and the Finances of the American 
 
 Revolution.^ New York, 2 vols., Svo., 309 and 330 pp. 
 
 Liberte des Echanges. Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Eco- 
 nomie Politique, vol. 2, pp. 138-166, Guillaumin et Cie., 
 Paris. 
 
 Power and Progress. The Independent, January 15. 
 Reprmted in Vol. Ill, pp. 145-150. 
 
 Consequences of Increased Social Power. The Inde- 
 pendent, August 13. Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 153- 
 158. 
 
 1892. Robert Morris ("Makers of America"). New York, 
 
 12mo., 172 pp. 
 
 1893. Proposed Classification of the Social Sciences. A 
 
 chart printed for distribution to the classes in Social 
 Science in Yale University. "Not published." 
 
 1894. The Absurd Effort to Make the World Over. Forum, 
 
 March, Vol. XVII, pp. 92-102. Reprinted in Vol. I, 
 pp. 195-210. 
 
 1895. The Venezuela Message. Letter to the New York 
 
 Times, December 18. 
 
 1896. History of Banking in the United States. XV, 485 pp. 
 
 Being Vol. I of A History of Banking in all the Leading 
 Nations. 
 
 "Professor Sumner on Yale." Letter to The Yale 
 News, January 20. Learning is more appreciated here 
 now than thirty years ago. 
 
 The Currency Crisis. A course of six lectures given at 
 the house of Mr. John E. Parsons, 30 East 36th St., 
 New York City, February 13 and 27 and March 5, 12, 
 19, and 26. What the lecturer said, as well as the 
 questions and answers at the end of his lectures, was 
 taken down in shorthand and typewritten. Mr. Herbert
 
 514 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 1896. Parsons has the transcript in bound form, and the Yale 
 University Library also has a copy. (Sumner Estate.) 
 
 The Tril\sury as a Baxk of Issue and a Silver Ware- 
 house. The Bond Record, March, Vol. IV, No. 2, 
 pp. 87-89. 
 
 An Answer to Mr. Tighe's Letter on Yale's Vene- 
 zuEL.'LN Attitude. Letter to the Yale Alumni Weekly, 
 May 20, Vol. V, No. 30, pp. 1-2. 
 
 The Fallacy of Territorial Extension. Forum, 
 June, Vol. XXI, pp. 416-419. Reprinted in Vol. I, 
 pp. 285-293. 
 
 A Few Words. Short address as member of the State 
 Board of Education at the graduating exercises of the 
 New Haven Normal School, June 18. (Sumner Estate.) 
 
 The Policy of Debasement. "The Battle of the Stand- 
 ards." New York Journal, July 29. 
 
 The Proposed Dual Org.'Lnization of Mankind. Popu- 
 lar Science Monthly, August, Vol. XLIX, pp. 433^39. 
 Reprinted in Vol. I, pp. 271-281. 
 
 Prosperity Strangled by Gold. Leslie's Weekly, Aug- 
 ust 20. Reprinted in Vol. IV, pp. 141-145. 
 
 Cause and Cure of Hard Times. Leslie's Weekly, 
 September 3. Reprinted in Vol. IV, pp. 149-153. 
 
 The Free-coinage Scheme Is Impracticable at Every 
 Point. Leslie's Weekly, September 10. Reprinted 
 in Vol. IV, pp. 157-162. 
 
 Delusion of the Debtors. Leslie's Weekly, Septem- 
 ber 17. Reprinted in Vol. IV, pp. 165-170. 
 
 The Crime of 1873. Leslie's Weekly, September 24. 
 Reprinted in Vol. IV, pp. 173-180. 
 
 The Single Gold Standard. Chautauquan, October, 
 Vol. XXIV, pp. 72-77. 
 
 Banks of Issue in the United States. Forum, October, 
 Vol. XXII, pp. 182-191. 
 
 Earth Hunger or the Philosophy of Land Grabbing. 
 Printed for the first time in Vol. II, pp. 31-64. 
 
 A Free Coinage Catechism. Reprinted from The 
 Evening Post, The Evening Post Publishing Co., New 
 York, 16 pp. 
 
 Lectures on American History, Yale University, 
 1896-1897. Notes taken by J. C. Schwab. MS. 
 13 X 21 cm. Yale University Library.
 
 BIBLIOGR-\PHY 515 
 
 1896. Advancing Social and Politic-vl Organizatiox ix the 
 United States. 1896 or 1S97. Printed for the first 
 time in Vol. Ill, pp. ^89-^44. 
 1S9T. The Te.\cher's Unconscious Success. Address given 
 at a dinner held in honor of Mr. Henn* Barnard, at 
 Jewel Hall, Hartford, January 'io. Printed for the 
 first time in Vol. II, pp. 9-13. 
 
 Monet .vnd Currency. A course of four lectures de- 
 hvered in Boston. I. The Anxiety Lest there be not 
 Money Enough. II. How We Resumed Sp)ecie Pay- 
 ments in 1879. What We Did Not Do. III. The 
 Single Gold Standard — A Beneficent and AccompUshed 
 Fact. IV. Where we now Stand and what we have to 
 Do. Syllabus. 
 
 Sociology. A course of six lectures given in Albany, 
 February- 'i7. March 6. 13, "^0, -^7, and April 3. In- 
 troduction. Individuality and Sociality. Prt.>perty. 
 Industriahsm and Militarism. Population. Mental Re- 
 action on Experience. Suggested Books for a Course 
 of Reading. Syllabus. 
 
 The Origin of the Doll.vr. Pajxr read at meeting of 
 the British Association for the Advancement of Science 
 at Toronto, August 19-'£o. (Sumner Estate.) 
 
 Outline of a Proposed Curriculum (,for Yale College^ 
 4 pages typewritten manuscript. ^Sumner Estate.^ 
 
 1898. The Sp.oasn Dollar and the Colonial Shilling. 
 
 American Historical Re^^ew, Vol. Ill, Xo. 4. pp. 607- 
 619. 
 
 Syijl.\bus of six lectures given durmg January- and Febru- 
 ary' in Plainfield. X. J. I. What is a Free Man and a 
 Free State? II. What is Demt.xTacy.' III. Aggrega- 
 tions of Wealth and Plutocracy. IV. The Rich and the 
 Poor. V. Woman. VI. Immigration. 
 
 Lehter il\s been a Hero. Letter to The World, New 
 York. June 15, on the Joseph Loiter deal. 
 
 The Coin Shilling of >L\ssachi sktts Bay. Yale 
 Review, X^ovember, Vol. ML pp. "^47-464, and Febru- 
 ary, 1899, Vol. VIL pp. 405-4^0. 
 
 1899. The Conquest of the I'nited Statf^ by Sp.un. A 
 
 lecture In^foro the Phi Beta Kn]i]ia Society of Yale I'ni- 
 versitv. January 16. Yale Liiw Journal. Vol. VHI.
 
 516 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 1899. No. 4, pp. 1G8-193. Boston, D. Estes & Co., 32 pp. 23 cm. 
 Reprinted in Vol. I, pp. 297-334. 
 
 The Power and Beneficence of Capital. Proceedings 
 of the Sixth Annual Convention of The Savings Banks 
 Association of the State of New York, held at the Rooms 
 of the Chamber of Commerce, 32 Nassau Street, New 
 York, May 10; pp. 77-95. J. S. Babcock, New York, 
 printer. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 337-353. 
 
 1900. First Fruits of Expansion. New York Evening Post, 
 
 April 14, p. 13. 
 The Predicament of Sociological Study. Printed for 
 
 the first time in Vol. Ill, pp. 415-425. Original title of 
 
 manuscript was "Sociology." Written about 1900. 
 Purposes and Consequences. Printed for the first 
 
 time in Vol. II, pp. 67-75, Written sometime between 
 
 1900 and 1906. 
 Rights. Printed for the first time in Vol. II, pp. 79-83. 
 
 Written sometime between 1900 and 1906. 
 Equality. Printed for the first time in Vol. II, pp. 87- 
 89. Written sometime between 1900 and 1906. 
 
 1901. The Anthracite Coal Industry, by Peter Roberts. In- 
 
 troduction by W. G. Sumner. New York, London, Mac- 
 millan Co., 261 pp. Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 387-388. 
 
 Specimens of Investment Securities for Class Room 
 Use. New Haven, The E. P. Judd Co., 32 pp., 27 
 X 35 5 cm. Verbatim reprints of a large number of 
 shares, certificates, bonds, and other evidences of owner- 
 ship of debt, without independent text or comment: 
 collected for use in college instruction. 
 
 Trusts. Journal of Commerce, June 24. 
 
 The Predominant Issue. Burlington, Vt. Reprinted 
 from the International Monthly, November, Vol. 2, pp. 
 496-509. Reprinted in Vol. I, pp. 337-352. 
 
 The Yakuts. Abridged from the Russian of Sieroshevski. 
 Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain 
 and Ireland, Vol. 31, pp. 65-110. 
 
 1902. Suicidal Fanaticism in Russia. The Popular Science 
 
 Monthly, March, Vol. LX, pp. 442-447. 
 The Concentration of Wealth: Its Economic Justi- 
 fication. The Independent, April-June. Reprinted in 
 Vol. Ill, pp. 81-90.
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 517 
 
 1903. Autobiographical Sketch of William Graham Sumner. 
 
 A History of the Class of 1863, Yale College, pp. 165- 
 167, New Haven, The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor 
 Co., 1905. Reprinted in Vol. II, pp. 3-5. 
 War. Printed for the first time in Vol. I, pp. 3-40. 
 
 1904. Reply to a Socialist (The Fallacies of Socialism). 
 
 Collier's Weekly, October 29, pp. 12-13. Reprinted in 
 Vol. Ill, pp. 55-62. 
 
 1905. Lynch-law, by James Elbert Cutler. Foreword by W. G. 
 
 Sumner. New York, Longmans, Green, and Co., v, 
 
 287 pp. Reprinted in Vol. Ill, pp. 383-384. 
 Economics and Politics. Printed for the first time in 
 
 Vol. II, pp. 318-333. 
 The Scientific Attitude of Mind. Address to initiates 
 
 of the Sigma Xi Society, Yale University, on March 4. 
 
 Printed for the first time in Vol. II, pp. 17-28. 
 
 1906. Protectionism Twenty Years After. (Title given by 
 
 editor.) Address at a dinner of the Committee on 
 Tariff Reform of the Tariff Reform Club in the City of 
 New York, June 2. Published by the Reform Club 
 Committee on Tariff Reform, 42 Broadway, New York, 
 N. Y. Series 1906, No. 4, 7 pp., August 15. Reprinted 
 in Vol. IV, pp. 131-138. 
 
 1907. Folkways: A Study of the Sociological Importance of 
 
 Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals. Bos- 
 ton, Ginn & Co., v, 692 pp. 
 Sociology as a College Subject. American Journal of 
 Sociologj% March, Vol. 12, No. 5, pp. 597-599. Re- 
 printed in Vol. Ill, pp. 407-411. 
 
 1908. Decline of Confidence. Annual Financial and Com- 
 
 mercial Review, New York Herald, January 2. 
 
 1909. What is Sane Tariff Reform? Annual Financial and 
 
 Commercial Review, New York Herald, January 4. 
 
 The Fajvuly and Social Change. American Journal of 
 Sociology, March, Vol. 14, No. 5, pp. 577-591. Re- 
 printed in Vol. I, pp. 43-61. 
 
 Witchcraft. Forum, May, Vol. XLI, pp. 410-423. 
 Reprinted in Vol. I, pp. 105-126. 
 
 Autobiography and List of Books Published. Facsimile 
 of letter and photograph in The Yale Courant, May, 
 Vol. XLV, No. 7, on occasion of Sumner's retirement.
 
 518 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 1909. The Status of Women in Chaldea, Egypt, India, 
 
 JuDEA, AND Greece to the Time of Christ. Forum, 
 August, Vol. XLII, pp. 113-136. Reprinted in Vol. I, 
 pp. 65-102. 
 The Mores of the Present and the Future. Yale 
 Review, November, Vol. XVIII, pp. 233-245. Re- 
 printed in Vol. I, pp. 149-164. 
 
 1910. Religion and the Mores. American Journal of So- 
 
 ciology, March, Vol. 15, No. 5, pp. 577-591. Reprinted 
 in Vol. I, pp. 129-146. 
 
 Comment on Willi.mvi Graham Sumner. (Died April 12.) 
 The Pioneer, Henry W. Farman. The Teacher, J, C. 
 Schwab. The Inspirer, Irving Fisher. The Idealist, 
 Clive Day. The Man, Albert G. Keller. The Veteran, 
 Richard T. Ely. Yale Review, May, Vol. XIX, pp. 1-12. 
 
 Memorial Addresses. Delivered June 19, in Lampson 
 Lyceum, Yale University, by Otto T. Bannard, Henry 
 De Forest Baldwin, and Albert Galloway Keller. 
 Printed in Vol. Ill, pp. 429-450. 
 
 POSTHUMOUS 
 
 1911. War. Yale Review (New Series), October, Vol. I, No. 1, 
 pp. 1-27. Printed in Vol. I, pp. 3-40. 
 War and Other Essays. New Haven, Yale University 
 Press, 381 pp. 
 
 1913. Earth Hunger or the Philosophy of Land Grabbing. 
 
 Yale Review (New Series), October, Vol. Ill, No. 1, 
 pp. 3-32. Printed in Vol. II, pp. 31-64. 
 Earth Hunger and Other Essays. New Haven, Yale 
 University Press, 377 pp. 
 
 1914. The Challenge of Facts and Other Essays. New 
 
 Haven, Yale University Press, 450 pp. 
 1918. The Forgotten Man and Other Essays. New Haven, 
 Yale University Press, 559 pp.
 
 INDEX
 
 INDEX 
 
 In the following index. War and Other Essays is referred to as Vol. I, Earth 
 Hunger and Other Essays as Vol. II, The Challenge of Facts and Other Essays as 
 Vol. Ill, and The Forgotten Man and Other Essays as Vol. IV. References in 
 heavy t^pe are essay titles. 
 
 AboUtion, IV, 17-18, 319. 
 Abolitionists, IV, 320-321. 
 Aborigines, treatment of, I, 27, 33-35, 
 
 273, 274, 306, 308; II, 45. 
 Absolutism, democratic. III, 305; state, 
 
 II, 130. 
 Abstract justice, II, 219. 
 ABSURD EFFORT TO MAKE THE 
 
 WORLD OVER, I, 195-210. 
 Academical life, IV, 423, 430. 
 Academical pursuits, IV, 424. 
 Academical societies, IV, 474. 
 Achievement, the work of. III, 145-146. 
 Act of 1873, IV, 165, 173-180. 
 Adams, John, III, 378; IV, 291, 293, 
 
 294, 296, 381. 
 Adams, John Quincy, IV, 304-305, 340, 
 
 343, 347, 348, 350, 351. 
 Administrative reform, III, 372-374. 
 Adults, demand for, III, 113-114. 
 Advancement, I, 179. 
 Advancing comfort, period of, II, 
 
 201-202. 
 Advancing industrial organization, I, 
 
 196-199. 
 Advancing social organization, 11, 
 
 286-287; III, 315-317. 
 ADVANCING SOCIAL AND POLIT- 
 ICAL ORGANIZATION IN THE 
 
 UNITED STATES, III, 289-344. 
 Africa, III, 300; IV, 71; colonization 
 
 of, II, 42; exploitation of, I, 273; 
 
 II, 51. 
 Aggrandizement, territorial, I, 286. 
 Agriculture, III, 39; IV, 76; status 
 
 of women under, I, 65. 
 Air, II, 240. 
 Alabama, IV, 55. 
 
 Alarmists, III, 341, 342-343. 
 
 Albany Argus, IV, 303. 
 
 Albany Regency, IV, 327, 351, 355. 362. 
 
 Alchemist, IV, 13, 19-20. 
 
 Alchemy, IV, 18. 
 
 Aleatory element, I, 116, 119-120. 
 
 Algeria, IV, 59. 
 
 Allodial land tenure. III, 312. 
 
 Almsgiving, III, 68, 74, 75. 
 
 Alternate standard, IV, 193, 195, 197, 
 
 198, 209. 
 Altruism, II, 130. 
 America, discovery of, II, 41^2, 315; 
 
 III, 153-154; Political Growth of, 
 
 III, 248-249. 
 
 AMERICA, POLITICS IN, 1776-1876, 
 
 IV, 285-333. 
 
 American college, what it ought to be, 
 
 1,370-371,372-373. 
 American colleges, improvement in, 
 
 I, 356. 
 American colonies, the, I, 274-276; 
 
 III, 248-253, 290-325; IV, 285, 288. 
 American commonwealth, conception 
 
 of the, I, 332-334; II, 56. 
 American culture, IV, 294. 
 American history contrasted with Euro- 
 pean, III, 292-293, 307. 
 American Indians, the, I, 6-7, 12, 15, 
 
 33, 44, 50, 309; II, 137, 138; III, 230, 
 
 249, 250. 
 American institutions. III, 244. 
 American life, IV, 241-242. 
 American politics, history of, IV, 339. 
 American principles, I, 326-329. 
 American shipping, IV, 273-278. 
 American Social Science Association, 
 
 the, II, 217. 
 
 521
 
 522 
 
 INDEX 
 
 American traditions. III, 353-354, 355. 
 
 Americanism, I, 346. 
 
 Americans, IV, 123, 125-126, 132, 300; 
 
 what they cannot do, I, 329-331. 
 Ames, Fisher, IV, 292. 
 Analogy, IV, 199, 204, 206; argument 
 
 from, IV, 199. 
 Anarchistic liberty, II, 119, 131-132, 
 
 161, 198, 199, 200, 203; III, 292, 317, 
 
 336. 
 Anarchists, II, 112. 
 Anarchy and liberty contrasted, II, 
 
 164-165. 
 Ancient Germans, the, I, 21, 155. 
 Anglo-American law. III, 215, 218. 
 Anthracite coal industry. III, 387-388. 
 "ANTHRACITE COAL INDUSTRY, 
 
 THE," FOREWORD TO, III, 
 
 387-388. 
 Anti-federalists, the. III, 307, 327-328; 
 
 IV, 289. 
 Anti-masonic movement, IV, 311. 
 Anti-slavery, I, 151. 
 Appointing power, IV, 307. 
 Apprentices, IV, 486, 487. 
 A priori method, the, III, 400, 401. 
 A priori philosophers, III, 244-245. 
 Arbitration, I, 328. 
 Aristocracy, IV, 291, 292; definition of, 
 
 II, 290; III, 302-303, 305; Popular 
 Dislike of All, III, 265-267. 
 
 Aristotle, I, 99; II, 113, 114. 
 
 Army, IV, 104. 
 
 Arnold, Matthew, IV, 425. 
 
 Art of politics. III, 246-247. 
 
 Art of production, IV, 104. 
 
 Art of recitation, I, 366. 
 
 Articles of Confederation, IV, 289, 
 
 Artificial environment, II, 251. 
 
 Artificial monopoly, II, 135, 247; IV, 282. 
 
 Artisans, II, 292; IV, 58, 72, 88. 
 
 Arts, IV, 49, 58, 87, 402; advance or 
 improvement in the, I, 187-189; II, 
 32, 42, 197, 198, 236, 358-360; III, 
 23, 153, 170-174, 338; stage of the, 
 
 III, 22-23. 
 
 Astor, John Jacob, I, 339; III, 83. 
 Astrology, IV, 18. 
 Atlantic, IV, 57. 
 Atlantic States, IV, 52. 
 
 Atomism, II, 127-128. 
 Australia, IV, 55, 71, 85; the coloniza- 
 tion of, II, 42. 
 Australians, the, I, 3-4, 7, 10, 44, 46; 
 
 III, 303. 
 
 Autocracy, definition of, II, 290. 
 
 Babylonia, status of women in, I, 69-71. 
 
 Bache, IV, 298. 
 
 Balance-of-power doctrine, the, I, 274, 
 
 278; II, 59. 
 Baldwin, Henry de Forest, MEMORIAL 
 
 ADDRESS by. III, 432-439. 
 Ballot, the. III, 231, 232-234, 236-238. 
 Bank, IV, 313, 393-394; convention, 
 
 IV, 384, 385; local, IV, 359; national, 
 IV, 313, 315; of England, IV, 177, 
 379, 384, 387; of the United States, 
 IV, 259, 313, 340, 352-354, 355, 356, 
 358, 359, 360-361, 372-374, 377, 
 379, 380, 381-382, 385, 386, 387, 
 388-390, 391, 395; state, IV, 380. 
 
 Bannard, Otto T., MEMORIAL AD- 
 DRESS by. III, 429-431. 
 
 BANQUET OF LIFE, THE, II, 217-221. 
 
 " Banquet of life," the, II, 210-211, 
 217-221, 233; III, 112, 115. 
 
 Barny's, IV, 379. 
 
 Bastiat, Frederic, IV, 98-99. 
 
 Bateman, IV, 48. 
 
 Bedouin type, the, II, 140. 
 
 Beggars, I, 248-249. 
 
 Belgium, IV, 48. 
 
 Belief in ^-itchcraft, 1, 125; 11, 21-22. 
 
 Belief that " something must be done," 
 II, 327. 
 
 Bellamy, Edward, I, 205, 206. 
 
 Beloch, J., I, 100-101. 
 
 Benton, Thomas H., IV, 319, 358, 383. 
 
 Bequest, III, 42-44. 
 
 Berlin, IV, 60. 
 
 Bessemer steel, IV, 222. 
 
 Bevan and Humphreys, IV, 382, 387. 
 
 Bicknell's Reporter, IV, 393. 
 
 Biddle, Nicholas, IV, 259, 353, 379, 
 381, 384, 385, 386, 389; and Hum- 
 phreys, IV, 385, 386, 387. 
 
 Bimetallism, IV, 141, 193, 195, 196, 
 197, 198, 201, 202-210, 234-235. 
 
 Biography, the study of, II, 179.
 
 INDEX 
 
 523 
 
 Bismarck, Prince, IV, 59. 
 
 " Black Friday." IV, 198. 
 
 Blaine, James G., Ill, 368. 
 
 Blair, Senator, III, 187. 
 
 Bland Silver Bill, III, 186-187. 
 
 Blood revenge, I, ii, £3. 
 
 Boers, the, I, 342; II, 54. 
 
 Bolsheviki, the, IV', 462. 
 
 Bonds of the social order. III, 315, 325. 
 
 Book-men, the, IV, 363, 365. 
 
 Booms, IV, 152-153; exploded, IV, 
 
 169-170. 
 BOON OF NATURE, THE, II. 233-238. 
 " Boon of nature," the, II, 210-211, 
 
 218. 233-238; III, 115; disproved 
 
 by American history, II, 238; III, 
 
 291-292. 
 Boot-man, the, IV, 44-45. 
 Boss, the, IV, 327-329. 
 Boston Massacre, the, III, 330. 
 Boston Tea Party, the, III, 330. 
 Bounties, IV, 12, 60-63, 65. 
 Bourgeoisie, the, II, 313, 314; III, 161, 
 
 163-165. 
 Boutwell, G. S., IV, 175. 
 Boycott, the, I, 224-225; III, 100-101. 
 Bradstreet's, IV, 29, 60. 
 Bride-price, the, I, 66, 68, 74. 
 Brotherhood of man, IV, 403. 
 Broderick, G. C, IV, 48. 
 Brutus, IV, 366. 
 Bryan, W. J., IV, 160, 173. 
 Buddha, I, 134. 
 Buddhism, I, 25, 136, 140. 
 Bureau of Agriculture, IV, 86. 
 Bureaucracy, definition of, II, 290; in 
 
 Germany, II, 302; IV, 481. 
 Bureaus, the federal. III, 278. 
 Burgh, IV, 285. 
 
 Burr, Aaron, IV, 296, 303, 307. 
 Bushmen, the, I, 7, 10, 46; III, 303. 
 Business and politics, IV, 135. 
 Butler, General, III, 378. 
 
 Caesar, IV, 366, 367. 
 Ceesarism, III, 239, 275, 276. 
 Cairnes, J. E., IV, 101, 196. 
 Calamities, IV, 29-30, 43. 
 Calhoun, John C, IV, 312, 318-310, 
 320, 329, 340, 341, 347, 355. 
 
 California. IV, 85; acquisition of, I, 
 341. 342. 
 
 Callender, IV, 294, 298. 
 
 Cameron, Senator, III, 368; IV, 65. 
 
 Campaign, political, I, .337; IV, 29, 49, 
 95; anti-corn-law. IV'. 107; of 1840. 
 IV, 315-316. 
 
 Canada, I, 289-290; II, 50-51; IV, 
 56, 67, 68, 94, 150. 
 
 Cannibalism, I, 19-20. 
 
 Canon law, I, 144; and marriage, I, 59. 
 
 Capital, I, 160, 186, 207, 248; II, 144, 
 145, 147, 177, 187, 210, 226-227, 
 236, 252, 266, 207, 268. 288-289, 295, 
 306, 341-342, 344-345, 347. 348. 
 350, 358-300; III. 20-22, 26-28, 
 35-36, 38-39, 40-42, 43-44, 61, 123, 
 127, 128, 130, 132, 156-157, 201, 
 422-423; IV, 19, 20, 21, 25, 36, 
 37-38, 40, 49, 70, 74, 96, 106, 119, 
 123, 127, 219. 220, 227-228, 262, 
 475-476, 494; accumulation of, I, 
 202-203; II, 349-352; III, 42, 172; 
 and civilization. III, 27, 422-423; 
 and industry. III, 41-42; and labor, 
 the redistribution of, I, 239-241; 
 and the state, II, 306; legisla- 
 tion regarding. III, 27-28; the 
 asserted natural right to, II, 226-227; 
 the dignity of, II, 297-298; the 
 metaphysical side of, II, 359-360; 
 the power of, II, 297, 329. 
 
 CAPITAL, THE POWER AND 
 BENEFICENCE OF, II, 337-353. 
 
 Capitalism, I, 200-207; III, 76-77. 
 
 Capitalists, III, 170, 172. 
 
 Captains of industry, I, 199-200, 201; 
 
 II, 134, 297-298, 329-330, 331-332; 
 
 III, 83, 84; IV, 99, 218. 
 Care, II, 149. 
 
 Carlovingians, the. III, 119-120. 
 CathoUc church and witchcraft, I, 123. 
 Caucus, IV. 303-304, 310, 311, 315, 
 
 339, 340. 
 CAUSE AND CURE OF HARD TIMES, 
 
 IV, 149-153. 
 
 Celibacy, I, 53-54, 59-60, 79. 
 Census, IV, 47, 49, 78. 
 Centralization in the United States, 
 III, 316-317.
 
 524 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Cernuschi, Henri, IV, 193. 
 
 Chaldea, status of women in, I, 69, 70, 
 
 71. 
 CHALLENGE OF FACTS, THE, III, 
 
 17-52. 
 Chance, II, 176-178, 180, 196-197; 
 
 III. 36. 
 Character, II, 11-12, 178, 265; IV, 48, 
 
 412-413. 
 Charity, IV, 477, 492. 
 Charles II, IV, 34. 
 Chartered rights, II, 222-223. 
 Checks and balances, the system of, 
 
 III, 283-284. 
 Checks on progress, II, 35-37, 163. 
 Chemistry, IV, 432. 
 Chicanery, III, 231, 258. 
 Child labor, II, 100. 
 ChUdren, II, 95, 96, 97, 98-101, 
 
 104-105; III, 18-19, 113-114; an 
 
 asset, I, 66-67; III, 295-296; a 
 
 burden, I. 65-67; III. 113-114; 
 
 and parents, the rights and duties 
 
 of, II, 95-102; and state protection, 
 
 II, 100; education of, II, 98-101; 
 how regarded, I, 66-67; love for, 
 
 III, 42, 43-44; position of, in monog- 
 amy, II, 255, 256, 257, 265. 
 
 Chili, IV, 69. 
 
 China, I, 343-344; II, 55; IV, 53, 54, 
 
 92, 135, 207. 
 Chivalry, II, 19. 
 Christian family, the, I, 52. 
 Christian view of marriage, I, 52-54. 
 Christianity, I, 25-26, 134, 137-138; 
 
 and witchcraft, I, 112; doctrines of 
 
 natural rights in, II, 114-117; 
 
 slavery in early, II, 114-115, 116-118; 
 
 medieval, I, 140; status of women 
 
 in early, I, 52-60. 
 Church, the, III, 203-204; and state, 
 
 I, 131, 162; II, 18-19, 310; IV, 18, 
 
 38; CathoUc, I, 123; medieval, 1, 133; 
 
 III, 74; modern, I, 139; III. 81. 
 Cicero, III, 305. 
 
 Circulation, monetary, IV, 157-159; 
 concurrent, IV, 183-210; forced, 
 
 IV. 191. 
 City life, I, 156. 
 City police. III, 329. 
 
 City, the modern. III, 169-170, 27&-279, 
 420. 
 
 Civil holidays. III, 360. 
 
 Civil institutions, IV, 487. 
 
 Civil liberty, II, 124, 128-129. 182, 
 198-199, 202; III, 26, 44-45, 226, 
 238-240, 276, 336; IV, 110, 469, 
 470, 471-474; and the individual, 
 II, 168-169; a matter of law and 
 institutions, II, 160. 166; defini- 
 tion of, II, 126-127; IV, 230-231, 
 472; relation of, to individual 
 liberty, II, 169-170; the cost of, 
 II, 128; III, 239. 
 
 CIVIL LIBERTY, WHAT IS? II, 
 109-130. 
 
 Civil officers. III, 267-268. 
 
 Civil service. Ill, 208-270; abuse of, 
 
 II. 303-304; reform. III, 262-263, 
 279-280, 308. 
 
 Civil Service Commission, the, II, 277. 
 
 Civil strife. III, 361. 
 
 Civil War, the, I, 31, 32, 217, 219, 311; 
 
 III, 277, 316, 321, 329-330, 333, 349, 
 351-354, 359-362, 398-400; IV, 175, 
 223, 323-324, 330. 
 
 Civilization, II, 83, 139. 180. 220-221, 
 249-253, 340-341, 342, 344-345; 
 III, 23, 420-421; IV, 53-54, 93, 217, 
 221-223, 233; and capital. III, 27, 
 422-423; and hberty, II. 132, 147, 
 149-150, 175, 362; and monopoly, 
 
 II, 249-253; and war, I, 16, 34-35; 
 classical, II, 252, 296; danger to 
 modern, I, 190; modern, II, 296-297; 
 offsets to the gains of, I, 190; the 
 advance of, II, 344-345; of Egypt, 
 
 III, 146-147; rights a product of, II, 
 83; share in the gains of, II, 358-360; 
 III, 21-22; the origin of, II, 137-138; 
 the triumph of, II, 357-358; III, 421; 
 the cost of, III, 208. 
 
 Civilized man, the freedom of. III, 26. 
 
 Civilized nations, the peace-institu- 
 tions of, I, 20-24. 
 
 Civilized society, the organization of, 
 II, 144-145, 250, 251, 252, 253, 
 283-287. 
 
 Civilizing mission, I, 303-305. 
 
 Clamor, I, 223; III, 185-190.
 
 INDEX 
 
 5^5 
 
 CLAMOR, LEGISLATION BY, III, 
 185-190. 
 
 Class hatred, IV, 25S. 
 
 Class jealousies, IV, 402-403. 
 
 Classes, II, 291, 293; III, 131; con- 
 servative, IV, 364-365, 366, 367; 
 distinguished. III, 308-309; indus- 
 trial, II, 191; III, 36; leisure. III, 
 281; non-capitalist, IV, 12; pat- 
 ronizing the working, I, 250; petted, 
 IV, 494; responsible and irrespon- 
 sible, II, 98, 99, 103; burdens of the 
 responsible, II, 216; servile, II, 38- 
 39; social, I, 241; II, 40-tl; III, 
 68-71, 129-130; 156-157, 307-309, 
 392; wages-. III, 94-97, 169, 170; 
 IV, 44-45, 71-72; working, I, 249- 
 250; struggle of the, II, 312-317; 
 III, 129-132. 
 
 Classical civilization, II, 252, 296. 
 
 Classical culture, I, 367; the decline 
 of, I, 157-158. 
 
 Classical education, I, 358-360, 362-370, 
 372-373; limitations of, I, 365-370. 
 
 Classical slavery, II, 112-114, 296. 
 
 Classics, the, I, 362-370, 372-373. 
 
 Clay, Henry, IV, 312, 316, 319, 341, 
 347, 348, 356, 357, 373. 
 
 Cleveland, President, I, 278; II, 59. 
 
 Clinton, De Witt, IV, 305, 306, 307. 
 
 Cloth, IV, 39, 47; -man, IV, 44-45. 
 
 Coal, IV, 33-35, 48, 56, 85, 90, 132; 
 heavers, II, 194; owners, IV, 34-35. 
 
 Cobden, Richard, IV, 70. 
 
 Codeof a legislative body. III, 280-281. 
 
 Codes of morals, two, 1, 11. 
 
 Coin, IV, 54; contracts, IV, 167. 
 
 Coinage, IV, 173-177; Act of 1834, IV, 
 374; Act of 1873, IV, 165, 173-180; 
 union, IV, 184, 191-193, 196, 197-198, 
 199, 209, 234-235. 
 
 College education not desired, I, 
 357-358. 
 
 College electives system, I, 361-362. 
 
 College officers, I, 360-361. 
 
 College, the, and national life, I, 360. 
 
 COLLEGES, OUR, BEFORE THE 
 COUNTRY, I, 355-373. 
 
 Colonial anarchistic element, the, III, 
 323, 324-326, 328-331. 
 
 Colonial class distinctions. III, 297. 
 Colonial history of the United States, 
 
 III, 248-253, 290-323. 
 Colonial industrial organization. III, 
 
 294. 
 Colonial lack of organization. III, 
 
 324-325. 
 Colonial land tenure. III, 312. 
 Colonial liberty. III, 317-322; a 
 
 necessity. III, 318; restraint on, 
 
 III, 318-319. 
 Colonial office-seekers, IV, 286. 
 Colonial period, review of the. III, 
 
 322-323. 
 Colonial policies, I, 274. 
 Colonial political liberty. III, 320-321. 
 Colonial religious sympathy. III, 314, 
 
 315. 
 Colonial social organization. III, 
 
 310-323. 
 Colonial society of America, III, 
 
 290-323. 
 Colonial system, the, I, 274-275, 278; 
 
 II, 49-50, 53, 57, 60; IV, 12, 59; 
 of England, I, 275, 313, 315, 316, 
 317; III. 323; of Spain, I, 306-310, 
 318, 319. 
 
 Colonial towns. III, 313-315, 318-319. 
 Colonial wars with the French and 
 
 Indians, III, 250, 251. 
 Colonies, the American, I, 274-276; 
 
 III, 248-253, 290-323; IV, 285, 288; 
 independence of, I, 275-276; slavery 
 in. III, 250, 298, 301-304; not pure 
 democracies, III, 297-298; political 
 equality in. III, 249-250; political 
 institutions of, III, 249. 
 
 Colonies, the burden of, II, 51-52. 
 
 Colonies, the Spanish-American, I, 
 276, 306; II, 57-58. 
 
 Colonists, I, 273-274, 275; II, 47-48; 
 early American, II, 238; III, 291-292; 
 character of the American, III, 319- 
 320; liberty of the American, III, 
 317-322. 
 
 Colonization. I, 272-275; of Africa, 
 II, 42; of Australia, II, 42; the 
 burden of, I, 292-293; the philoso- 
 phy, of, II, 43-45. 
 
 Combinations, IV, 99, 258-259.
 
 526 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Comfort, II, 201-202; HI, 123, 139, 
 170; material, IV, 239, 240; standard 
 of, IV, 32, 47, 50, 76, 106. 
 
 Commerce, IV, 66, 68, 76, 137, 214-215, 
 219; foreign, IV, 275, 276, 277-282; 
 the regulation of. III, 323, 326. 
 
 COMMERCIAL CRISES, THE IN- 
 FLUENCE OF, ON OPINIONS 
 ABOUT ECONOMIC DOCTRINES, 
 IV. 213-235. 
 
 COMMERCIAL CRISIS OF 1837, IV, 
 371-398. 
 
 Commercial crisis, IV, 49. 
 
 Conmiercial revolution, the, I, 141. 
 
 Commercial treaty, IV, 64-69. 
 
 Commercial war, IV, 95-96. 
 
 Commercium and connubiutn, I, 13. 
 
 Committee, Congressional, IV, 22, 77. 
 
 Committee legislation, III, 261, 281-282. 
 
 Committees of Safety, IV, 286. 
 
 Commodities, IV, 189, 192-193, 200. 
 
 Conmion aims, convictions, and prin- 
 ciples, III, 357-359. 
 
 Common school system, the. III, 357; 
 IV. 416. 
 
 Communalism, II, 261. 
 
 Conmaunication, improvements in, I, 
 187-189; 111,85. 
 
 Communism, III, 47-48. 
 
 Competent management. III, 81-90. 
 
 Competition, II, 133, 135, 210; III, 
 67-68, 177, 179; IV, 75, 79, 88, 95, 
 99; and combination, I, 8; and 
 war, I, 9-10, 14; of life, I, 9, 176-177, 
 178, 184; II, 79. 82; III, 25, 26, 30. 
 
 Comte, Auguste, III, 208. 
 
 Concubines, I, 47, 67, 68, 69, 75, 85, 91. 
 
 CONCURRENT CIRCULATION OF 
 GOLD AND SILVER, IV, 183-210. 
 
 Confiscation, III, 76. 
 
 Congo, IV, 67. 
 
 Congress, III, 178, 187, 275; IV, 22, 
 25, 27-29, 35, 43, 49, 65, 68, 94, 96, 
 136, 173-174, 175, 285, 329, 330, 
 342, 358, 359-360, 383, 385. 
 
 Congressional election, III, 272-273. 
 
 Congressional Globe, II, 307. 
 
 Congressional Record, II, 287. 
 
 Conjuncture, III, 141; of the market, 
 1,200-201; ni, 121-122. 
 
 Connecticut, III, 314-315; IV, 37, 72, 86. 
 
 Connubium, I, 13, 17. 
 
 Consequences, II, 67-69, 70, 71, 72, 
 
 73, 74, 75; III, 46, 193, 198; and 
 
 motives, I, 15. 
 CONSEQUENCES OF INCREASED 
 
 SOCIAL POWER, III, 153-158. 
 CONSEQUENCES, PURPOSES AND, 
 
 II, 67-75. 
 
 Conservatism, III, 207-208, 286; IV, 
 
 366. 
 Consolidation, III, 316. 
 Constitution of the United States, I, 
 
 310, 311. 313, 314, 315; II, 333; 
 
 III, 251, 252-255, 306-307, 325-326, 
 329, 396-397; IV, 289, 291, 292, 
 297, 304, 319, 320, 331-332, 344, 
 348-349, 360, 367; and democracy, 
 m, 334-336. 
 
 Constitutional Convention of 1787, 
 
 III, 332. 
 Constitutional government, I. 163. 
 Constitutional liberty, IV, 258. 
 Constitutional monarchies. III, 225-226. 
 Constitutional question, the, I, 313-314. 
 Constitutional republic, IV, 290, 296, 
 
 331. 
 Constitutionalism, IV, 349, 363, 365. 
 Constitution-makers, the. III, 140, 
 
 251-255, 256, 306-307, 325-326, 334. 
 Constitutions, III, 140. 
 Consuls, IV, 78. 
 
 Consumer, IV, 21, 33-34, 82, 101, 104. 
 Consuming industries, IV, 38-39. 
 Consumption, IV, 465. 
 Content, IV, 239. 
 Contingent interest. Ill, 196-197. 
 Contract, I, 233-234; II, 152, 185-186; 
 
 III, 101, 196, 197; free, I, 226, 234; 
 
 IV, 143, 152, 252. 
 
 Contracts, the obligation of. III, 326. 
 Convention, Home Industry, IV, 57; 
 
 Woolgrowers', IV, 34. 
 Convict-labor, II, 102; laws. III, 
 
 188-189. 
 Cooperation, 11, 284, 285, 319; III, 
 
 41-42. 
 COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH, 
 
 THE, IV, 441-462. 
 Copper, IV, 35, 42, 96, 207.
 
 INDEX 
 
 527 
 
 Copyrights, II, 246-e47. 
 
 Corn laws, IV, 76. 
 
 Corner. IV, 197-198, 200. 
 
 Cosmopolitanism, IV, 66. 
 
 Cotton, IV, 33, 36, 47, 55. 85, 97, 374, 
 
 378, 38:2, 385, 386, 387. 
 Country and town, I, 155-157. 
 Courtesans, I, 76, 90, 91, 94. 
 Crawford, William II, IV, 303-304, 
 
 308, 339-340, 347, S55. 
 Credit, IV, 109, 177-178, 220, 376, 396; 
 
 system, IV, 96, 383, 395-396. 
 Creditor, IV, 143-144, 166-167, 
 
 175-176, 190, 191. 192-193. 
 Crevecoeur, St. Jean de, III, 297. 
 Crime of '73, the, IV, 170. 
 Criminals, I. 260; II, 102; m, 358; 
 
 IV, 483-485. 
 Crises, I, 200; IV, 213-235. 
 Crisis, IV, 150-151; commercial, IV, 
 
 49, 371-398; of 1873, IV, 223; of 
 
 1893, IV, 150. 
 Critical temper, the, II, 26-27. 
 Criticism, the need of, II, 21, 22-24, 28. 
 Crown, the. II, 312-313. 
 Crusades, the, I, 33; II, 19. 
 Crusoe, Robinson, used as an illus- 
 tration, II. 237. 
 Cuba, I, 290-291, 299; II. 55-57; IV, 
 
 63, 64; the acquisition of, I, 342. 
 Cult-group and the peace-group, I, 
 
 24-26. 
 Cultivation, margin of, IV. 87. 
 Culture, IV, 425-426, 429, 433. 
 Cunningham, IV, 84, 97, 100. 
 Currency, IV, 141, 167-162, 173, 176, 
 
 397; depreciated, IV, 190, 191; 
 
 inflation of the, IV, 175, 396; ques- 
 tion, IV, 330. 
 Custom, customs, I, 129, 135; IV, 
 
 189-190. 
 
 Dalzell, John, II, 328; IV, 136. 
 Danton, Georges Jacques, II, 122. 
 Death, II, 228, 231, 312; III, 30, 38. 
 Debt, IV, 109, 177-178, 390; of war of 
 
 1812, IV, 372; "slavery" of, II, 136, 
 
 145. 
 DEBTORS, THE DELUSION OF 
 
 THE, IV, 165-170. 
 
 Debtors, IV, 143-144, 166-170, 175-176, 
 190, 191, 192-193, 194, 200, 466. 
 
 Decade 1830-1840, IV. 371. 
 
 Declaration of Independence, the, I, 
 162; III, 158, 252, 302, 306. 
 
 Deductive method, the. III, 401. 
 
 Definitions, Fundamental, III, 246-247. 
 
 " Degradation of mankind," the. III, 
 148-150. 
 
 Delusions, II, 233; Revolutionary, 
 
 III, 329-331. 
 Demagogues, III, 277. 
 
 Demand, II, 225; III, 97-98, 119. 121; 
 
 IV. 70, 141, 196, 198, 201, 204. 214, 
 251, 252; economic. III, 114. 
 
 " Demand for labor," the. III, 115. 
 
 Demand for men, the, II, 31-32; HI, 
 111-116, 119-123, 132, 140-141, 145, 
 154, 157, 171. 
 
 DEMAND FOR MEN, THE, III, 
 111-116. 
 
 DEMAND FOR MEN, THE SIGNIF- 
 ICANCE OF THE, III, 119-123. 
 
 Democracies, III, 223-225, 226. 
 
 Democracy, I, 26-27, 151, 159-160, 183, 
 203-208, 302. 303-305; II, 42. 43, 
 289, 306-311, 313-317; III, 82-83, 
 94, 132, 140. 211-212. 226. 256, 
 264-275; IV, 71, 258, 289-290, 291, 
 292, 300, 306, 332. 349, 352, 357, 
 363, 364, 365; and the Constitution, 
 III, 334-336; and imperialism, I, 
 322. 325, 326; and mUitarism, 
 the antagonism of, I, 322-323; and 
 organization, UI, 266-267; and 
 plutocracy. I, 160, 204, 325-326; 
 
 II, 299-300, 329; and Wealth, III, 
 274-275; checks on. III, 334-335; 
 dangers to, II, 304-305; definition 
 of, II, 290; 293; III, 302-303, 305; 
 degenerate form of. III, 305-306; 
 delegate of a. III, 260-261; dogmas 
 of. III, 305-306; dogmatic. III, 308; 
 fear of. III, 306-307, 334; Greek. 
 
 III, 303; inevitable here. III, 
 249-250, 273-274, 286, 296, 304, 
 338-339; Jacksonian, IV, 363; Jef- 
 fersonian, II, 306-307; nature of, 
 in the United States, I, 324-325; 
 Needed, III, 273-274; Pure, III,
 
 528 
 
 INDEX 
 
 256-257; Pure, in Cities, III, 
 257-259; Popular, Lingering Evils 
 of. III, 262-263; representative, 
 ni, 260-275; representative, the 
 weaknesses of. III, 270-271; the 
 new, I, 220-223; town. III, 256-260, 
 262, 266, 267; untried, I, 204-206; 
 weakness of, II, 299-300, 309. 
 
 DEMOCRACY, SOCIAL WAR IN, 
 II, 312-317. 
 
 DEMOCRACY, THE CONFLICT OF 
 PLUTOCRACY AND, II, 296-300. 
 
 DEMOCRACY AND MODERN 
 PROBLEMS, II, 301-305. 
 
 DEMOCRACY AND PLUTOCRACY, 
 II, 283-289. 
 
 DEMOCRACY AND PLUTOCRACY, 
 DEFINITIONS OF, II, 290-295. 
 
 DEMOCRACY AND RESPONSIBLE 
 GOVERNMENT, III, 243-286. 
 
 " Democracy of industry," the, II, 323. 
 
 Democratic absolutism. III, 305. 
 
 Democratic-aristocracy, III, 303-304. 
 
 Democratic Fears, III, 261-262. 
 
 Democratic party, the, I, 160; IV, 312, 
 313, 316, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322-323, 
 363. 
 
 Democratic republic, IV, 330; nature 
 of a, II, 301-302, 303, 305, 308. 
 
 Democratic temper here. III, 335-336. 
 
 Democratic tide, IV, 321-322. 
 
 Democrats, IV, 297, 317, 319. 
 
 Demonetization, IV, 176. 
 
 Demonism, II, 21, 22. 
 
 Demos, the, II, 290-291, 293. 
 
 Dependencies, I, 316-317, 345; the 
 United States and, I, 310, 311-312, 
 317-319. 
 
 Depreciation, IV, 179. 
 
 Destiny, I, 341-342; II, 364; " mani- 
 fest," I, 341, 342; II, 54. 
 
 Device, IV, 11-12, 15, 16, 21, 24, 25, 
 64-65, 73, 79. 
 
 Dexter, Samuel, IV, 295. 
 
 Digger Indians, the, III, 40. 
 
 Dignity of capital, the, II, 297-298. 
 
 " Dignity of labor," the, II, 189, 297. 
 
 Dilettanti, I, 170; 225-226. 
 
 Diminishing returns, the law of, I, 
 175-176. 
 
 Dio Chrysostom, II, 114. 
 Diplomacy, III, 358; IV, 66-67, 68-69. 
 Discipline, II, 144, 250, 251, 301, 302; 
 
 III, 336, 337; IV, 98-99, 409, 417, 
 426, 428, 431, 433-438; and liberty, 
 II, 170-171, 200; and war, I, 14, 15; 
 military, I, 30; school, I, 368; the 
 need of, II, 170-171. 
 
 DISCIPLINE, IV, 423-438. 
 
 DISCIPLINE, LIBERTY AND, 11, 
 166-171. 
 
 Discontent, IV, 149, 241; and pros- 
 perity, II, 337-338. 
 
 Discoveries, the great, I, 203, 209; 
 
 II, 35, 163, 228-229; IV, 402. 
 Disease, II, 238, 231, 312; III, 30, 38; 
 
 IV, 465; industrial, IV, 96, 219-220; 
 social, I, 171-172; II, 275. 
 
 Distress, IV, 26, 149, 153, 221. 
 Distributive justice, II, 89. 
 Dividends, IV, 87, 90. 
 Division of departments. III, 283. 
 Divorce, I, 68, 69, 77-78, 79, 86, 93; 
 
 III, 410. 
 
 Doctrine, quantity, IV, 141. 
 
 Doctrine, The Monroe, I, 36, 38-39, 271, 
 
 276, 278, 280, 333; II, 58, 59-60, 333. 
 Doctrine of balance of power, I, 274, 
 
 278; II, 59. 
 Doctrine of equality, I, 30^310; II, 
 
 224; III, 262-263, 274. 
 Doctrine of life necessity, I, 339-344. 
 Doctrine of " manifest destiny," I, 341. 
 Doctrine of popularity, IV, 314. 
 Doctrine of rotation in oflBce, IV, 
 
 326-327, 352. 
 Doctrines, I, 36-39, 275; II, 58-59; 
 
 the cost of, I, 279; Revolutionary, 
 
 III, 328; socialistic. III, 34, 41, 42, 
 44-45. 
 
 Dogma, I, 132, 133, 134, 221; II, 118; 
 
 IV, 11-12, 15, 19, 30, 298; that " all 
 men are equal," II, 88, 102, 362-363; 
 III, 302-303. 
 
 Dogmas, I, 161-163, 164; II, 250, 
 271, 291-293, 341-344; eighteenth 
 century, II, 339; IV, 11; of de- 
 mocracy, III, 305-306; political. III, 
 193-194, 258; religious, I, 129-130; 
 social, III, 193-194.
 
 INDEX 
 
 529 
 
 Dogmatic method, the. III, 401. 
 Dogmatism, III, 37, 245-246; political, 
 
 II, 23; III, 252-253; in sociology, 
 
 III, 418-419; social. III, 33-S4. 
 Dogmatizing, II, 259-260. 
 
 Dollars, IV, 37-38, 50, 142, 143, 
 157-158. 
 
 Domestication of animals, II, 244. 
 
 Double standard, IV, IBS. 
 
 Dower, I, 58. 
 
 Dowry, I, 68, 70, 86, 93. 
 
 Drunkard, I, 252; IV, 47»-480. 
 
 Dry Dock Bank, IV, 380. 
 
 DUAL ORGANIZATION OF MAN- 
 KIND, THE PROPOSED, I, 271- 
 281. 
 
 Dual world-system, the, I, 276, 277, 
 278; II, 60-62. 
 
 Duane, W. J., IV, 298, 305, 359. 
 
 Duel, the, I, 19. 
 
 Dutch, the, IV, 278; in New York, III, 
 320. 
 
 Duties, I, 257, 258, 259; III, 193-194 
 and rights, I, 257-258; III, 193, 
 197-198, 224; and rights, equilib 
 rium of, II, 126-127, 128-129, 165 
 and rights of parents and children, 
 II, 95-102; and rights, poUtical, III, 
 224; andservitude, 11, 126; religious, 
 
 I, 136. 
 
 Duty, I, 150; IV, 365; war for, HI, 
 362. 
 
 Earth hunger, II, 31-64; and the 
 masses, II, 39; economic, II, 46-47; 
 economic and political contrasted, 
 
 II, 63; political, II, 64; political, 
 definition of, II, 46; political, of 
 the United States, II, 50-51, 53. 
 
 EARTH HUNGER OR THE PHI- 
 LOSOPHY OF LAND GRABBING, 
 II, 31-64. 
 
 Economic and family systems, II, 34-35. 
 
 Economic demand. III, 114. 
 
 Economic development, II, 322-323. 
 
 Economic doctrine, IV, 213. 
 
 Economic earth hunger, II, 46-47; 
 contrasted with political, II, 63. 
 
 Economic facts, II, 162. 
 
 Economic forces, I, 205; II, 314-315; 
 
 III, 28-30; IV. 215-217; not self- 
 correcting, III, 28-29. 
 Economic jurisdiction, II, 52. 
 Economic laws, III, 98; IV, 186-189, 
 
 195, 209, 213, 217. 
 Economic mysticism, IV, 119. 
 Economic optimism, II, 318-319, 324, 
 
 332. 
 Economic power, II, 318. 
 Economics, IV, 186-189, 196; and 
 
 industry, II, 321. 
 ECONOMICS AND POLITICS, II, 
 
 318-333. 
 Economist, IV, 60, G4, 65, 105, 110. 
 Economist, duty of the, III, 399. 
 Economists, IV, 213, 224-225, 249, 250; 
 
 historical, IV, 100; sentimental, 
 
 III, 48. 
 Economy, III, 86; political, I, 180-183; 
 
 III, 395, 398-400, 418. 
 Edmunds, Senator, III, 180. 
 Education, II, 72, 144, 177-178, 255, 
 
 256, 265, 348; III, 42, 397-398; 
 
 IV, 71, 409-419, 423-438; and mar- 
 riage, II, 94-95; change in the 
 character of, I, 360, 362, 371-373; 
 classical, I, 358-360, 362-370, 
 372-373; family, II, 255, 256, 265; 
 III, 18; mandarinism in, I, 356; 
 primary, I, 355-356; relation of 
 primary to secondary, I, 355-356. 
 
 EDUCATION, INTEGRITY IN, IV, 
 
 409-419. 
 " Educators," IV, 410-411. 
 Egypt, II, 55; slavery in. III, 146; 
 
 status of women in, I, 81-85. 
 Egyptian civilization. III, 146-147. 
 Eighteenth century, IV, 11; dogmas, 
 
 II, 339; notion of liberty, II, 131 
 
 notion of rights, II, 222-223 
 
 philosophy. III, 87; wars, I, 320 
 
 II. 60. 
 Election, Congressional. III. 272-273. 
 Election, presidential. Ill, 253-254, 
 
 272-273, 335; of 1824, IV, 347-348. 
 Elections. I, 235-236; III, 226. 227-229, 
 
 230-238; the theory of. Ill, 230- 
 
 234. 
 Electives system, the, I. 361-362. 
 Elector of Saxony, IV, 265-267.
 
 530 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Electoral college. III, 253, 307, 335; IV, 
 348, 357. 
 
 Electricity, II, 318. 
 
 Eleemosynary institutions. III, 56. 
 
 Element of risk, the, H, 184-185; IV, 
 268. 
 
 Element, the aleatory, I, 116, 119-120. 
 
 " Elevating " inferior races. III, 148. 
 
 Elite, the, II, 341, 362. 
 
 Elliott, IV, 366. 
 
 Ellsworth, IV, 360. 
 
 EMANCIPATES, WHAT, III, 137-142. 
 
 Emancipation, II, 187; III, 138-139; 
 IV, 18; of the serfs, II, 117-118, 
 175-176. 
 
 Embryonic society. III, 290. 
 
 Emigration, I, 175; III, 22, 23; IV, 12, 
 16, 52, 59. 
 
 Employees, III, 196; class of, lacking, 
 III, 293-294, 295; organization of, 
 III, 100. 
 
 Employer, III, 196; IV, 44, 45, 46, 52, 
 73, 75, 78, 249-251, 486; class lack- 
 ing, III, 293-291, 295; and employee, 
 III, 93, 97, 99, 101-102; IV. 481-482. 
 
 Employment, IV, 35, 241-242. 
 
 Encyclopaedia of Political Science, III, 
 395, 402. 
 
 Endogamy, I, 75, 76, 77. 
 
 Energy, conservation of, IV, 23; in- 
 dividual, II, 133-135, 308; political, 
 
 II, 295; vital. III, 96-97. 
 England, I, 153, 293, 303, 313, 316, 317; 
 
 U, 53, 313, 321; IV, 21, 47, 53, 55, 
 57, 60, 64, 65, 75, 76, 78, 97, 105, 
 117, 153, 170, 224, 234, 281, 346, 
 350, 371, 378, 379, 482, 489; and the 
 American colonies. III, 323-324, 
 326-328; as a colonizer, II, 47, 49, 52; 
 jobbery in, I, 262; the colonial 
 system of, I, 275, 313, 315, 316, 317; 
 
 III, 323; the civilizing mission of, 
 I, 303. 
 
 English Constitution, the, ITT, 251-252, 
 
 284; IV, 294. 
 English traditions. III, 297. 
 Enjoyment, impatience for. III, 36. 
 Entail, III, 126. 
 Enterprise, large scale. III, 81-82, 
 
 85-86. 
 
 Enterprises, joint-stock, III, 82-83. 
 Envirormient, artificial, II, 251; societal, 
 
 I, 129, 130, 143; HI, 309-310. 
 Equal Rights Party, IV, 313-314, 365. 
 EQUALITY, II, 87-89. 
 
 Equality, II, 123; III, 40, 44^5, 
 56-59, 157-158, 193, 224, 226-227, 
 295, 296-298, 302-304; IV, 290, 
 291-292, 300, 321, 322, 323, 365-366, 
 481; and progress, HI, 299; before 
 the .law, II, 224; III, 44^5; IV, 
 473-474; political. III, 249-250, 
 303-304; social. III, 304; the 
 doctrine of, I, 309-310; II, 88, 102, 
 224, 362-363; III, 262-263, 274, 
 302-303; the thirst for, II, 87, 88-89, 
 331-332. 
 
 Equilibrium of rights and duties, II, 
 126-127, 128-129, 165. 
 
 Era of good feeling, IV, 302, 339. 
 
 Erie Canal, IV, 306, 345. 
 
 Eskimo, the, I, 10, 11-12, 44. 
 
 Esprit de corps, HI, 280. 
 
 Ethical energy. III, 202-204. 
 
 Ethical person, the state as an, I, 221; 
 
 II, 309. 
 
 " ETHICAL PERSON," THE STATE 
 AS AN, III, 201-204. 
 
 Ethical principles. III, 193. 
 
 Ethical questions, II, 322-323. 
 
 Ethics, I, 195-196; II, 68, 70, 74; III, 
 95, 98. 
 
 Ethnocentrism, I, 12, 24-25. 
 
 Ethnography, III, 408, 411. 
 
 Europe, IV, 73, 78; movement of 
 population from, I, 272-274; II, 45. 
 
 European history contrasted with 
 American, II, 292-293, 307. 
 
 Everett, Edward, IV, 360. 
 
 Evolution, IV, 404-405; societal, IQ, 
 82. 
 
 Ewing, Secretary, IV, 352. 
 
 Exact sciences, the. III, 410. 
 
 Exchange, II, 285-286. 
 
 Excise taxes, III, 327; IV, 21, 60. 
 
 Executive, the, III, 282-286; democ- 
 racy's fear of. III, 261-262; initiat- 
 ing legislation, III, 284-285. 
 
 Executive ability. III, 173; IV, 78. 
 
 Executive officers. III, 261-262.
 
 INDEX 
 
 531 
 
 Existence, the right to an, II, 225-227; 
 the struggle for, I, 8, 9, 164, 173, 
 176-177; II. 226, 347; III, 17-18, 19, 
 20, 22, 26, 30-31, 57, 58, 120-121, 
 122-123; IV, 79, 257; worthy of a 
 human being, II, 212-216. 
 
 Expansion, I, 337-339; and plutoc- 
 racy, I, 325-326; business, I, 338; 
 municipal, I, 338-339; territorial, 
 I, 337, 339. 
 
 Expansionism, I, 297. 
 
 Ex-perience, IV. 332. 
 
 Exports, IV, 89, 97; bounties on, IV, 
 12; taxes on, IV, 12, 15-16. 
 
 Extension, territorial, I, 285-286, 337, 
 339; II, 57; the burdens of, I, 
 292-293. 
 
 EXTENSION, THE FALLACY OF 
 TERRITORIAL, I, 285-293. 
 
 Faction struggles, IV, 302-303. 
 Factory, IV, 38; acts for women and 
 
 chQdren, IV, 481; labor, II, 192-193. 
 Facts, III, 87, 408, 410-^11; economic, 
 
 II, 162. 
 FACTS, THE CHALLENGE OF, III, 
 
 17-52. 
 Fallacies, III, 27, 28; silver, IV, 141-145. 
 FALLACIES, SOCIOLOGICAL, II, 
 
 357-364. 
 Family, the, 11, 93; III, 18, 203-204; 
 
 and economic systems, II, 34-35; 
 
 and property, II, 254, 258; and 
 
 social change, I, 61; and the school, 
 
 I, 61; an institution, I, 43; Christian, 
 
 I, 52; education, II, 255, 256, 265; 
 m, 18; father-, I, 47-52, 69, 80, 82, 
 88; modern, I, 6(M)1; monogamic, 
 n, 254-258, 264-266; III, 24; 
 mother-, I, 47-50, 69, 81-82, 88; 
 primitive, I, 43^4, 46^7; II, 
 260-261, 262, 263-264; Roman, I, 
 56-60; sentiment, II, 256-257, 
 266-268; III, 19-20; state regula- 
 tion of, II, 93-94, 103-104. 
 
 FAMILY, THE, AND PROPERTY, 
 
 II, 259-269. 
 
 FAMILY, THE, AND SOCIAL 
 CHANGE, I, 43-€l. 
 
 FAMILY MONOPOLY, THE, II, 
 254-258. 
 
 Family of nations, the, II, 62-63. 
 
 Farm, farming, IV, 41, 47, 73. 
 
 Farmer, IV, 151, 161-162, 168, 275, 276; 
 mortgagors, IV, 168-169. 
 
 Father-family, the, I, 47-52, 69, 80, 
 82, 88; position of woman in, I, 51. 
 
 Favoritism, IV, 485. 
 
 Fear, I, 14, 130. 
 
 Federal legislation, III, 316; on rail- 
 roads, III, 177-182. 
 
 FEDERAL LEGISLATION ON RAIL- 
 ROADS, III, 177-182. 
 
 Federal party, the. III, 328-329. 
 
 Federal poUtical system, IV, 331. 
 
 Federalists, the. III, 307, 329, 332, 342; 
 IV, 289, 291, 292, 293, 296-297, 302, 
 305, 315. 322, 343. 
 
 Feudal period, the, II, 190-191. 
 
 Feudal system, the, II, 312-313. 
 
 Feudalism, I, 143, 215; III, 299-300. 
 
 Filipinos, the, I, 301, 304-305, 328. 
 
 Filmer, Sir Robert, II, 161, 165. 
 
 Financial institutions, IV, 166-167. 
 
 Financial organization, IV, 220. 
 
 Fire, IV, 47, 56; -engine, IV, 57. 
 
 Fittest, survival of the. III, 25, 423; 
 IV, 225. 
 
 Florida, the acquisition of, I, 341. 
 
 Fluctuations, IV, 192-193, 201, 203, 
 204, 221. 
 
 Folkways, I, 149, 150, 151. 
 
 Foraker, Senator, I, 301. 
 
 Force and rights, II, 82. 
 
 Forces, I, 209-210; IV, 216; economic, 
 I, 205; II, 314-315; III, 28-30; 
 IV, 215-217; moral. III, 29-30, 
 201-202, 352-353; natural, I, 199, 
 209-210; of disruption. III, 315-317; 
 social, I, 226, 242; II, 312; III, 76, 
 137, 140, 142; IV, 216, 250-251. 
 
 Foreign affairs, I, 276-277; II, 60-61; 
 policy, IV, 66-67; trade, IV, 119. 
 
 Foreigners, III, 303; IV, 21, 22, 65, 
 102, 103, 108-109, 132. 
 
 Forgotten man, the, I, 247-253, 
 257-268; IV, 466, 469, 471, 476, 
 479, 480, 482-183, 485, 486, 487, 
 491-494; burdens laid on, I, 248,
 
 532 
 
 INDEX 
 
 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 259-260, 264, 
 267-268; character of the, I, 249, 
 264,266-267; IV, 476, 491-492. 
 
 FORGOTTEN MAN, THE, IV,465-495. 
 
 (FORGOTTEN MAN) ON THE CASE 
 OF A CERTAIN MAN WHO IS 
 NEVER THOUGHT OF, I, 247-253. 
 
 FORGOTTEN MAN, THE CASE OF 
 THE, FURTHER CONSIDERED, 
 
 I, 257-268. 
 
 Forgotten woman, the, I, 264-266; 
 
 IV, 492-i93. 
 Fortune, II, 345-346; III, 56-57, 68; 
 
 -hunters, I, 273-274. 
 France, I, 235, 303, 322-323; II, 313; 
 
 III, 226; IV, 48, 53, 58, 59, 97, 192, 
 197, 198, 224, 233-234, 365, 371; as 
 a colonizer, II, 52; civilizing mis- 
 sion of, I, 303; witchcraft in, I, 
 117-118. 
 
 Franchises, II, 319-320, 321; III, 88. 
 
 Franco-Prussian War, IV, 224. 
 
 Franklin, Benjamin, I, 292, 313; II, 
 56. 
 
 FREE, WHO IS? IS IT THE CIVI- 
 LIZED MAN? II, 140-145. 
 
 FREE, WHO IS? IS IT THE MIL- 
 LIONAIRE? II, 145-150. 
 
 FREE, WHO IS? IS IT THE SAVAGE? 
 
 II, 136-140. 
 
 FREE, WHO IS? IS IT THE TRAMP? 
 II, 150-155. 
 
 FREE-COINAGE SCHEME IS IM- 
 PRACTICABLE AT EVERY POINT, 
 
 IV, 157-162. 
 
 Free contract, I, 226, 234; IV, 474. 
 
 Free soil, IV, 17-18, 110. 
 
 Free SoU Party, IV, 321. 
 
 Free trade, I, 289-290, 291, 318, 319, 
 321, 322; II, 109-110, 111; III, 
 378; IV, 16, 17-18, 19, 20, 26, 47, 
 48-49, 83, 90, 94, 95, 109-110, 123- 
 127, 282, 312, 318; definition of, 
 IV, 17, 20; with Canada, II, 51. 
 
 FREE TRADE, WHAT IS? IV, 123-127. 
 
 Free trader, the, IV, 126-127. 
 
 Freedom, II, 209, 220; III, 157-158; 
 IV, 281-282; of movement, limita- 
 tions on the, II, 239; of the press, 
 n, 273, 274. 
 
 Free-will, II, 200-201, 203. 
 Freight rates, II, 327, 330-331. 
 French, the, I, 153; in Canada, III, 
 320-321; wars with the colonists, 
 
 III, 250, 251. 
 
 French Revolution, the. III, 58, 60, 73; 
 
 IV, 291. 
 Freneau, IV, 298. 
 
 Friends of humanity, the, I, 248, 250; 
 
 III, 416, 417. 
 
 Frontier, the. III, 331; states, 111,332. 
 Fructifying causation, IV, 219. 
 Fuegians, the, II, 357-358. 
 Fugitive Slave Law, the, IV, 320. 
 Fur industry, the, II, 242. 
 Future, the, III, 275-277; of the 
 United States, I, 350-351. 
 
 Gains and penalties, II, 180-181. 
 Gal ton, Francis, I, 135; II, 24, 
 Gambling, IV, 480; -houses, IV, 100. 
 Game, the supply of, II, 241-242. 
 Garment workers. III, 55, 60. 
 Gas supply a natural monopoly, II, 246. 
 Generalizations, II, 271; III, 137-138; 
 
 IV, 467. 
 
 George, Henry, III, 165, 208. 
 
 German school of sociology. III, 418. 
 
 Germany, I, 152-153, 156, 201, 217, 
 232-233, 293, 304; II, 49, 302-303, 
 313; III, 48; IV, 48, 57, 59, 60-61, 
 78, 97, 224, 233; as a colonizer, II, 
 51-52; bureaucracy in, II, 302; IV, 
 481; militarism in, I, 323; the civi- 
 lizing mission of, I, 304; the in- 
 dustry and discipline of, I, 15-16; 
 witchcraft in, I, 106, 107, 112, 116. 
 
 Ghost-sanction, I, 11. 
 
 Gibson, Randall, III, 378. 
 
 Giddings, Professor, I, 153; II, 27. 
 
 Girard, Stephen, III, 83. 
 
 Girard Bank, IV, 392. 
 
 Glory, IV, 426, 427; " the pest of," I, 
 292, 313; II, 50; war for, I, 14; HI, 
 362. 
 
 God, the peace of, I, 21; the Truce of, 
 I, 21. 
 
 Gold, IV, 85, 141, 144-145, 152, 179-180, 
 183-186, 189, 192, 198, 201-202, 
 203, 206-209, 234, 235; scramble for.
 
 INDEX 
 
 533 
 
 IV, 177; standard, IV, 150, 153, 157, 
 179. 
 
 GOLD, PROSPERITY STRANGLED 
 BY, IV, Ul-145. 
 
 GOLD AND SILVER, A CONCUR- 
 RENT CIRCULATION OF, IV, 
 183-210. 
 
 " Golden age," the, II, 219. 
 
 Good-for-notliing, the, IV, 476-477, 493. 
 
 "Goods," II, 178. 
 
 Gouge, IV, 392. 
 
 Governing states, the character of, I, 
 346. 
 
 Government, III, 223-240, 243-286; 
 IV, 126-127, 230-231, 325-326; by 
 interests. III, 228; constitutional, 
 I, 163; development of. III, 392-393; 
 good, IV, 31; JefFersonian ideas of, 
 IV, 344; party. III, 393-394; re- 
 publican form of, III, 223-240; 
 Responsible, III, 280-281; self-, 
 
 I, 300, 301, 302-303, 312, 349-350; 
 III, 226-227, 229-230, 238, 285; 
 " stable," I, 350; the " best," 
 system of. III, 244-245. 
 
 GOVERNMENT, DEMOCRACY AND 
 RESPONSIBLE, III, 243-286. 
 
 GOVERNMENT, REPUBLICAN, III 
 223-240. 
 
 Graft, IV, 134-135, 136. 
 
 Grant, General, IV, 35. 
 
 Great fortunes, I, 199, 201-203. 
 
 " Great principles," 1, 161-163,326-329; 
 
 II, 58; III, 245-246; Falsely So 
 Called, III, 245-246. 
 
 Greece, II, 37; slavery in. III, 303; 
 status of women in, I, 85-102. 
 
 Greed, UI, 423-424. 
 
 Greek democracy. III, 303. 
 
 Greeks, the, I, 25. 
 
 Greeley, Horace, IV, 86. 
 
 Green-backers, the, I, 169. 
 
 Greenbacks, greenbackism, IV, 175. 
 
 Gregory the Great, II, 116. 
 
 Grotius, Hugo, I, 162. 
 
 Group life and the struggle for exist- 
 ence, I, 8. 
 
 Group sentiment and war, I, 9. 
 
 Groups and the competition of life, I, 
 10. 
 
 Guerard, II, 174. 
 Guest rights, I, 10-11, 17-18. 
 Guild, the, I, 215-216; IV, 258, 262. 
 Gunpowder, IV, 54; the invention of, 
 
 I, 30; III, 153. 
 
 Half -culture, II, 10-11. 
 
 Hamilton. Alexander, HI, 223, 226, 307. 
 
 328; IV, 80, 295, 296. 
 Hammer of Witches, the, I, 100-109, 
 
 112. 
 Hammurabi, status of women in the 
 
 laws of, I, 67-69, 71. 
 Hampden, IV, 366. 
 Hancock, W. S., IV, 9. 
 Happiness, HI, 146, 147; IV. 468; 
 
 individual, IV, 239; right to the 
 
 pursuit of, II, 234. 
 Hard times, IV, 9-10, 109, 111, 149-151, 
 
 152, 168, 230. 
 HARD TIMES, CAUSE AND CURE 
 
 OF, IV, 149-153. 
 Hardships of life, III, 74-75. 
 Harrison, W. H., IV, 316. 
 Hat-man, the, IV, 44-45. 
 Hawaii, II, 53; the admission of, I, 
 
 288-289. 
 Hayes, Governor, HI, 368-369, 371-372, 
 
 375-376, 379. 
 Hayti, I, 312. 
 Heretics, I, 308-309. 
 Hermann, Briggs & Co., IV, 378. 
 Herodotus, I, 82. 
 Heroism, IV, 427. 
 Hierocracy, definition of, U, 290. 
 " High politics," II, 56. 
 Hindus, the, I, 66-67. 
 History, I, 371; II, 20, 26; III, 401, 
 
 411; IV, 216, 338, 432; American 
 
 and Ein-opean contrasted. III, 292- 
 
 293, 307; American colonial, III, 
 
 248-253, 290-323; the appeal to, 
 
 II, 118, 120; the study of. III, 137, 
 141; the task of, IV, 331. 
 
 Hobbes, Thomas, I, 115. 
 Hod-carriers, II, 194-195, 360. 
 Homer, status of women in, I, 85-87. 
 Homogeneous institutions, III, 355-356. 
 Homogeneous population. III, 354-355. 
 Honduras, IV, 53.
 
 534 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Honesty, IV, 413. 
 
 Honor, IV, 437. 
 
 Hottentots, the, II, 214; III, 303. 
 
 Hottinguer, IV, 387, 388. 
 
 House of Have, the, HI, 165. 
 
 House of Representatives, the, U, 
 
 327-328; IV, 304, 348, 360. 
 House of Want, the. III, 165. 
 House-peace, the, I, 16-17, 21. 
 Hugo, Victor, IV, 483. 
 Human error, II, 230. 
 Human nature, II, 230-231; the vices 
 
 of. III, 233-234; the weaknesses of, 
 
 HI, 69. 
 Humanitarian propositions, II, 214-215. 
 Humanitarianism, I, 29, 139, 146, 163; 
 
 IV, 475, 476. 
 Humboldt, Alexander von. III, 40. 
 Hunger, I, 14, 130. 
 Huxley, Thomas Henry, III, 29. 
 Hysteria, I, 108, 119-120. 
 
 Ideals, II, 73-74, 187-188, 202, 210, 
 
 322; III, 215, 245; IV, 11-12, 13, 
 
 49; faith in, II, 25-26; not causes, 
 
 HI, 127. 
 " Ideas, the power of," II, 74. 
 Ignorance, II, 229. 
 Illinois, II, 44; IV, 55; Bureau of 
 
 Labor Statistics, III, 188-189. 
 Immigrants, III, 355. 
 Immigration, I, 279-280; II, 61, 62; 
 
 III, 116; IV, 50, 78, 88, 89, 321, 345. 
 Imperialism, I, 297, 312-313, 314, 348, 
 
 350; a philosophy, I, 346; and 
 
 democracy, I, 322, 325, 326; and 
 
 plutocracy, I, 325-326; and Spain, 
 
 I, 297; and the United States, I, 
 
 291, 345-346. 
 Imperium, II, 307. 
 Imports, IV, 12, 16, 21; taxes on, IV, 
 
 20, 28-29. 
 Improvement by change, the false hope 
 
 of, III, 245. 
 Improvements, IV, 70, 96, 133, 214, 
 
 222, 226-227, 345; cost of, IV, 221; 
 
 internal, IV, 306, 346, 390, 391, 395, 
 
 488. 
 Increment, the unearned, II, 244; III, 
 
 312. 
 
 India, IV, 24; status of women in, I, 
 
 72-75. 
 Individual, the, HI, 111-112; and 
 
 civil liberty, II, 168-169; produc- 
 tive power of. III, 145. 
 Individual eflfort, II, 216, 230. 
 Individual energy, II, 133-135, 308. 
 Individual happiness, IV, 239. 
 Individual interest, conflict of, with the 
 
 social interest, I, 218. 
 Individual liberty, I, 219-220, 223; 
 
 II, 198, 199, 202; relation of, to civil 
 
 liberty, II, 169-170. 
 Individual questions, III, 95-96. 
 Individualism, I, 218-219, 225, 226; 
 
 II, 127-128, 257, 308-309; HI, 17. 
 Individualization, I, 178-179. 
 Inductive method, the, HI, 401. 
 Industrial atmosphere, II, 359. 
 Industrial changes, I, 239-241. 
 Industrial classes, II, 191; HI, 36. 
 Industrial disease, IV, 96, 21^-220. 
 Industrial honor, II, 33-34. 
 Industrial liberty, I, 233, 234, 236; II, 
 
 331-332. 
 Industrial organization, I, 155; II, 
 
 319-321; HI, 82-83; advancing, I. 
 
 196-199; of the American colonies, 
 
 HI, 294. 
 INDUSTRIAL PEACE, DO WE 
 
 WANT? I, 229-243. 
 Industrial power. III, 148, 154. 
 Industrial problems, WTiters on, I, 
 
 236-238. 
 Industrial revolution, the, I, 141; 
 
 II, 42. 
 
 Industrial society, HI, 66, 321-322; 
 
 contrasted with the militant type, 
 
 1,28. 
 Industrial struggle, II, 286-287. 
 Industrial system, the. III, 55-56, 59, 
 
 61, 62; IV, 214-215, 217-219, 222, 
 
 223, 228, 250, 259-260. 
 Industrial victories, HI, 130-132. 
 Industrial virtues, the, II, 345-346; 
 
 III, 51-52, 201-202, 297. 
 Industrial war, I, 225, 232, 234-235, 
 
 237, 239, 241, 243; III, 98-102; IV, 
 246, 261; and Uberty, I, 234, 236. 
 INDUSTRIAL WAR, III, 93-102.
 
 INDEX 
 
 535 
 
 Industrialism, I, 13, 208; conflict of, 
 with militarism, I, 323-3'24, 348; 
 II, 190-191; III, 300-301; defini- 
 tion of, I, 348. 
 
 Industry, II, 320-333; IV, 21, 35^0, 
 60, 64, 90-92, 133-134, 151, 214-215, 
 218, 259-261; and capital. III, 41-42; 
 and economics, II, 321; and legis- 
 lation, III, 340; and militancy, I, 
 30; and politics, II, 321-333; and 
 the state, I, 215; II, 300, 310; and 
 talent, II, 323; captains of, I, 199- 
 200, 201; II, 134, 297-298, 329-330, 
 331-332; III, 83, 84; IV, 99, 218; 
 definition of, IV, 36; " democracy " 
 of, II, 323; dependence of, on politi- 
 cal action, II, 320-321; diversi- 
 fication of, IV, 85, 91; fur, II, 242; 
 home, IV, 346; infant, IV, 80, 82; 
 modern, II, 294; III, 85-86; pro- 
 tected, I, 263-264, 266; II, 320; 
 regulation of, I, 216-217; women in, 
 IV, 243. 
 
 Inequalities of fortune. III, 88-90. 
 
 Inequality, II, 88, 363; III, 24-25, 
 26-27, 31, 38-40, 68-69, 297-298, 
 302-303. 
 
 Infanticide, I, 151; III, 114. 
 
 Inferiority, servitude with, II, 123. 
 
 Inflation, IV, 175. 
 
 Ingham, Samuel D., IV, 353. 
 
 In-group, the, I, ^13; U. 79-80, 82; 
 as peace-group, I, 17; rights in, I, 
 11, 17; II, 79-80. 
 
 Injustice, II, 152-153; social, I, 258, 
 261; II, 152-153. 
 
 Inquisition, the, II, 21; and witchcraft 
 I, 105-109. 
 
 Inspectors, government, IV, 482. 
 
 Institutes of Justinian, the, II, 115. 
 
 Institution, conception of an, I, 43. 
 
 Institutions, I, 209; eleemosynary. III, 
 56; homogeneous, III, 355-356; 
 financial, IV, 166-167; pohtical, II, 
 298-299, 332-333; III, 243-244, 
 247-248, 249, 253; popular. III, 
 276-277. 
 
 Insurance, IV, 79. 
 
 INTEGRITY IN EDUCATION, IV, 
 409H.19. 
 
 Intellectual work, II, 192-193. 
 
 Intelligence in labor, II, 193-196. 
 
 Interest, I, 218; contingent. III, 196- 
 197; individual, I, 218; military, I, 
 30; party, II, 327-328; public, I, 
 234-235; III, 258-259, 260-261; IV, 
 232, .324-325; rate of, II, 349-351; 
 IV, 52, 177-178; social, 1, 218; specific, 
 III, 196-197; the devil of, II, 
 353. 
 
 Interests, I, 130, 154; II, 309, 314, 
 322, 323, 324, 326, 328-329, 342, 
 343-344; III, 178, 180, 188, 196-197, 
 216, 228, 258; IV, 137; conflict of, 
 
 II, 323-325, 330-331; government by, 
 
 III, 228; private, UI, 258-259, 261; 
 protected, IV, 136; struggle of, I, 
 222, 224; vested, IV, 117-118, 228. 
 
 Interference, II, 126; political, II, 332; 
 
 state, I, 213-226; 11, 96, 98, 100, 
 
 270-279, 285-289, 328. 
 INTERFERENCE, STATE, I, 213-226. 
 International law, I, 20, 280-281; II, 
 
 62-63; origin of, I, 13. 
 Interstate Commerce Commission, the, 
 
 II, 277-278, 325-326; III, 189-190, 
 
 218-219. 
 Interstate Commerce Law, the, II, 
 
 275-279, 288, 300; III, 189-190, 
 
 216-219, 316. 
 Inventions, I, 203-209, 230, 241; II, 
 
 35, 163, 228-229; III, 141, 153, 
 
 154; IV, 133, 214, 306, 345, 402; 
 
 mechanical. III, 247; military, I, 30. 
 Iowa, n, 44, 46; IV, 73. 
 Ireland II, 275; III, 28-29; IV, 24, 50, 
 
 282. 
 Iron, IV, 33, 40-42, 43. 55, 77, 80, 90, 
 
 91-92, 132, 274, 275; Association, 
 
 IV, 72. 
 
 Iroquois, the, I, 47-50; League of, I, 
 
 23-24. 
 Irredeemable paper, IV, 196. 
 Irresponsibility, General, III, 271-272. 
 Irresjjonsible power, III, 225, 264. 
 Isolation, I, 326. 
 Israelites, the, I, 133-134; war among, 
 
 L9. 
 ISSUE, THE NEW SOCIAL, III, 
 
 207-212.
 
 536 
 
 INDEX 
 
 ISSUE, THE PREDOMINANT, I, 
 
 337-352. 
 Italian republics, the, II, 314. 
 Italy, I, 293; as a colonizer, II, 51-62; 
 
 witchcraft in, I, 112, 117-118. 
 
 Jackson, Andrew, III, 269; IV, 303, 
 304, 305, 308-309, 312, 313, 314, 
 338, 340, 341-343, 347-348, 349, 
 350, 351, 352, 353, 354-355, 
 356-359, 360-361, 362, 363, 365, 
 372, 373. 
 
 JACKSON, ANDREW, THE AD- 
 MINISTRATION OF, IV, 337-367. 
 
 Jacksonian democracy, IV, 363. 
 
 Jacobinism, III, 305-306, 325, 334; 
 IV, 292. 
 
 Jacquerie, the, IV, 131. 
 
 Jamestown settlement, the, II, 238; 
 
 III, 291-292. 
 
 Jandon, IV, 382, 386, 387, 388. 
 
 Japan, II, 45, 55; IV, 54, 56, 92-93, 159, 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, III, 158, 302-303, 
 328, 335, 342; IV, 55, 296, 298, 299, 
 300, 301, 343, 351, 358, 363. 
 
 Jeffersonian democracy, II, 306-307; 
 
 IV, 344. 
 
 Jeffersonians, the. III, 328-329, 341- 
 
 342; IV, 322. 
 Jevons, IV, 196. 
 Jews, the, I, 25; status of women 
 
 among, I, 51-52, 76-81. 
 Jobbery, I, 261-264; IV, 169-170, 
 
 488-491; de6nition of, I, 261-262; 
 
 in England, I, 262; in the United 
 
 States, I, 262-263; IV, 488-491. 
 Joint-stock enterprises, III, 82-83. 
 Joseph & Co., IV, 378. 
 Journal des Economistes, IV, 58, 81. 
 Judaism, I, 131. 
 
 Judea, status of women in, I, 76-80. 
 Judges, IV, 364. 
 Judgment, Errors of Political, III, 
 
 243-244. 
 Jural state, the modern, II, 127-128, 
 
 160. 
 Jurisdiction, I, 286-290; II, 54-56; 
 
 economic and political, contrasted, 
 
 II, 52; over territory, I, 286-288, 
 
 289, 290; II, 54-56; the burdens of. 
 
 I, 288-289; II, 54-56; the forced 
 
 extension of, I, 290; II, 55. 
 Justice, II, 208-209; III, 23-24, 98; 
 
 abstract, II, 219; distributive, II, 89. 
 " Justification of labor," II, 181-182. 
 Justification of the Revolutionary War, 
 
 III, 324. 
 Justinian, the Institutes of, II, 115. 
 
 Karoly, II, 111, 114. 
 
 Keller, Albert Galloway, MEMORIAL 
 
 ADDRESS by. III, 440-450. 
 Kelley, IV, 489. 
 Kendall, Amos, IV, 359. 
 Kin-group, the, I, 8. 
 King Caucus, IV, 304, 339, 362. 
 King Majority, IV, 367. 
 King's peace, the, I, 21-23; as law of 
 
 the land, I, 22-23. 
 Kinship and regulation of war, I, 19-20. 
 Knights of Labor, the, II, 287. 
 Knowledge, II, 10, 73, 177-178; III, 
 
 265-266. 
 Knox, Henry, IV, 295. 
 Koran, the doctors of the. III, 187. 
 
 Labor, I, 186; II, 181-182, 344; III, 
 17, 20-21, 34-36, 171; IV, 19, 21, 
 25, 37-38, 46-47, 49, 52, 55, 70-75, 
 96, 119, 123, 127, 227-228, 262; 
 and capital, redistribution of, I, 
 239-241; and dignity, II, 189; and 
 property, II, 243-244; class, bene- 
 fits to the, II, 40-42, 43; child, II, 
 100; convict, II, 102; III, 188-189; 
 definition of, II, 182; demand for, 
 
 III, 115; dignity of, II, 189, 297; 
 
 IV, 242; disputes, III, 139; divi- 
 sion of, II, 361; factory, II, 192-193; 
 intelligence in, II, 193-196; " justi- 
 fication " of, II, 181-182; legisla- 
 tion on hours of. III, 35; literature, 
 
 I, 236, 237, 238; manual, II, 225; 
 market. III, 122; IV, 71; militant 
 notions about, II, 189-191; not 
 brutalizing, II, 192-193; organiza- 
 tions, III, 100, 139; pauper, IV, 42, 
 43, 46-47, 58, 75, 106; problem, the, 
 
 II, 312; question, I, 229-230, 231; 
 II, 228-229; III, 93-102, 122;
 
 INDEX 
 
 587 
 
 right to the full product of, II, 
 224-226; -saving machinery, IV, 
 221, 226-227; thought to be de- 
 grading, II, 189-190. 
 
 LABOR, LIBERTY AND, II, 181-187. 
 
 (LABOR) DOES LABOR BRUTAL- 
 IZE? II, 187-193. 
 
 Laborers, II, 40-42, 43; III, 156-157, 
 295; non-union, I, 251-252; posi- 
 tion of, in the United States, I, 196; 
 unskilled, I, 159, 249, 251-252; II, 
 44; III, 122. 
 
 Laissez-faire, I, 209-210; U, 300; IV, 
 15, 109. 
 
 Land, 1, 174-176, 178, 183; 11, 235-236; 
 III, 22-23, 156-157; IV, 48, 49, 
 70, 72-75, 80, 86-87; acquisition of, 
 III, 153-154; beneficial interest in, 
 
 I, 286-288, 289; II, 54-55; com- 
 pany, III, 313; grabbing, I, 322; 
 
 II, 48; IV, 165; monopoly, II, 
 239-244; new. III, 171-172, 338; 
 owners, IV, 152; private property 
 in, I, 179-180; II, 243, 258; pur- 
 chases, IV, 375; ratio of popula- 
 tion to, I, 174-176, 188; II, 31, 32-35, 
 37-40, 42, 44; III, 22-23, 40, 296; 
 rent. III, 172, 320; supporting 
 power of, lessened by errors, 11, 
 35-37, 39-40; tenure, allodial. III, 
 312; tenure, colonial, III, 312; un- 
 limited supplies of. III, 141, 293-295; 
 unoccupied, II, 31-32; waste, 11, 
 37-38. 
 
 LAND MONOPOLY, II, 239-244. 
 
 Landlords, III, 156-157, 172, 295. 
 
 Language, I, 150; science of, IV, 432. 
 
 Languages, modern, I, 363-364. 
 
 Lasalle, II, 185. 
 
 Latin Union, the, IV, 185, 192, 207. 
 
 Laveleye, M. de, II, 171. 
 
 Law, I, 11, 17; II, 165-166; IV, 21, 72, 
 349, 363, 364; and liberty, II, 160, 
 165-166, 167-168; III, 26, 208-210; 
 Anglo-American, III, 215, 218; canon, 
 I, 59, 144; equality before the, II, 
 224; III, 44-45; IV, 473-474; im- 
 potency of the. III, 232-233, 234-236; 
 international, I, 13, 20, 280-281; 
 n, 62-63; Interstate Commerce, 
 
 II, 275-279, 288, 300; III, 189-190, 
 216-219, 316; legal tender, IV, 190, 
 191; -Making, Good and Bad, III, 
 252-253; natural, I, 172; of dimin- 
 bhing returns, I, 175-176; of popu- 
 lation, I, 175-176; of population, 
 the Malthusian, I, 181-182; of 
 settlement, II, 125; oleomargarine, 
 
 III, 187; "pass a law," III, 129; 
 poor. III, 74; positive, II, 167; 
 Ricardian, of rent, I, 181-182. 
 
 LAW, LIBERTY AND, II, 161-166. 
 
 Laws, II, 80, 81, 83; III, 292; Antic 
 ipatory, III, 253-256; convict- 
 labor, III, 188-189; criminal, IV, 13 
 economic. III, 98; navigation, IV, 
 12; need of few and good, II, 330 
 of Hammurabi, I, 67-69, 71; of 
 Manu, I, 72-75; of Moses, I, 67 
 of Solon, I, 101; of the social order, 
 n, 2at, 285; of war, II, 112-113 
 poor, IV, 13; social, I, 191; III, 37 
 unwTitten, III, 253-254. 
 
 Leaders, IV, 329-330. 
 
 League of the Iroquois, I, 23-24. 
 
 Legal tender, IV, 186, 189-191, 202, 
 205, 206. 
 
 Legislation, II, 207-208, 298-299, 300, 
 319-320, 321, 323-324, 327; IV, 
 19, 20, 27, 108, 188, 190, 194, 195, 
 196, 199, 210, 262, 274, 481, 488; 
 abuse of, IV, 479; and industry, 
 III, 340; and vice, I, 252; by com- 
 mittees, III, 261, 281-282; federal, 
 III, 316; hasty. III, 177; initiated 
 by the executive. III, 284-285; on 
 hours of labor. III, 35; on railroads, 
 III, 177-182; paternal, II, 275-279; 
 prohibitory, I, 253; regarding capi- 
 tal, III, 27-28; speculative. III, 
 215-219; vicious, II, 275, 277. 
 
 LEGISLATION, SPECULATIVE, III, 
 215-219. 
 
 LEGISLATION BY CLAMOR, IH, 
 185-190. 
 
 LEGISLATION ON RAILROADS, 
 FEDERAL, IH, 177-182. 
 
 Legislators, IV, 19-20, 49, 68, 490; 
 the duty of. III, 185. 
 
 Legislature, acts of the, II, 69.
 
 538 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Leisure, II, 189; class, the. III. 281. 
 
 Liberty, I, 198, 299-300, 305; II, 96-97, 
 209, 210, 211, 235, 251, 308; III, 
 23-24, 25-26, 31, 44-46, 49-50, 248, 
 249, 274; IV, 14-15, 17, 123, 232, 
 
 233. 235, 258, 363. 469, 470, 471-474, 
 480, 494-495; a conquest, II, 174- 
 175; a product of civilization, II, 132; 
 anarchistic, II, 119, 131-132, 161, 
 198, 199, 200, 203; III, 292, 317, 336; 
 and anarchy contrasted, II, 164-165; 
 and civilization, II, 147, 149-150, 
 175, 362; and discipline, U, 170-171, 
 200; and earthly existence, 11, 156- 
 157, 168-169; and industrial war, I, 
 
 234, 236; and law, II, 160, 165-166. 
 167-168; and property, II, 173-174; 
 and responsibility, 11, 158-160, 180; 
 m, 96; and the schoolboy, II. 
 140-141; and wealth, 11, 147-150, 
 150-154; civil, II, 124, 128-129, 
 182, 198-199, 202; III, 26, 44-45, 
 226, 238-240. 276, 336; IV, 110. 
 469. 470, 471-474; civil, a matter 
 of law and institutions, II, 160, 166; 
 civil, and the individual, II, 168-169; 
 civil, definition of, n, 126-127; IV, 
 230-231, 472; civil, the cost of, 11, 
 128; III, 239; constitutional, IV, 
 258; eighteenth century notions of, 
 II, 131; individual or personal, I, 
 219-220, 223; II, 198, 199, 202; 
 in History and Institutions, 11, 
 121-130; industrial, I, 233, 234, 
 236; II, 331-332; maintenance of, 
 n, 164: medieval notions of, II, 141, 
 157-158; natural, history of the 
 dogma of, II, 112-121; need of 
 re-analyzing, II, 109-110; of civi- 
 lized man, II, 140-155; of primitive 
 man, II, 131, 132-133, 136-140, 
 141, 361-362; of the American 
 colonists, in, 317-322; of the tramp. 
 n. 154-155; popular notions of, 
 11, 110-112; relation of individual 
 to civil, II, 169-170; soUdarity of 
 all forms of, 11, 110, 112; subject 
 to moral restraints, II, 110, 112; 
 the dream of, II, 201-203; the price 
 of, n, 143-145, 146-147, 153-154; 
 
 to do as one pleases, 11, 124, 136, 146, 
 
 156, 161, 165, 166; III, 26, 155-156; 
 
 IV, 472-473; the right to, II, 234; 
 
 under law. III, 26, 208-210; with 
 
 responsibility. III, 96. 
 LIBERTY AND DISCIPLINE, II, 
 
 166-171. 
 LIBERTY AND LABOR, K, 181-187. 
 LIBERTY AND LAW, II, 161-166. 
 LIBERTY AND MACHINERY, H, 
 
 193-198. 
 LIBERTY AND OPPpRTUNITY, U, 
 
 176-181. 
 LIBERTY AND PROPERTY, H, 
 
 171-176. 
 LIBERTY AND RESPONSIBILITY, 
 
 II, 156-160. 
 (LIBERTY) IS LIBERTY A LOST 
 
 BLESSING? II, 131-135. 
 LIBERTY, THE DISAPPOINTMENT 
 
 OF, II, 198-203. 
 LIBERTY? WHAT IS CIVIL, U, 
 
 109-130. 
 Life, n, 234; insurance, 11, 271-272; 
 
 necessity, I, 339-344; the " banquet" 
 
 of, n, 210-211, 217-221, 233; IH, 
 
 112, 115; the competition of, I, 9-10, 
 
 14, 176-177, 178, 184; II. 79, 82; 
 
 m. 25. 26, 30; the hardships of, lU, 
 
 74-75; the right to, II, 234. 
 LIFE, THE BANQUET OF, II, 217-221. 
 Lincoln, Abraham, IV, 110. 323. 
 Liquidation, IV, 167, 220. 
 Literarj' productions as natural mo 
 
 nopohes, II, 246-247, 272-274. 
 Literature, II, 246-247, 272-274; labor, 
 
 I, 236, 237, 238; modern, I, 153; 
 
 II, 27; the corrupting influence of, 
 II, 367-377; the regulation of, II, 
 272-274. 
 
 Living, earning a, 11, 213. 
 Living, the standard of, 11, 33-35. 
 Livingstones, the, IV, 305, 307. 
 Lobby, the, II, 298; III, 340. 
 Lock-outs, II, 233; III, 99. 
 Locofoco party, the, IV, 313-314, 315, 
 
 358, 383. 
 Louis Napoleon, III, 226. 
 Louisiana. II, 53-54; IV. 64; the 
 
 acquisition of, I, 340; IV, 297.
 
 INDEX 
 
 539 
 
 Love, I, 14, 130; modem notions 
 about, m. \U-4i5; of war, I, £9. 
 
 Luck, III, 56-57. 
 
 Luiurj-, n. 29S-494; III, 130-131; 
 the thirst for. I, 190; III, 36. 
 
 LjTich-executions, III, 383. 
 
 "LYNCH-LAW," FOREWORD TO, 
 m. 383-384. 
 
 Machinery. H. 194-196; m. 171. 
 173; IV. 12, 16. 70. 77; labor- 
 saving, IV. 221. 226-^i27; party, 
 IIL 368, 369: political. III, 231-435, 
 238, 267-26b, :i\H. 
 
 MACHINERY, LIBERTY AND, IL 
 193-198. 
 
 :^IacMahon, President, HI, 226. 
 
 Madison, James, HI, 307; IV, 301, 
 305,343. 
 
 Magic IV. a. 106, 107. 
 
 Maine, IV, 55-56. 
 
 Maine, Sir Henry. HI. 119. 
 
 Major premises, L 3, 161-163; TIT, 
 55, 57. 
 
 Majority. HI. 337; King. R*. 367; 
 popular, IIL 271, 277; TV, 358; 
 rule, m, 264, 305; TV, 290; Sov- 
 ereignty of the. III, 263-265. 
 
 Malleus Maleficarum, the, L 106-109, 
 112. 
 
 Malthusian law <A population, L 
 181-182. 
 
 Man, I, 209-210; brotherhood of. IV, 
 403; burdens laid on the forgotten, 
 L 5^48. 249, 250. 251, i5i, 253, 
 259-260. 264, 267-268; character 
 <rf the forgotten, L 249, 264. 266-267; 
 nV 476. 491-492; the "Revolt" 
 of. Ill, 416: the " ri^ts " of, H, 
 i&\ IIL 33-34. 
 
 MAN, ON THE CASE OF A CER- 
 TAIN, WHO IS NEVER THOUGHT 
 OF, I, 247-253. 
 
 MAN, THE CASE OF THE FOR- 
 GOTTEN, FURTHER CONSID- 
 ERED, I, 2o7-26S. 
 
 MAN. THE FORGOTTEN, I\'. 465- 
 495. 
 
 Managers, Officious, HL 267-268. 
 
 Mania, the witchcraft, I, 105-126; IL 
 23. 
 
 Manifest destiny, L 341, 542; II, 54. 
 
 Manitoba, II, 46; IV, 55. 
 
 Mankind, III, 207; the "degrada- 
 tion" of. III, 148-150; the new 
 jKJwer of. III, 207, 211; the primi- 
 tive state of, L 3, 14; IL 219-220, 
 230, 234-235, 237-238, 340, 357-358, 
 360: III. 149. 
 
 MANKIND, THE PROPOSED DUAL 
 ORGANIZATION OF, L 271-281. 
 
 Manners, IV. 414-^15, 436. 
 
 Manor system, the, HI, 310-312. 
 
 Manu, status of women in the laws erf, 
 I, 72-75. 
 
 Manual labor, II, 225. 
 
 Manufactures, IV, 76, 83, 84, 86. 
 
 Marty, W. L., IIL 269-270; IW, 309, 
 352. 
 
 Mariiet, IL 121; IV. 250, 251, 252 
 conjuncture of the, I, 200-201 
 m, 121-122; foreign, IW, 65; home 
 J\. 24, 64-65. 66; labor. HI. 122 
 rV, 71; philosophy of the, H, 121 
 ratio, rV. 200-201; separation of 
 state and, II. 310; tj-ranny of the, 
 IL 151-152; the worid's, IV. 24, 85. 
 
 MARKET, SEPARATION OF STATE 
 AND, IL 306-311. 
 
 Marriage. L 43, 157; EL, 93. 260; HL 
 18; and canon law. I, 59; and edu- 
 cation, n, 94-95; by capture, L 
 48, 77, 85; H, 262; by purchase, L 
 66, 68, 70. 74. 85. 86; CathoUc law 
 of, I, 60; Christian view of, I, 52-54; 
 modem notions about, II. 94, 96-97; 
 moDogamic, IIL 24; pair-, I. 52-53, 
 80; state regulation <rf, IL 93-94, 
 103-104. 
 
 MartjTs, rS", 428-429. 
 
 Marx, Kari, HI, 41, 65. 
 
 ^lason, Jeremiak, r\', 352-353. 
 
 Massachusetts, m, 314-315; H*. 51. 
 
 Massachusetts Bay settlement, ITT, 
 291-292; IK, 72." 
 
 Masses, the, I, 242; H, 39, 304; KL 
 162, 193-194, 339; and earth hunger, 
 n, 39: power of. m, 131, 133; wis- 
 dom of, m, 308.
 
 540 
 
 INDEX 
 
 " Material good," 1, 158. 
 Mathematics, IV, 432. 
 Means and end, III, 85. 
 " Measures, not men,' ' III, 265. 
 Mechanic arts, advance in the. III, 153. 
 Medieval Christianity, I, 140. 
 Medieval church, the, I, 133; III, 74. 
 Medieval notions of liberty, II, 141, 
 
 157-158. 
 Medieval society, I, 143-145, 215-217. 
 Medieval system, the, I, 131. 
 Medieval theory of rights, II, 222; III, 
 
 45. 
 Medieval views of women, I, 106-109. 
 Megalomania, I, 338, 339. 
 Melanesia, war in, I, 5. 
 MEMORIAL ADDRESS by Henry de 
 
 Forest Baldwin, III, 432^39; by 
 
 Otto T. Bannard, III, 429-431; by 
 
 Albert Galloway Keller, III, 440-450. 
 MEMORIAL DAY ADDRESS, III, 
 
 347-362. 
 Men, I, 210; making better, II, 
 
 104-105; the demand for, II, 31-32; 
 
 III, 111-116, 119-123, 132, 140-141, 
 
 145, 154, 157, 171; who revolt. III, 
 
 139. 
 MEN, THE DEMAND FOR, III, 
 
 lll-llG. 
 MEN, THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 
 
 DEMAND FOR, III, 119-123. 
 Menschcnwiirdiges Dasein, II, 212-216. 
 Mercantile theories, IV, 289. 
 Merchant-princes, the. III, 66. 
 Metaphysician, the. III, 417. 
 Metaphysics, I, 167; III, 58; political, 
 
 II, 82. 
 
 Mexico, I, 312; II, 47, 51; IV, 56, 150, 
 
 317, 319, 365. 
 Middle Ages, the, II, 38-39, 87, 114-118, 
 
 125, 314; III, 66; IV, 457; mores 
 
 of, 1, 152; the phantasm of, II, 18-20, 
 
 21. 
 Middle class, the, II, 313, 314, 315; 
 
 III, 35-36, 70-77, 129-130. 
 " Middlemarch," IV, 188, 433. 
 Might, III, 209; and right. III, 239. 
 Migration, IV, 228, 229. 
 
 Militancy, I, 13, 28-30; and indus- 
 try, I, 30; and peacefulness, I, 28. 
 
 Militant notions of labor, II, 189-191. 
 
 Militant type of society, I, 28. 
 
 Militarism, I, 312-313, 314; III, 
 300-301, 321-322; and democracy, 
 the antagonism of, I, 322-323; and 
 industrialism, the conflict between, 
 I, 323-324, 348; II, 190-191; III, 
 300-301; and plutocracy, I, 325-326; 
 in Germany, I, 323; the nature of, 
 
 I, 347-349. 
 Military discipline, I, 30. 
 Military duty, II, 125-126. 
 Military glory, I, 303. 
 Military hero, IV, 315, 316. 
 Military interest, I, .30. 
 Military service, II, 120. 
 Military struggle, II, 286-287. 
 Mill, John Stuart, IV, 81, 101. 
 MILLENIUM, THE FIRST STEPS 
 
 TOWARDS A, II, 93-105. 
 Millionaires, II, 269; III, 89-90. 
 Miners, mining, IV, 41, 159-160. 
 Minnesota, II, 46; IV, 50. 
 Minority, the, III, 266. 
 Mint ratio, IV, 200-201. 
 Misery, III, 23, 31, 32, 36-37, 47, 
 
 121-123, 128, 298. 
 Misfortune, II, 229, 230; III, 56-57, 67. 
 Mississippi, IV, 378, 384; Valley, IV, 
 
 52, 55, 99. 
 Missouri, IV, 55; Compromise, IV, 
 
 319, 320. 
 Modern age, the, II, 163; temper of, 
 
 II, 27. 
 
 Modern church, the, I, 139; III, 81. 
 Modern city, the. III, 169-170, 278-279, 
 
 420. 
 Modern civilization, 1, 190; II, 296-297. 
 Modern family, the, I, 60-61. 
 Modern industry, II, 294; III, 85-86; 
 
 IV, 214-215, 217-219, 222, 223, 228, 
 
 250, 259-260. 
 Modern languages, I, 363-364. 
 Modern Uterature, I, 153; II, 27. 
 Modern mores, I, 142-143, 145, 151, 
 
 157; II, 87, 89. 
 Modern notions about love. III, 
 
 424-425. 
 Modern notions about marriage, II, 
 
 94, 96-97.
 
 INDEX 
 
 541 
 
 Modem politics, I, 154. 
 
 Modern progress, I, 241. 
 
 Modem religion, I, 138-139, 142-143. 
 
 Modern society, II, 309; III, changes 
 
 in. III, 394-395. 
 Modern spirit, the, III, 347-350. 
 Modern warfare, I, 29. 
 Modifications, Necessary, III, 277. 
 Mohammedanism, I, 47, 129, 134, 135, 
 
 137, 140, 304; the civilizing mission 
 
 of, I, 304. 
 Mohammedans, I, 25. 
 Monarchy, IV, 291, 292. 
 Money, IV, 82, 101, 144-145, 183, 
 
 189-190, 20G; fiat, IV, 158; hard, 
 
 III, 370-371; IV, 313; market, IV, 
 377-378; of account, IV, 177-178; 
 paper. III, 216, 325, 326. 400; 
 
 IV, 25, 157, 158, 159, 160, 179, 189, 
 196, 286, 289, 397, 398; power, IV, 
 162, 170; soft. III, 371; sharks, IV, 
 162; token, IV, 196. 
 
 Monogamic family, the, II, 254-258, 
 
 264-266; 111,24. 
 Monogamic marriage. III, 24. 
 Monogamy, I, 70, 151; II, 254, 257; 
 
 III, 18, 24; position of children in, 
 
 II, 255, 256, 257, 265; position of 
 women in, II, 255, 257. 
 
 MONOPOLIES, A GROUP OF 
 
 NATURAL, II, 245-248. 
 Monopoly, II, 124, 132-135, 210, 220, 
 
 235-236, 249-253, 254-258, 270-279; 
 
 III, 100; IV, 12, 57, 82, 83, 88, 93, 
 94, 99-100, 104, 105, 196, 198, 257, 
 259, 261-262, 265-269, 487; and 
 civilization, II, 249-253; artificial, 
 
 II, 135. 247; IV, 282; land, II, 
 239-244; natural, II, 132, 134-135, 
 245-248, 249, 271-274; IV, 257, 
 267, 269; limited natural. III, 387; 
 pressure of, II, 242-243; railroad, 
 
 III, 179; the state a, II, 310. 
 MONOPOLY, ANOTHER CHAPTER 
 
 ON, II, 249-253. 
 MONOPOLY, LAND, II, 239-244. 
 MONOPOLY, THE FAMILY, II, 
 
 254-258. 
 MONOPOLY, THE STATE AND, 
 
 II. 270-279. 
 
 Monroe, James, IV, 339, 342, 343, 355. 
 
 Monroe Doctrine, the, I, 36, 38-39, 
 271, 276, 278, 280, 333; II, 58, 59-60, 
 333. 
 
 Montaigne, Michel Eyquem de, I, 115, 
 121; II, 23. 
 
 MonUina, II, 44. 
 
 Moral forces. III, 29-30, 201-202, 
 352-353. 
 
 Moral juilgment, I, 150. 
 
 Moral power, III, 201-204. 
 
 Moral quality, II, 177-178, 192-193. 
 
 Moralists, III, 423. 
 
 Morals, IV^ 98, 436; public, II, 167, 
 272-274;, two codes of, I, 11. 
 
 Mores, the, I, 129-131, 132, 133, 135, 
 141, 142-143, 145; and reUgion, 
 the interplay of, I, 130, 134, 135, 138, 
 146; and rights, II, 79, 83; and the 
 status of women, I, 67, 68; defini- 
 tion of, I. 149-151; of the Middle 
 Ages, I, 152; of the Occident, I, 152; 
 of the Orient, I, 152; origin of, I, 
 149-151; modern, I, 142-143, 145, 
 151, 157; II, 87, 89. 
 
 MORES, RELIGION AND THE, I, 
 129-146. 
 
 MORES OF THE PRESENT AND 
 FUTURE, THE, I, 149-164. 
 
 Mortgagors, IV, 168-169. 
 
 Moses, the laws of, I, 67. 
 
 Mother-family, the, I, 47-50, 69, 81-82, 
 88. 
 
 Motives, II, 67; and consequences, I, 
 15; the four great social, I, 14. 
 
 Municipal expansion, I, 338-339. 
 
 Mystical political economy. III, 418. 
 
 Mystical sociology. III, 418. 
 
 Mysticism, III, 415; economic, IV, 119; 
 poUtical, I, 220-221. 
 
 Napoleon, I, 32; II, 1.34, 159; IV, 65. 
 
 Nation, III, 353-360, 392; IV, 12; a 
 strong, IV, 85, 97; an inferior, IV, 
 52; definition of a, II, 353-354; 
 requisites for a, III, 354-360; Our, 
 the Earliest State of, III, 249-250; 
 United States a. III, 350, 354. 
 
 National bank system, the, I, 31. 
 
 National convention, IV, 361-362.
 
 542 
 
 INDEX 
 
 National debt, IV. 395. 
 
 National prosperity, IV, 11, 16, 18, 
 22, 25-26, 28, 33, 34, 47, 48-49, 50, 
 77, 84, 106, 109; art of, IV, 11-12, 
 15, 16-17, 106. 
 
 National Republican Party, IV, 355- 
 35G, 361. 
 
 National states, I, 285. 
 
 National surplus, IV, 395. 
 
 National vanity, I, 300-301, 303, 304, 
 343, 344; II, 46, 651. 
 
 National wealth, I, 307-308. 
 
 Nationalism, II, 130; IV, 54. 
 
 Nations, the family of, II, 62-63. 
 
 Native American movement, IV, 321. 
 
 Natural agents as monopolies, II, 
 239-243. 
 
 Natural fact, a, II, 135. 
 
 Natural forces, I, 199, 209-210. 
 
 Natural law, conception of, I, 172. 
 
 Natural liberty, history of the dogma 
 of, II, 112-121. 
 
 Natural monopoly, II, 132, 134-135, 
 215-218, 249, 271-274; IV, 257, 267, 
 269; limited. III, 387. 
 
 NATURAL MONOPOLIES, A GROUP 
 OF, II, 245-248. 
 
 Natural resources, IV, 40, 41, 42, 43, 
 119. 
 
 Natural rights, I, 257-258; II, 79, 81, 
 219-220, 223, 224, 226-227; III, 
 33-34, 45; IV, 322; the declara- 
 tion of, II, 224; the doctrines of, in 
 Christianity, II, 114-117; the doc- 
 trines of, to-day, II, 119. 
 
 NATURAL RIGHTS, SOME, II, 
 222-227. 
 
 Nature, II, 31, 32, 35, 138-139, 142-143, 
 147, 210, 218-220, 233-234, 235, 236, 
 237; III, 17, 20, 21, 25, 112-113; 
 IV, 480; the " boon " of, II, 210-211, 
 218, 232-238; III, 115; the " boon " 
 of, disproved by American history, 
 II, 238; III, 291-292; conquest 
 from, II, 236; the method of. III, 
 29-30; the processes of, I, 34; the 
 " state " of, II, 131, 140, 219. 
 
 NATURE, THE BOON OF, U, 233- 
 238. 
 
 Navigation Act, the, HI, 323. 
 
 Navigation laws, IV, 12. 
 
 Navigation system, the, I, 318, 320. 
 
 Navy, IV, 12, 22, 67, 68, 104, 301, 302. 
 
 Necessities, III, 17. 
 
 Neglect, I, 259. 
 
 Negro suffrage, I, 330-331, 349. 
 
 Negroes, I, 28, 309, 328. 
 
 Nervous temper of the age, I, 162. 
 
 Netherlands, the, I, 15. 
 
 New Brunswick, IV, 55. 
 
 New countries, settling, I, 271-274; 
 
 III, 148. 
 New country, IV, 81, 97, 291-292, 
 
 306-307. 371-372, 395; the society 
 
 of a. III, 69-70. 
 New England, III, 328; IV. 33, 83, 
 
 278-279, 322; towns. III, 256, 314; 
 
 witchcraft in, I, 122-123. 
 New institutions. III, 139-140. 
 New land. III, 171-172, 338. 
 New Orleans, IV, 55. 
 New philosophies. III, 139-140, 195- 
 
 196. 
 New Testament, status of women in 
 
 the, I, 80-81. 
 New world, opening up of the, 11, 315. 
 New York City, III, 420; IV, 380, 381, 
 
 382, 384, 385, 387, 388, 396-397. 
 New York Evening Post, IV, 59. 
 New York state, IV, 57, 74, 307, 313, 
 
 345, 350, 393; politics and politi- 
 cians, III, 372-373; IV, 309, 310. 
 New York Times, IV, 34, 70. 
 New York Tribune, IV, 86. 
 New Zealand, IV, 65. 
 Newspapers, regulation of the, 11, 
 
 273-274. 
 Newton, Isaac, III, 40. 
 Nickd, IV, 35, 42, 94. 
 N ilea's Register IV, 351. 
 Nobles, II, 312-313. 
 " Noble savage," the, II, 131. 
 Nomadic stage, the, II, 140. 
 Nomads, status of women among, I, 
 
 65. 
 Nomads and tillers. III, 300. 
 Nomination, political. III, 231-232, 
 
 234. 
 Non-capitalists, III, 170-174; IV, 12. 
 Non-government, IV, 14.
 
 INDEX 
 
 543 
 
 Non-interference, II, 304, 305, 316-317. 
 Non-union laborers, I, 251-252. 
 North American Review, IV, 100. 
 Notion that everybody ought to be 
 
 happy. III, 55-56. 
 Notion that " something must be 
 
 done," II, 327. 
 Notion that the state is an ethical 
 
 person, I, 221 ; 11,309. 
 Nova Scotia, IV, 56. 
 Novelists and sociology. III, 424-425. 
 Novels, I, 168-169. 
 Nullification, III, 329; IV, 354. 
 Numbers, III, 132; and quality. III, 
 
 27-28; the effect of, on natural 
 
 supplies, II, 239-243. 
 
 Obedience, II, 80. 
 " Obsequium," I, 214-215. 
 Occupations, desired, IV, 241-243, 245, 
 Office, rotation in. III, 263; IV, 305, 
 
 326-327, 352, 364; the spoils of, 
 
 II, 303. 
 Office-holders, III, 341; IV, 307, 328, 
 
 351-352, 489. 
 Office-seekers, IV, 286. 
 Officers, civil. III, 267-268; college, 
 
 I, 360-361; popular selection of, 
 
 IV, 326. 
 Offices, pohtical. III, 259. 
 Ohio, IV, 33-34. 
 Oil, IV, 85. 
 Old Testament, status of women in 
 
 the, I, 76-80. 
 Oleomargarine law, the, III, 187. 
 Oligarchies in the United States, '11, 
 
 329-330. 
 Oligarchy, III, 805. 
 " Omnicracy," I, 221-222. 
 " One man power," fear of. III, 261. 
 " Open door " policy, the, I, 319; 320, 
 
 322. 
 Opportunity, II, 179, 337-338. 
 OPPORTUNITY, LIBERTY AND, II, 
 
 176-181. 
 Opposition, the. III, 282. 
 Optimism, I, 186-187; II, 26; eco- 
 nomic, II, 31&-319, 324, 332; the 
 
 philosophy of, I, 159. 
 Optimists, m, 841-342, 344. 
 
 Oracle, III, 255. 
 
 Ore, IV, 36, 48. 
 
 Organization, II, 342-344; III, 228, 
 231, 279; and democracy. III, 
 266-267; colonial industrial. III, 
 294; colonial lack of. III, 324-325; 
 colonial social. III, 310-323; of 
 civilized society, II, 144-145, 250, 
 251, 2.5-2, 253, 283-287; of labor, 
 III, 100, 139; of society, I, 213; II, 
 261, 286-287; political, II, 303-364; 
 III, 339-340; IV, 308, 309, 311, 
 328; social, I, 15, 30-38, 198-199, 
 238-239; III, 87, 292-293, 309- 
 310, 310-323, 331, 336-341; the 
 Imbecility of Our Present, III, 270- 
 271. 
 
 Organs of society, the, II, 284-286. 
 
 Others-group, the, I, 9. 
 
 Other-worldliness, I, 141-142, 143. 
 
 OUR COLLEGES BEFORE THE 
 COUNTRY, I, 355-373. 
 
 " Our country, right or wrong," IV, 
 319-320. 
 
 Out-group, the, I, 9-13. 
 
 Outlying continents, II, 43; the ex- 
 ploitation of, II, 47-50; the opening 
 up of, II, 315; III, 122, 171-172; 
 the settlement of, I, 271-274; III, 
 148. 
 
 Overpopulation, I, 59, 126, 164, 184, 
 185, 187-188, 305-306; III, 22-23, 
 120-121. 
 
 Overproduction, IV, 82. 
 
 Overwork, II, 193. 
 
 Pain, II, 220, 312. 
 
 Paine, Thomas, III, 306; IV, 285, 286. 
 
 Pair-marriage, I, 52-53, 80. 
 
 Panama Congress, the, I, 276; II, 57- 
 
 58, 60. 
 Panic, IV, 157; of 1873, IV, 173. 
 Paper currency a natural monopoly, II, 
 
 247. 
 Paper money. III, 216, 325, 326, 400; 
 
 IV, 25, 157, 158, 159, 160, 179, 189, 
 
 196, 286, 289, 397, 398. 
 Papuans, war among the, I, 4. 
 PARABLE, A, III, 105-107.
 
 544 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Parents, III, 18-19; and children, the 
 rights and duties of, II, 95-102. 
 
 Parliamentary debate. III, 28l-2Si. 
 
 Parties, political. III, 266, 268-273, 
 339-340, 366-368, 393-394, 397; IV. 
 287-289, 292, 293-294, 310, 318, 322, 
 320-327, 339, 349, 350. 
 
 Parties are Irresponsible. Ill, 272-273. 
 
 Parton, IV, 350. 
 
 Party, the Democratic, I, 160; IV. 
 312, 313, 316, 318, 319, 320, 321, 
 322-323, 363; the Federal, HI, 328- 
 329; the Republican, I. 100; IV, 
 321, 322, 323, 327. 
 
 Party government, III, 393-394. 
 
 Party interest, II, 327-328. 
 
 Party loyalty, IV, 309, 310, 327. 
 
 Party machinery. III, 368, 369; IV. 
 309, 311. 
 
 Party methods, IV, 333. 
 
 Party spirit, IV, 292. 
 
 Party spoils, II, 328, 
 
 Passport, IV, 17, 88. 
 
 Patents as artificial monopolies, II, 247. 
 
 Paternal legislation, II, 275-279. 
 
 Paternal theory, IV, 494-495. 
 
 Paternalism, I. 2G7-268; II, 275-279. 
 
 Pathos, III. 247. 
 
 Patria potestas, I, 69. 
 
 " Patrimony of the Disinherited." the, 
 
 II, 233. 
 
 Patriotism, I, 12, 301, 302; II, 26; 
 
 III, 352; IV, 125. 
 Patronage, III, 254. 
 
 Patronizing the working classes, I, 250. 
 
 Pauperization, II, 215. 
 
 Paupers. IV, 101,475,476. 
 
 Peace, III, 360; and religion, I, 24-26; 
 -element, development of the, I, 
 16; for women, I, 21; -group, the, 
 I, 11, 17, 18-19, 23, 24-26, 27, 28, 35; 
 -institutions, I, 16-24; -institu- 
 tions of civilized nations, I, 20-24; 
 -institutions of the West Austra- 
 lians, I, 18; makes war, I, 11; of 
 God, I, 21; of the house, I, 16-17, 21; 
 -pacts, I, 7, 10; -rules. I, 16; -ta.boo, 
 I, 16, 18, 26; the king's, I, 21-23; 
 the triumphs of, I, 315; universal, I, 
 35-36. 
 
 Peaceful access, I, 17. 
 
 Peacefulness and militancy, I, 28. 
 
 Peasant-proprietors, III, 295, 301; 
 IV, 48. 
 
 Peasants, II, 292, 312-314, 315. 
 
 Pearson, Karl, II, 17, 18. 
 
 Penalties, II, 180-181; of vice, I, 252. 
 
 Pennsylvania, IV, 33, 42, 313, 389, 
 390, 391-392; Relief Act, IV, 392, 
 393. 
 
 Pensions, I, 262; IV, 101, 489. 
 
 People, the, I, 222, 224; II, 290-293, 
 307, 329; III, 223-236, 255-256, 
 26t. 308, 328; IV, 469-470; sov- 
 ereignty of. III, 263-264; the sov- 
 ereign, 111, 370-371; voice of, IV, 
 298; will of, IV, 314, 318, 328, 329, 
 341, 348. 
 
 Pepper, IV, 265-267, 
 
 Periodicals for boys, II, 367-377. 
 
 Perpetual motion, IV, 196, 201. 
 
 Persians, status of women among the, 
 
 I, 75-76. 
 
 Personal superiority a natural mo- 
 nopoly, II, 247-248. 
 Persons and capital. Ill, 27-28, 
 Peru, IV, 365. 
 Pessimism, I. 186-187; II, 26; political, 
 
 II, 31J)-333. 
 
 " Pest of glory," the, I, 292, 313; II, 50. 
 Pestilence, IV, 465. 
 Pets, social, I, 248; IV, 494. 
 Phantasm, II, 25; definition of, II, 18; 
 
 of the Middle Ages, II, 18-20. 21; 
 
 political, II, 189. 
 Philadelphia, IV, 380, 381, 382, 384, 
 
 385, 387, 388, 389, 390, 393, 396-397; 
 
 American, the, IV, 20. 
 Philanthropic schemes, I, 247-248. 
 Philanthropists, III, 416; IV, 475, 476, 
 
 493. 
 Philanthropy, HI, 48. 127. 128. 
 Philippines, the, I, 162, 300, 301-302, 
 
 310, 311-312; II, 69; acquisition of, 
 
 I, 343, 344, 345; independence of. 
 
 I, 351. 
 
 Philosophers, III, 255, 416-417, 423; 
 IV, 299, 300, 365, 483, 493; social, 
 
 II, 338-339, 349; lU. 48; a priori, 
 
 III, 244-245.
 
 INDEX 
 
 545 
 
 Philosophies, new. III, 139-140. 
 
 Philosophizing, IV. 300, 467. 
 
 PhUosophy, I, 131, 164; III, 56-57, 
 59, 153, 157-158; IV, 116, 118; 
 eighteenth century. III, 87; of 
 colonization, II, 43-45; of optimism, 
 
 I, 159; of the market, II, 121; po- 
 litical, I, 158-159, 162, 310; III, 
 244-245; popular, IV, 240; reli- 
 gious, I, 158-159; sentimental, I, 
 177; III, 31-32, 36; social, I, 
 238-239; II, 339-340; III, 32-35, 
 68-69; the new. III, 195-196; 
 world-, I, 129, 133, 134, 143. 
 
 Phrases, high-sounding. III, 161. 
 
 Pickering, Timothy, IV, 295. 
 
 Plato, I, 98-99. 
 
 Plunder, III, 66, 71-72, 73; IV, 23. 
 
 Plutocracy, I, 207, 262; II, 289, 293- 
 295, 310, 316, 329; III, 212; defini- 
 tion of, II, 293; and democracy, the 
 antagonism of, I, 160, 204, 325-326; 
 
 II, 299-300, 329; and expansion, 
 
 I, 325-326; and imperialism, I, 
 325-326; and militiirism, I, 325-326; 
 and politic;il institutions, II, 298-299. 
 
 PLUTOCRACY, DEFINITIONS OF 
 
 DEMOCRACY AND, II, 290^-295. 
 
 PLUTOCRACY, DEMOCRACY AND, 
 
 II, 283-289. 
 
 PLUTOCRACY AND DEMOCRACY, 
 
 THE CONFLICT OF, II, 296-300. 
 Plutocrat, definition of a, II, 298. 
 Plymouth settlement, the, II, 238; 
 
 III, 291-292. 
 Poland, II, 313. 
 Police, city. III, 329. 
 Police defense, I, 36. 
 
 Policy, II, 68-70; and doctrine con- 
 trasted, I, 37; of the " open door," 
 I, 319, 320, 322; the prosperity, I, 
 68, 154, 307, 318; the protectionist, 
 I, 318, 319, 320-321, 322; vigorous 
 foreign, IV, 66-67. 
 
 Political action, dependence of indus- 
 try on, I ,320-321. 
 
 Political alarmists, III, 341, 342-343. 
 
 POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE, 
 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE TO 
 COURSES IN, III, 391^03. 
 
 Political " backing." Ill, 368. 369. 
 
 Political boss, IV. 327-329. 
 
 Political Ciilling, III, 396. 
 
 Political campaigns. I, 337; IV, 29, 
 49, 95, 315-316. 
 
 Political changes, recent, I, 241-242. 
 
 Political corruption in the United 
 States, III, 395-396, 397. 
 
 Political debauchery. III, 268. 
 
 Politiwd discussion. III, 277-278; the 
 temper of our, I, 346-347. 
 
 Political doctrines, IV, 352. 
 
 Political dogmas, III, 193-194, 258. 
 
 Pohtical dogmatism. II. 23; III, 
 252-253. 
 
 Political earth hunger, II, 64; defini- 
 tion of, II, 46; contrivsted with 
 economic, II, 63; of the United 
 States, II, 50-51, 53. 
 
 Political economy, I, 180-183; III, 
 395, 398-400; IV, 17, 19, 100, 118, 
 189, 195, 209, 216, 289. 337; art of, 
 IV. 102; mystical, III, 418. 
 
 Political element in socialism. III, 
 46-48. 
 
 Political energy, II, 295. 
 
 Political equality. III, 303-304; in 
 the American colonies. III, 249-250. 
 
 Political influence, I, 261. 
 
 Political institutions. III, 247-248; 
 IV, 346; and plutocracy, II, 298-299; 
 false notions about. III, 243-244; 
 inventing new. III, 243-244, 253; 
 of the American colonies. III, 249; 
 the strain on, II, 332-333. 
 
 Political interference, II, 332. 
 
 Political issue of 1860, IV, 323-324. 
 
 Political Judgment, Errors of, HI, 
 243-244. 
 
 Political jurisdiction, II. 52. 
 
 Political leaders. III. 259. 
 
 Political liberty of the American col- 
 onies, III, 320-321. 
 
 Political machinery. III, 231-235, 238, 
 267-268, 368. 369, 394; IV, 307, 327- 
 329, 333, 350-351. 361-362. 
 
 Political metaphysics, II, 82. 
 
 Political mysticism, I, 220-221. 
 
 Political nomination. III, 231-232. 234. 
 
 Political offices, III, 259.
 
 546 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Political optimists. III, 341-342, 344. 
 Political organization, II, 363-364; IV, 
 
 308, 309, 311, 328; advancing. III, 
 
 339-340; and war, 1,4. 
 Political parties. III, 266, 268-273, 
 
 339-340, 366-368, 393-394, 397; IV, 
 
 287-289, 292, 293-294, 310, 318, 
 
 322, 326-327, 339, 349, 350. 
 Political pessimism, II, 319-333. 
 Political phantasm, II, 89. 
 Political philosophy, I, 158-159, 162, 
 
 310; IV, 285-286, 298; Errors of, 
 
 III, 244-245. 
 Political power, II, 290, 293, 294; III, 
 
 46-47, 58, 164, 173-174. 
 Political problems, I, 230-231. 
 Political prophets. III, 341-344. 
 Political reform, IV, 332; the path of, 
 
 III, 232. 
 Political regulation, II, 326. 
 Political responsibility. III, 271-273. 
 Political rights and duties. III, 224. 
 Political science, IV, 108; the scope of, 
 
 III, 395; vague notions about. III, 
 
 391. 
 Political skepticism. III, 274-275. 
 Political system of the United States, 
 
 III, 341-342. 
 
 Political topics, speculation on. III, 246. 
 Political tyranny, I, 222-223. 
 Political vice, I, 300-301, 302. 
 Political warfare. III, 268-270. 
 Political will, IV, 333. 
 Politicians, I, 35, 37; IV, 308, 361,362. 
 Politics, II, 339; III, 227, 396^398; 
 
 IV, 293-296, 302, 310, 323, 324, 
 327, 329, 337, 338, 363, 435; and 
 business, IV, 135; and witchcraft, 
 
 I, 125-126; II, 23; "high," 
 
 II, 56; modern, I, 154; the art 
 of. III, 246-247; the science of, 
 
 III, 246-247. 
 
 POLITICS, ECONOMICS AND, II, 
 
 318-333. 
 POLITICS IN AMERICA, 1776-1876, 
 
 IV, 285-333. 
 
 Polk, James K., IV, 318. 
 Polyandry, II, 264. 
 
 Polygamy, I, 52, 69, 77, 79, 80; II, 262, 
 263-264. 
 
 Pooling, III, 179, 219. 
 
 " Pools," II, 253. 
 
 Poor, the. III, 65-77; IV, 395-396, 
 475, 494. 
 
 Poor-laws, III, 74. 
 
 Poor relief, II, 183. 
 
 Popular conviction, 11, 326-327. 
 
 Popular institutions. III, 276-277. 
 
 Popularity, II, 72-73; III, 318-319; 
 IV, 299, 340. 
 
 Population, I, 174-175, 241; II, 93; 
 IV, 47-48, 59, 71, 86, 90-91, 142, 
 144-145, 402; homogeneous. III, 354- 
 355; increase of, I, 4, 10; III, 140-141, 
 171-172, 315; law of, I, 175-176; 
 Malthusian law of, I, 181-182; 
 movement of, IV. 227, 229, 242; 
 movement of, from Europe, I, 272- 
 274; II, 45; movement of, in the 
 United States, II, 44; over-, I, 59, 
 126, 164, 184, 185, 187-188, 305-306; 
 III, 22-23, 120-121; ratio of, to 
 land, I, 174-176, 188; II, 31, 32-35, 
 37^0, 42, 44; III, 22-23, 40, 296; 
 under-, I, 1,59, 183-184, 185, 187-188; 
 II, 42, 43, 44; III, 22-23, 121. 
 
 Populists, IV, 160, 162, 166. 
 
 Porter, R. P., IV, 26. 
 
 Possession, security of, II, 150, 153. 
 
 Possession of the soil, forms of the, I, 
 178-180. 
 
 Post notes, IV, 379, 382, 387. 
 
 Poverty, II, 357-358; III, 23, 30, 31, 
 32, 37, 47, 57, 59, 60-61, 65-77, 146, 
 298; and progress. III, 65-66; and 
 wealth, III, 65-77; relative. II, 229- 
 230; the abolition of, II. 228-232. 
 
 POVERTY, THE ABOLITION OF, 
 II, 228-232. 
 
 Power, II, 177-178; III, 84-85, 145-150; 
 and results. III, 138, 140; economic, 
 II, 318; irresponsible. III, 225, 
 264; moral. Ill, 201-204; of capital, 
 II, 297; of ideas, II, 74; of mankind, 
 the new. III, 207, 211; political, II, 
 290, 293, 294; III, 46-47, 58, 164, 
 173-174; productive, II, 210; social, 
 I, 199; II. 180-181, 220; III, 140, 
 141-142, 145-147. 150, 153-158; 
 state abuse of. III, 71-72.
 
 INDEX 
 
 547 
 
 POWER, CONSEQUENCES OF IN- 
 CREASED SOCIAL, III, 153-158. 
 POWER AND BENEFICENCE OF 
 
 CAPITAL, THE, II. 337-353. 
 POWER AND PROGRESS, III, 
 
 145-150. 
 Precious metals, the, IV, 191-210, 
 
 225-226. 
 Preparedness, I, 39-40. 
 (PRESIDENT) FOR PRESIDENT ? 
 
 m, 365-379. 
 President of the United States, posi- 
 tion of the. III, 283. 
 Presidential election. III, 253-254, 
 
 272-273, 335. 
 Press, freedom of the, II, 273, 274. 
 Prices, IV, 12, 82, 101, 133-134, 141, 
 
 142-145, 168-169, 178, 202, 220-221; 
 
 rise in, IV, 161-162; wages and, 
 
 IV, 249-250, 252. 
 Primary, the, III, 231, 234, 267. 
 Primitive family, the, I, 43-44, 46-47; 
 
 II, 260-261, 262, 263-264. 
 Primitive horde, the, II, 260-261. 
 Primitive liberty, II, 131, 132-133, 
 
 136-140, 141, 361-362. 
 Primitive society, I, 7-9. 
 Primitive state of mankind, I, 3, 14; 
 
 n, 219-220, 230, 234-235, 237-238, 
 
 340, 357-358, 360; III, 149. 
 Primitive trade, IV, 53. 
 Principles, great, I, 161-163, 326-329; 
 
 II, 58; III, 245-246; Falsely So 
 
 Called, III, 245-246. 
 Printing, the invention of. III, 153. 
 Private interests. III, 258-259, 261. 
 Private property, II, 259; III, 25; 
 
 in land, I, 179-180; II, 243, 258. 
 Privilege and rights, II, 126. 
 Privilege with servitude, II, 124, 
 
 125-126, 127, 128. 
 Privilege with superiority, II, 123. 
 Producer, IV, 21-22, 101, 104. 
 Product, mode of alienating, IV, 23. 
 Production, TV, 19, 73, 214; cost of, 
 
 IV, 65. 
 Profits, IV, 27, 79. 
 Progress, I, 152; III, 18, 31-32, 49, 
 
 50-51, 127, 146-148, 150, 169-174, 
 
 391-392; IV, 222, 239; and equality, 
 
 III, 299; and poverty. III, 65-66; 
 checks on, II, 35-37, 163; meaning 
 of. III, 147; modem, I, 241; of 
 society, IV, 427, 428. 
 PROGRESS, POWER AND, III, 
 14.5-150. 
 
 PROGRESS? WHO WIN BY, III, 
 169-174. 
 
 Proletariat, the, II, 316; III, 77, 
 161-1(5, 169; IV, 71, 357, 470. 
 
 " PROLETARIAT " ? WHAT IS THE, 
 III, 161-165. 
 
 Property, II, 217-218. 259-269; III, 
 61; IV, 231; and labor, II, 243-244; 
 and liberty, II, 173-174; and the 
 family, II, 254, 258; definition of, 
 II, 173; private, II, 259; III, 25; 
 private, in land, I, 179-180; II. 243, 
 258; redistribution of. III, 58, 60-61, 
 62, 69; war and, I, 4; women as, 
 II, 262. 
 
 PROPERTY, LIBERTY AND, II, 
 171-176. 
 
 PROPERTY, THE FAMILY AND, II, 
 259-269. 
 
 PROPOSED DUAL ORGANIZATION 
 OF MANKIND, THE, I, 271-281. 
 
 Prosperity, IV, 150, 151, 153, 222, 306, 
 307; material, IV, 345; notions 
 about, IV, 116-117; national, IV, 
 11-12, 15, 16-18, 22, 25-26, 28, 
 33, 34, 47, 48-49, 50, 77, 84, 106, 109; 
 poHcy, I, 68, 154, 307, 318. 
 
 PROSPERITY STRANGLED BY 
 GOLD, IV, 141-145. 
 
 Prostitution, I, 70, 71, 82. 
 
 Protected industries, I, 263-264, 266; 
 II, 320; IV, 136. 
 
 Protection, IV, 123-127, 234; im- 
 practicability of, IV, 94-95; inci- 
 dental, IV, 136, 374. 
 
 Protectionism, III, 187; IV, 118, 131- 
 138; assumptions in, TV, 13, 18, 
 25-26, 33, 105; definition of, IV, 
 16; demoralization caused by, IV^, 99. 
 
 PROTECTIONISM, IV, 9-111. 
 
 PROTECTIONISM TWENTY YEARS 
 AFTER, IV, 131-138. 
 
 Protectionist policy, I, 318, 319, 
 320-321, 322.
 
 548 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Protectionists, IV, 125-127, 374. 
 Protective system, the, IV, 30-31, 34, 
 
 44-45. 
 Protective tariff, I, 154, 155, 263, 
 
 279; II, 61, 68; III, 88, 216-217, 
 
 400; IV, 131-138, 275, 277, 489- 
 
 490. 
 Protective taxes, I, 263, 264-266; 
 
 III, 74; IV, 16, 18. 19, 20, 21, 36, 
 43, 44, 50, 82, 86, 87, 97, 99, 105, 
 108, 117-119, 123; definition of, 
 
 IV, 20, 21. 
 Protestantism, I, 129. 
 Protestants, II, 21, 22. 
 Prussian bureaucracy, IV, 481. 
 Public, the, IV, 307. 
 
 Public buildings, IV, 488. 
 
 Public calamity, TV, 465. 
 
 Public disturbances, IV, 357. 
 
 Public good, IV, 426, 427. 
 
 Public interest, I, 234-235; III, 258-459, 
 
 260-261; IV, 232, 324-325. 
 Public life, IV, 293, 294, 295. 
 Public morals, II, 167, 272-274. 
 Publicoffice, IV, 485. 
 Public opinion. III, 264, 279, 392-393, 
 
 394; IV, 293; of a to\vn. III, 318. 
 Public service, IV, 310, 328, 333, 
 
 351-352; abuses of the, I, 260- 
 
 261. 
 Public workshops, IV, 79, 92. 
 Publicity, IV, 410. 
 
 Puerto Rico, the acquisition of, I, 343. 
 Punishment, IV, 484. 
 Puritan sects, I, 132. 
 Puritans, the, I, 24. 
 Purposes, II, 67-69, 70. 71, 72, 73, 74, 
 
 75. 
 PURPOSES AND CONSEQUENCES, 
 
 n, 67-75. 
 
 Quakers, the, I, 24, 138. 
 
 Quahty, III, 27-28; moral, 11, 177-178, 
 
 192-193. 
 Quantity doctrine,' IV. 141. 
 Quarrel, I, 4, 7. 
 
 Questions, individual, III, 95-96. 
 Questions ill-defined, I, 229, 230, 231, 
 
 232. 
 
 Race antagonism in the United States, 
 
 1,28. 
 Race problem, the. III, 377. 
 Race question, the. III, 409. 
 Races, " elevating " inferior. III, 146. 
 Racial progress and war, I, 16. 
 Radicalism Repudiated, III, 247-248. 
 Radium, II, 318. 
 
 Railroad commisioners. III, 189-190. 
 Railroad monopoly. III, 179. 
 Railroad passes, II, 326. 
 Railroad question, the. III, 178-182. 
 Railroad wars, I, 240. 
 Railroads, II, 275-279; III, 177-182; 
 
 IV, 87, 261; as natural monopolies, 
 
 II, 245; in North America, III, 
 217-219; legislation on. III, 177-182. 
 
 RAILROADS, FEDERAL LEGISLA- 
 TION ON, III, 177-182. 
 
 Rate of interest, II, 349-351; IV, 52, 
 177-178; the devil of, II. 353. 
 
 Rate of wages, I, 237. 
 
 Rates, II, 330-331; freight, II, 327, 
 330-331. 
 
 Realities, II, 322; III, 408. 
 
 Reality, II, 18, 19, 20, 24, 27. 
 
 " Reasons of state," I, 37, 333; II, 
 165-106; III, 240. 
 
 Recitation, the art of, I, 366. 
 
 Reconstruction, III, 376, 378, 398. 
 
 Reform, III, 279-280; IV, 468; ad- 
 ministrative, III, 372-374; civil 
 service. III, 262-263, 279-280, 308; 
 field of. III, 202; political, III, 232; 
 IV, 332; social, I, 252-253. 
 
 Reformers, social, I, 195-196; IV, 
 483, 493. 
 
 Refugees, IV, 286. 
 
 Regency, IV, 308. 
 
 Regulation, II, 326; of commerce. III, 
 323, 326; of industry, I, 216-217; 
 of interstate commerce, II, 275-279, 
 288, 300, 326; III, 189-190, 216-219, 
 316; of the newspapers, II, 273-274; 
 of war, I, 19-20; state, II, 285-287; 
 
 III, 177, 210. 
 
 Rehgion, I, 168; II, 255; III, 417; 
 and ethnocentrism, I, 24-25; and 
 peace, I, 24-26; and science, 11, 
 24-25; and tradition, I, 131; and
 
 INDEX 
 
 549 
 
 war, I, 11, 14-15, 19-20, 24-26; 
 
 and the mores, the interplay of, I, 
 
 130, 134, 135, 138, 146; and witch- 
 craft, 1, 119-121; modern, I, 138-139; 
 
 the nature of, I, 130. 
 RELIGION AND THE MORES, I, 
 
 129-146. 
 Religious dogmas, I, 129-130. 
 Religious duties, I, 130. 
 Religious philosophy, I, 158-159. 
 Religious reformations, I, 133. 
 Religious sects, I, 138. 
 Religious wars, I, 25. 
 Remonetization, IV, 165-170, 194. 
 Renaissance, the, I, 141-142, 158. 
 Rent, IV, 87; of land. III, 172, 320; 
 
 the Ricardian law of, I, 181-182. 
 Renunciation, II, 300, 306-307, 310. 
 Representative democracy. III, 260- 
 
 275; the weaknesses of. III, 270-271. 
 Republic, constitutional, IV, 290, 296, 
 
 331; dangers to the. III, 239-240; 
 
 the nature of a democratic, II, 
 
 301-302, 303, 305, 308. 
 REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT, III, 
 
 223-240. 
 Republican government. III, 223-240; 
 
 definition of. III, 223, 226; assump- 
 tions of. III, 227-230. 
 Republican party, the, I, 160; IV, 321, 
 
 322, 323, 327. 
 Republicans, IV, 297. 
 Republics, III, 225-227; the Italian, 
 
 II, 314; the South American, I, 
 
 277-278; III, 230. 
 Requisites for study. III, 391. 
 Responsibility, U, 158-160; III, 46, 
 
 224-226; and hberty, II, 158-160. 
 
 180; III, 96; political. III, 271-273; 
 
 the principle of. III, 282-286. 
 RESPONSIBILITY, LIBERTY AND, 
 
 II, 156-160. 
 RESPONSIBILITY, THE SHIFTING 
 
 OF, III, 19»-198. 
 Responsible classes, burdens of the, 11, 
 
 216. 
 Responsible Government, III, 280-281. 
 RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT, 
 
 DEMOCRACY AND, III, 243-286. 
 Restrictions, IV, 123. 
 
 Results, III, 138, 140. 
 
 Resumption, IV, 397-398; act. III, 372. 
 
 Revenue, IV, 20, 22, 109, 115-117; 
 from dependencies, I, 316-317; sur- 
 plus, IV, 109. 
 
 Revolution, III, 347; the commercial, 
 I, 141; the economic, II, 315; the 
 industrial, I, 141; II, 42; the social, 
 
 III, 338-339. 
 
 Revolutionary delusions, III, 329-331. 
 Revolutionary doctrines. III, 328. 
 Revolutionary heroes, IV, 366. 
 Revolutionary period, the. III, 323-331. 
 Revolutionary principles, III, 330. 
 Revolutionary War, the. III, 323-325; 
 
 IV, 285, 286; justification of. III, 
 324; merits of the quarrel. III, 
 323-324. 
 
 Ricardian law of rent, 1, 181-182. 
 
 Rich, the. III, 65-77, 88-90. 
 
 Right and might. III, 239. 
 
 Right to an existence, II, 225-227. 
 
 Right to be chosen to office. III, 263. 
 
 Right to life, liberty, and the pursuit 
 of happiness, II, 234. 
 
 Right to the full product of labor, II, 
 224-226. 
 
 Right to work. III, 34-35. 
 
 Rights, I, 159-160, 163, 164; II, 81, 
 82, 83, 87, 211, 220, 358; III, 76, 
 208, 209, 239; IV, 365, 472; and 
 duties, I, 257-258; III, 193, 197-198, 
 224; IV, 494-495; and duties, equi- 
 librium of, II, 126-127, 128-129, 
 165; IV, 472, 473; and duties of 
 parents and children, II, 95-102; 
 and duties, political, III, 224; and 
 force, II, 82; and privilege, II, 126; 
 and the mores, II, 79, 83; a product 
 of civilization, II, 83; chartered, II, 
 222-223; eighteenth century no- 
 tions about, II, 222-223; guest-, 
 
 I, 10-11, 17-18; in the in-group, I, 
 
 II, 17; II, 79-80; medieval no- 
 tions about, II, 222; III, 45; " natu- 
 ral," I, 257-258; II, 79, 81, 114-117, 
 119, 219-220, 223, 224; III, 33-34, 
 45; IV, 322; notion of, IV, 471; of 
 man, II, 223; III, 33-34; of society, 
 II, 97-98.
 
 550 
 
 INDEX 
 
 RIGHTS, II, 79-83. 
 
 RIGHTS, SOME NATURAL, II, 
 
 222-227. 
 " Ring," the. III, 261-262; IV, 328. 
 Risk element, II, 184-185; IV, 268. 
 Ritner, Governor, IV, 385. 
 Ritual, 1, 132, 133, 135, 136. 
 Robbery, IV, 23. 
 Robespierre, Maximilien, II, 212. 
 Rodbertus, Karl, I, 271; II, 48, 109, 
 
 110; III, 65. 
 Roman Catholics, II, 21-22. 
 Roman family, the, I, 56-60. 
 Roman State, the, I, 32-33, 213-215; 
 
 II, 34, 48, 113. 
 Romanism, I. 129, 132. 
 Rome, I, 214; III, 66, 71-73, 74, 119, 
 
 120, 162; slavery at. III, 71, 119; 
 
 status of women at, I, 56-60. 
 Roth, Conrad, IV, 265-268. 
 Rothschild, IV, 388; fortunes, I, 
 
 201-202. 
 Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 1, 162; II, 131, 
 
 137, 138; III, 39-40. 
 Rules of war, I, 19-20. 
 Russia, I, 235, 286, 293, 304; II, 270, 
 
 300, 313; III, 234; IV, 135, 282; 
 
 as a colonizer, II, 52; the civilizing 
 
 mission of, I, 304. 
 
 St. Gothard tunnel, IV, 57. 
 
 St. John, J. P., IV, 141, 142, 144, 145, 
 150, 151, 158, 178-179. 
 
 Sandwich Islands, IV, 65. 
 
 Sanitary arrangements. III, 123; the 
 importance of, II, 239-240. 
 
 Sansculottism, III, 306. 
 
 Savage, the, and freedom. III, 26. 
 
 Savage, the " noble," II, 131. 
 
 Savage life, the hardships of, 11, 138- 
 139; the status of women in, I, 46. 
 
 Savage names, I, 12. 
 
 Savings, III, 163; IV, 32; accumula- 
 tion of, II, 349-352; bank depositor, 
 II, 345, 346-347, 348-349, 352-353; 
 banks, II, 337, 349; benefit of, II, 
 337, 347, 348-349. 
 
 Scandinavia, III, 299-300. 
 
 Scandinavians, the, I, 20. 
 
 School, the. III, 203-204; IV, 19, 38, 
 413; andthefamily, I, 61. 
 
 School discipline, I, 368. 
 
 School system, the common, III, 357. 
 
 Schoolboy, the, and liberty, II, 140- 
 141. 
 
 Schools, II, 98-101, 121-122; trade, II, 
 101. 
 
 Science, I, 369, 371-373; III, 417; IV, 
 216, 346, 402, 404, 431-432; ad- 
 vance of. III, 415; and religion, 
 
 II, 24-25; definition of, II, 18, 75; 
 of life, IV, 337-338; of politics. III, 
 246-247; of society, II, 71, 284, 285; 
 political. III, 391, 395; social, I, 
 239; II, 168, 171, 208, 217, 218, 
 364; III, 127, 141, 148, 150; IV, 
 20, 226. 
 
 Sciences, I, 167; II, 32; IV, 189; 
 exact. III, 410; progress of the, 
 
 III, 170-174; the social. III, 246, 
 407; IV, 337-338. 
 
 SCIENTIFIC ATTITUDE OF MIND, 
 
 THE, II, 17-28. 
 Scientific method, the, II, 24-25, 26; 
 
 111,401; need of, III, 425. 
 Scientific sociology. III, 419-420. 
 Scotland, witch-persecutioos in, I, 
 
 115-116. 
 Secession, III, 329. 
 Security, II, 23-24, 208; of possession, 
 
 II, 150, 153. 
 Sedgwick, Theodore, IV, 294. 
 Self-control, II, 168, 184; lU, 19. 
 Self-denial, II, 34, 236, 238, 344; III, 
 
 19, 52. 
 Self-government, I, 300, 301, 302-303, 
 
 312, 349-350; III, 226-227, 229-230, 
 
 238, 285. 
 Selfishness, III, 423-424. 
 Self-made men, IV, 431. 
 Self-maintenance, III, 127-128. 
 Self-perpetuation, III, 127-128. 
 Self-will, IV, 349. 
 Seminoles, IV, 342; war with the, IV, 
 
 355. 
 Senate, IV, 185, 360. 
 Sensationalism, IV, 409-410, 413, 417. 
 Sentiment, III, 127; family, II, 256- 
 
 257, 266-268; III, 19-20; genuine, 
 
 II, 212; group, I, 9. 
 SENTIMENT, AN EXAMINATION 
 
 OF A NOBLE, II, 212-216.
 
 INDEX 
 
 551 
 
 Sentimental philosophy, I, 177; III, 
 31-32, 36. 
 
 Sentimental sociology-. III, 419, 420. 
 
 Sentimental view of social matters, 
 II, 70-72, 73, 74. 
 
 Sentimentalism, III, 415, 417. 
 
 Sentimentalist, the. III, 419, 421-122, 
 423; IV, 493. 
 
 Serfdom, III, 299-301, 303, 311. 
 
 Serfs, emancipation of the, II, 117-118, 
 175-176. 
 
 Servile classes, the, II, 38-39. 
 
 Servitude, II, 123-124; privilege with, 
 II, 124, 125-126, 127, 128; with 
 inferiority, II, 123. 
 
 Settlement, the law of, II, 125. 
 
 Sex-vice, I, 78. 
 
 Sherman Act, the, IV, 149. 
 
 Ship-buUding, IV, 12, 54, 67, 68, 
 273-274, 277, 278, 279-280. 
 
 Ships, IV, 57-58, 70, 273-282. 
 
 (SHIPS) SHALL AMERICANS OWN 
 SHIPS ? IV, 273-282. 
 
 " Shooting," III, 58, 60, 62. 
 
 Short-haul clause, the. III, 180, 217-218. 
 
 Sidg^vick, Henry, IV, 102. 
 
 Sieroshevski, M., I, 45. 
 
 Silk, IV, 36, 53, 102, 104, 110. 
 
 Silver, IV, 141, 149, 153, 157-162 
 165-170, 173-180, 183-186, 189, 192, 
 194, 201-209; coinage, IV, 111 
 craze, IV, 186, 195; fallacies, IV 
 141-145; free coinage of, IV, 157-162 
 men, IV, 149, 152; mines, I, 286-287 
 miners, IV, 170, 488; question, I 
 154, 231, 280; II, 68; IV, 234-235 
 remonetization of, IV, 165-170 
 standard, IV, 162, 169; theorists, IV, 
 168-169. 
 
 Sinclair, Upton, III, 55, 58, 60. 
 
 Single combat, I, 4. 
 
 Single tax, the. III, 312. 
 
 Sisyphus, IV, 99. 
 
 Skepticism, II, 23; political, HI, 
 274-275. 
 
 Skill, the loss of, II, 361. 
 
 Slavery, II, 140, 183-184, 252; III, 
 250; IV, 17-18, 49, 110, 289, 317, 
 318, 319, 230, 321, 322-323; at 
 Rome, III, 71, 119; Greek, III, 303; 
 
 in early Christianity, II, 114, 
 116-118; in the classical states, 
 II, 112-114, 296; in EgJiJt, III, 146; 
 in the American colonies. III, 250, 
 298, 301-304; in the South, 111, 
 301-304; in the United SUtes, III, 
 311, 348-350, 355-356; "of debt," 
 II, 136, 145; of women, I, 47, 57, 
 68, 75, 77, 85, 87; II, 262; " wages-," 
 
 II, 13C, 145, 187, 312. 
 
 Slums, the, I, 156; III, 169-170, 422. 
 
 Smith, Adam, III, 323-324. 
 
 " Social," III, 93. 
 
 Social actions and reactions, II, 121-122. 
 
 Social agitator, the, II, 337, 352. 
 
 Social ambition, IV^, 242. 
 
 Social amelioration, IV, 493. 
 
 Social burdens. III, 70, 128. 
 
 Social change, II, 285-286; the family 
 
 and, I, 61. 
 SOCIAL CHANGE, THE FAMILY 
 
 AND, I, 43-61. 
 Social changes, I, 241; II, 38-40. 
 Social classes, I, 241; III, 69-71, 
 
 129-130, 156-157, 392; changes in 
 
 the, II, 40-41; in the United 
 
 States, III, 307-309. 
 " Social compact," I, 162; II, 131, 140. 
 SOCIAL CREED, SOME POINTS IN 
 
 THE NEW, II, 207-211. 
 Social discontent, II, 337-338. 
 Social disease, I, 171-172; II, 275. 
 Social dogmas, III, 193-194. 
 Social dogmatism, III, 33-34. 
 Social endeavor, I, 139. 
 Social environment, III, 308-310. 
 Social equality. III, 304. 
 Social experiments. III, 291. 
 Social forces, I, 226, 242; II, 312; 
 
 III, 76, 137, 140, 142; IV, 216, 
 250-251. 
 
 Social ills, I, 185-186. 
 
 Social injustice, I, 258, 261; 11, 152-153. 
 
 Social interest, I, 218. 
 
 SOCIAL ISSUE, THE NEW, III, 
 
 207-212. 
 Social laws, I, 191; III, 37. 
 Social living, I, 168. 
 Social matters, the sentimental view of, 
 
 II, 70-72, 73, 74.
 
 552 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Social motives, the four great, I, 14. 
 Social order, the, III. 37-38, 39; bonds 
 
 of. III, 315, 325; laws of, II, 284, 
 
 285. 
 Social organism, II, 283. 
 Social organization, I, 238-239; III, 
 
 292-293; IV, 325; advancing. III, 
 
 315-317; colonial. III, 310-323; 
 
 importance of the, III, 309-310; 
 
 intensification of the, I, 198-199; 
 
 in the United States, III. 331, 
 
 336-341; risks of high, III, 340-341. 
 Social pets, I, 248; IV, 494. 
 Social phenomena, I, 170, 191, 242; 
 
 IV, 467. 
 Social philosophers, II, 338-339, 349; 
 
 III. 48. 
 Social philosophy, I, 238-239; 11, 
 
 339-340; III, 32-35, 68-69. 
 Social power, I, 199; II, 180-181, 220; 
 
 III, 140, 141-142, 145-147, 150, 
 
 153-158. 
 SOCIAL POWER, CONSEQUENCES 
 
 OF INCREASED, III. 153-158. 
 Social pressure, I, 184-185, 188-189; 
 
 III. 156. 
 " Social problem." the. II, 228-229. 
 Social problems, I, 169-170, 171, 
 
 230-231; II, 93; III, 22-23, 30-31, 
 
 49-50. 51; IV, 229. 402-^03, 404, 
 
 405. 
 Social propositions. Ill, 208. 
 Social question, the. III, 128-131. 
 " SOCIAL QUESTION," WHAT THE, 
 
 IS, III. 127-133. 
 Social reaction. II, 283, 285. 
 " Social reform." I. 252-253. 
 Social reform and war, I, 31. 
 Social reformers, I, 195-196. 
 Social relations, II, 123. 
 Social remedy, I, 171-172. 
 Social revolution. III, 338-339. 
 Social risks. Ill, 155. 
 Social science, I, 239; II, 168, 171, 
 
 208, 217, 218, 364; III, 127, 141, 
 
 148. 150. 
 SOCIAL SCIENCE, INTRODUCTORY 
 
 LECTURE TO COURSES IN PO- 
 LITICAL AND, III, 391-403. 
 Social sciences, the, lU, 246, 407. 
 
 Social scientist, duty of the, HI, 
 399-400. 
 
 Social tinker, the, II, 285-286. 
 
 Social topics, I, 170; III, 416-^25; 
 IV, 468. 493. 
 
 Social uplift, I, 250. 
 
 Social victories. III, 131. 
 
 Social war, II, 312-317; IV, 169. 
 
 SOCIAL WAR IN DEMOCRACY, II, 
 312-317. 
 
 Social welfare, I, 186. 
 
 Socialism, I, 207-208. 242, 323; II, 
 67, 70-71, 122. 127. 130. 174, 178, 
 183-184, 187, 191; III, 17, 36-49, 
 51, 55-«2, 65-66, 74, 211-212; 
 IV, 79, 441-462; phases of. III, 
 47-48; the political element in. III, 
 46-48. 
 
 SOCIALIST, REPLY TO A, III, 55-62. 
 
 Socialistic doctrines. III, 34, 41, 42, 
 44-45. 
 
 Socialistic measures, the effect of, HI, 
 77. 
 
 Socialistic propositions. III, 193. 
 
 Socialistic state, the, II, 302, 303; 
 III. 73-74. 75. 77. 97. 98. 
 
 Socialists. I. 169. 206. 229-230; II, 
 109-110. 191. 258. 267; III. 36-37, 
 39. 40-44, 52. 55-62. 94-95, 96, 98, 
 129. 423. 
 
 Socialpolilik, III. 215. 
 
 Societal environment. I, 129, 130, 143. 
 
 Societal evolution, III, 82. 
 
 Societal functions, the integration of, 
 III, 82. 
 
 Societal organization. III, 87; and 
 war, I, 15, 30-35. 
 
 Societal selection and war, I, 32-34. 
 
 Societal undertakings. III. 81-82. 
 
 Society. I, 168. 174-175; II, 364; HI, 
 392. 407-408, 420; IV, 12, 13, 
 479-480, 484; advancing organiza- 
 tion of, II, 286-287; American 
 colonial. III, 290-323; elasticity 
 and vitality of. III, 155; embryonic, 
 III, 290; industrial. Ill, 66, 321-322; 
 medieval. I. 143-145, 215-217; miU- 
 tant type of, I, 28; modern, II, 
 309; III, 394-395; of a new coun- 
 try, III, 69-70; organization of.
 
 INDEX 
 
 553 
 
 I, 213; II, 261; organization of 
 civilized, II, 144-145. 250, 251, 252, 
 253, 283-287; organs of, II, 284-286; 
 primitive, I, 7-9; rights of, II, 97-98; 
 science of, II, 71, 284, 285; welfare 
 of. III, 201-202. 
 
 SOCIOLOGICAL FALLACIES, II, 
 357-364. 
 
 Sociological questions. III, 409. 
 
 SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY, THE PRE- 
 DICAMENT OF, III, 415-425. 
 
 SOCIOLOGY, I, 167-192. 
 
 Sociology, I, 371; II, 67, 357, 358, 364; 
 III, 38, 51-52, 415^25; IV, 14, 
 16, 401-405; and the exact sciences, 
 III, 410; and novelists. III, 424-425; 
 and political economy, I, 180-183; 
 definition of, I, 167-168; dogmatism 
 in. III, 418-419; field of. I, 173-178; 
 German school of. III, 418; mystical, 
 
 III, 418; need of. I. 172-173; III, 
 407-408; IV, 402; promise of, I, 
 192; scientific. III, 419-420; senti- 
 mental, III, 419, 420; the task of, 
 I, 170-171. 
 
 SOCIOLOGY, THE SCIENCE OF, 
 
 IV, 401-405. 
 
 SOCIOLOGY AS A COLLEGE SUB- 
 JECT, III, 407-411. 
 Soft money. III, 371. 
 Soil, possession of the, 1, 178-180. 
 Solon, status of women in the laws of, 
 
 I, 101. 
 
 Sound money, III, 370-371. 
 
 South, the, III, 376-378; IV, 312, 
 
 319, 320, 324. 344-345, 354; planters 
 
 of, IV, 287; politicians of, IV, 317; 
 
 slavery in, III, 301-304. 
 South Africa, IV, 282; war in, 1,6. 
 South America, IV, 52, 55; and the 
 
 United States, I, 277-278. 
 South American Commission, IV, 69. 
 South American republics, I, 277-278; 
 
 III, 230. 
 South Carolina, IV, 354. 
 Sovereignty, IV, 290; of the people, 
 
 III, 263-264, 370-871. 
 Space, II, 240. 
 Spain, I. 293. 303, 304, 305, 319; 
 
 II, 53-54, 313; IV, 64; and im- 
 
 perialism, I, 297; the civilizing mis- 
 sion of. I. 304. 305; the colonial 
 system of, I, 30G-310, 318, 319. 
 
 SPAIN, THE CONQUEST OF THE 
 UNITED STATES BY, I, 297-334. 
 
 Spanish America, I, 304-305, 308. 
 
 Spanish-American colonies, I, 276, 306; 
 
 II, 57-58. 
 Spanish-American states, I, 312. 
 Spanish-American war, I, 29, 297, 
 
 298, 300-301, 343; II, 69. 
 
 Specie, IV, 375-376, 381; circular, IV, 
 379, 380, 385; payments, resump- 
 tion of, IV. 176. 
 
 Specific interest. III. 196-197. 
 
 Speculation, IV, 374-375. 
 
 SPECULATIVE LEGISLATION, III, 
 215-219. 
 
 Spencer. Herbert, III, 208; IV, 401, 405. 
 
 Spices, IV, 265-267. 
 
 Spirit, the modern. III, 347-350. 
 
 Spoils, III, 268-270; doctrine. III, 269; 
 of office, II, 303; party, II, 328; 
 System, III, 268-270. 
 
 Stable government, I, 350. 
 
 Stamp Act Congress, the. Ill, 327. 
 
 Standard of gain, IV. 68-69. 
 
 Standard of living, II, 33-35. 
 
 State, the, I, 247-248; II, 129, 183, 
 305, 364; III. 74-75, 223-226; 
 IV, 13-14, 15. 17-18. 78-80, 81, 
 231-232, 258; a burden, I, 215, 
 216-217, 218; a consumer, II, 
 104-105; a monopoly, II, 310; an 
 ethical person, I, 221; II, 309; and 
 capital, II, 306; and church, I, 131, 
 162; II, 18-19, 310; and industry, 
 I. 215; II, 300, 310; and market, 
 separation of, II. 310; as a peace- 
 group, I, 23; function of, II, 169-170, 
 271; " of nature," II, 131, 140, 219; 
 " reasons of." I. 37, 333; II, 165-166; 
 
 III, 240; socialistic, II, 302-303; 
 III, 73-74, 75. 77. 97. 98. 
 
 State absolutism, II, 130. 
 
 State action, II, 207-208, 302. 
 
 STATE AND MARKET, SEPARA- 
 TION OF, II, 306-311. 
 
 STATE AND MONOPOLY, THE, 11, 
 270-279.
 
 554 
 
 INDEX 
 
 STATE AS AN " ETHICAL PERSON," 
 
 THE, III, 201-204. 
 State banks, IV, 380. 
 STATE INTERFERENCE, I, 213-226. 
 State interference, I, 213-226; II, 
 
 96, 98, 100, 270-279, 285-289, 328. 
 State necessity, I, 339-344. 
 State power, abuse of, III, 71-72. 
 State protection, II, 153. 
 State regulation, II, 285-287; IH. 177, 
 
 210; IV, 480-482; of industry, I, 
 
 216-217; of marriage and the family, 
 
 II, 93-94, 103-104. 
 
 States, character of governing, I, 346; 
 expedient size of, I, 285; frontier, 
 
 III, 332; national, I, 285; the 
 Spanish-American, I, 312. 
 
 Statesmanship, III, 396; IV, 15, 20, 
 59, 329-330; and war, I, 35; bad. III, 
 37; questions of, I, 298, 299-300, 
 301. 
 
 Statesmen, III, 281-282; IV, 11-12, 
 15, 37, 41-42, 58, 66, 67, 299; of the 
 eighteenth century, IV, 11. 
 
 Statistics, HI, 401; IV. 47, 76-77, 86, 
 338. 
 
 Status, II, 125, 308; IV, 474; -wife, 
 I. 47, 68, 76, 85-86, 89, 90, 91. 101. 
 
 Steam, the age of. III, 173, 181-182. 
 
 Steel, IV, 77, 91, 274, 275. 
 
 Stewart, A. T., IV, 97. 
 
 Stickney, II, 326. 
 
 Strabo, I, 12. 
 
 Stranger and enemy, I, 10-11. 
 
 Strikes, I, 233; II, 286-287; HI, 
 99-100; IV. 228, 243-245, 249-250, 
 251-252; in Germany, I, 232-233. 
 
 STRIKES, THE PHILOSOPHY OF, 
 
 IV, 239-246. 
 
 STRIKES AND THE INDUSTRIAL 
 ORGANIZATION, IV, 249-253. 
 
 Struggle, II. 312-317; for existence. 
 I, 8, 9, 164, 173, 176-177; II, 226. 
 347; III, 17-18, 19. 20, 22, 26, 
 30-31, 57, 58, 120-121, 122-123; 
 IV, 79, 257; for supremacy in the 
 Union, III, 332-333; industrial. 
 n, 286-287; military, II, 286-287; 
 of classes, II, 312-317; III, 12^132; 
 of interests, I, 222, 224. 
 
 Subsidies, IV, 58, 275-276, 280-281. 
 
 Subsistence, means of. III, 114-115, 
 119-121, 145, 146, 171; war for, I, 
 14. 
 
 Sub-treasury system, the, IV, 383. 
 
 Sue, Eugene, IV, 483. 
 
 Suffrage, III. 253; IV, 344; in the 
 United States. Ill, 225; negro, 
 I, 330-331, 349. 
 
 Sugar, IV. 53, 60-66. 
 
 Sumatrans, the. I. 20. 
 
 Sumner. William Graham. Autobio- 
 graphical Sketch of, II. 3-5; Sketch 
 of. III. 3-13. 
 
 Sunlight, II, 240. 
 
 Superiority, privilege with. II, 123. 
 
 Supply and demand, II, 225; III, 97-98, 
 119. 121; IV. 141, 196, 198. 201, 
 204, 214. 251. 252. 
 
 Supreme Court of the United States, 
 11,325-326; 111,329. 
 
 Survival of the fittest, III, 25, 423; 
 IV, 225. 
 
 Survival of the unfittest. III, 25, 423; 
 IV, 225. 
 
 Survivals. Ill, 420-421. 
 
 Sydney. IV. 366. 
 
 System, UI, 55-56, 57-58. 59; IV, 
 133; colonial, I, 274-275, 278, 
 306-310, 313, 315. 316, 317, 318, 
 319; II, 49-50, 53, 57, 60; III. 323; 
 IV, 12, 59; common school. III, 
 357; feudal, II, 312-313; manor, 
 III, 310-312; medieval. I. 131; 
 navigation. I. 318. 320; political, of 
 the United States. Ill, 341-342; 
 spoils. III. 268-270; wages, II, 
 185-187; III, 97, 294. 
 
 Taboo, II, 80-81; peace-, I, 16, 18, 
 
 26. 
 Taine, H. A., Ill, 73. 
 Talent, II, 134. 329; and industry, II, 
 
 323. 
 Tammany Hall, IV, 313, 327, 361. 
 Taney, R. B., IV, 359. 
 Tariff, IV. 22, 24, 44-45, 64, 74, 79, 
 
 85, 89, 233, 234; Commission. IV, 
 
 27-28, 63, 94; decisions, IV, 30;
 
 INDEX 
 
 555 
 
 of 1828, IV, 308, 312-313, 351, 
 354; of 1883, IV, 27-29; rightly 
 adjusted, IV, 133-134; victims of 
 the.IV, 19, 111. 
 
 TARIFF REFORM, IV, 115-120. 
 
 Taussig, F. W., IV, 28, 108. 
 
 Ta.\-, IV, 21-22, 23; payers, I, 259 
 II, 99-101, 102, 122; IV, 101 
 protective, I, 263, 264-266; III, 74 
 single. III, 312. 
 
 Taxation, III, 74, 327, 400; IV, 31-32, 
 58, 108, 110, 115-118; campaign 
 against, IV, 110. 
 
 Taxes, IV, 11-12, 19-20, 31, 33, 44-45, 
 58, 67, 74, 76, 96, 479; excise. III, 
 327; on exports, IV, 12, 15-16; 
 on imports, IV, 12, 16, 20; reducing, 
 IV, 115-118, 119. 
 
 Teachers, IV, 413, 41&-417; the de- 
 mands on, II, 12. 
 
 TEACHER'S UNCONSCIOUS SUC- 
 CESS, THE, II, 9-13. 
 
 Technical training, IV, 424-425, 431. 
 
 Telegraph and telephone. III, 89; as 
 natural monopolies, II, 245-246. 
 
 Telegraphers, IV, 243-245. 
 
 " Tenant slaves," II, 136. 
 
 Tenants, III, 156-157, 295. 
 
 Terms, definition of, needed. III, 93; 
 the vagueness of. III, 161-162. 
 
 Territorial aggrandizement, I, 286. 
 
 Territorial extension, I, 285-286, 337, 
 339; II, 57; the burdens of, I, 
 292-293. 
 
 TERRITORIAL EXTENSION, THE 
 FALLACY OF, I, 285-293. 
 
 Territory, jurisdiction over, I, 286-288, 
 289, 290; II, 54-56. 
 
 TeiTorism, III, 186. 
 
 Tertullian, II, 114. 
 
 Texas, II, 47, 57; IV, 55-56, 165, 
 317, 319; the acquisition of, I, 341; 
 the admission of. III, 262. 
 
 Theocracy, definition of, II, 290. 
 
 Theory, IV, 16-17, 18, 19, 94; defini- 
 tion of, IV, 16. 
 
 Those who consume more than they 
 produce, IV, 101. 
 
 Those-who-have, II, 315-316; III, 
 102, 165, 339. 
 
 Those-who-have-not, II, 315-316; III, 
 102, 165, 339. 
 
 Those who i)roduce more than they 
 consume, IV, 101. 
 
 Thread, IV, 94, 492; protective tax 
 on, 1,264-266; IV, 492. 
 
 Thuringian Co., IV, 265-267. 
 
 Tilden, S. J., Ill, 369-374, 378-379. 
 
 Tillers and nomads. III, 300. 
 
 Tin, IV, 42-43. 
 
 Tobacco, I\', 489-190. 
 
 Tocquevillc, Alexis de. III, 256. 
 
 ToQ, II, 236, 238. 
 
 Tories, the. III, 325; IV, 286. 
 
 Town, the. Superseded, III, 260-261. 
 
 Town and country, I, 155-157. 
 
 Town democracy, UI, 256-260, 262, 
 266, 267. 
 
 Town meeting, the. III, 256-259. 
 
 Towns, colonial. III, 313-315, 318- 
 319; the Evils of Overgrown, III, 
 259-261. 
 
 Townships and towns contrasted. III, 
 313-314. 
 
 Trade, I, 320-322; IV, 51-56, 92, 93, 
 97, 229; and conquest, I, 321; 
 balance of, IV, 12; carrying, IV, 
 275, 276, 277-279, 280, 282; con- 
 ditions of, I, 321; foreign, IV, 119; 
 free, I, 289-290, 291, 318, 319, 321, 
 322; II, 51, 109-110, 111; III, 
 378; IV, 16, 17-18, 19, 20, 26, 47, 
 48-49, 83, 90, 94, 95, 109-110, 
 123-127, 282, 312, 318; primitive, 
 IV, 53. 
 
 Trade schools, II, 101. 
 
 Trades-unions, I, 250-252; III, 102; 
 IV, 262, 486^87. 
 
 Tradition, II, 80; and religion, I, 131. 
 
 Traditions, III, 347, 348; American, 
 III, 252-254, 255; English, III, 297. 
 
 Tramp, libcrtj' of the, II, 154-155. 
 
 Transcendentalism, III, 415, 417. 
 
 Transportation, I, 187-189; III, 85; 
 means of, II, 245. 
 
 Treaties, I, 13. 
 
 Trial and failure, IV, 18, 20. 
 
 Tribute, IV, 23, 34. 86. 105, 106, 107. 
 
 " Truce of God," the, I, 21. 
 
 " TRUST," AN OLD, IV, 265-269.
 
 556 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Trusts, I, 238; II, 253, 298-299, 343; 
 
 IV, 258-2(32, 265-269. 
 TRUSTS AND TRADES-UNIONS, 
 
 IV, 257-262. 
 Truth, II, 18. 
 
 Turkey, II, 55; IV, 24, 135, 282. 
 Tweed ring, the. III, 373. 
 Tyler, John, IV, 316, 360. 
 Tyndall, Professor, III, 400-401. 
 Tyranny, I, 213-215; of the market, 
 
 II, 151-152; of vague impression, 
 
 11,324; political, I, 222-223. 
 
 Ulpian, II, 114-115. 
 Undergraduate life, IV, 429-430. 
 Underpopulation, I, 159, 183-184, 
 
 185, 187-188; II, 42, 43, 44; III, 
 
 22-23, 121. 
 Unearned increment, II, 244; III, 312. 
 Unfittest, survival of the. III, 25, 423; 
 
 IV, 22,5. 
 Union, the. III, 315, 325-326; IV, 
 
 289, 297; and the Constitution, 
 
 III, 250-252; struggle for suprem- 
 acy in. III, 332-333. 
 
 Unions, trades-, I, 250-252; III, 102; 
 
 IV, 262, 486-187. 
 
 UNITED STATES, ADVANCING 
 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL OR- 
 GANIZATION IN THE, III. 289-344. 
 
 United States, the, I, 153, 219-220, 297, 
 304, 305; IV, 17, 48, 52, 58, 69, 76, 
 78, 83, 90, 94, 96, 108, 118, 119, 
 229, 240-242, 278, 282, 290, 291, 
 292, 317, 338-339, 371, 379, 477-i78, 
 481, 489; and Canada, I, 289-290; 
 II, 51; and China, I, 343-344; 
 and Cuba, I, 290-291; II, 55-57; 
 and dependencies, I, 310, 311-312, 
 317-319; and foreign affairs, I, 
 276-277; II, 60-61; and Germany, 
 II, 302; and imperialism, I, 291, 
 345-346; and South America, I, 
 277-278; and territorial extension, 
 I, 292; a nation. III, 350, 354; as 
 a peace-group, I, 26-29; Bank of, 
 IV, 259, 313, 340, 352-354, 355, 
 356, 358, 359, 360-361, 372-374, 
 377, 379, 380, 381-382, 385, 386, 
 
 387, 388-390, 391, 395; centraliza- 
 tion in. III, 316-317; civilizing 
 mission of, I, 304, 305; colonial 
 society of. III, 290-323; colonial 
 history of. III, 248-253, 290-323; 
 Constitution of, I, 310, 311, 313. 
 314, 315; II, 333; III, 251, 252-255, 
 306-307, 325-326, 329, 334-336, 
 396-397; IV, 289, 291, 292, 297, 
 304, 319, 320, 331-332, 344, 348-349, 
 360, 367; future of, I, 350-351; III, 
 275-277; government of, III, 326-328; 
 IV, 323; growth of. III, 315-316; 
 industrial organization in, I, 196-199; 
 industrial power of, III, 154; job- 
 bery in, I, 262-263; IV, 488-491; 
 movement of population in, II, 44; 
 national bank system of, I, 31; 
 nature of, I, 310-311; nature of 
 democracy in, I, 324-325; not a 
 colonizing nation, I, 305-306; oU- 
 garchies in, II, 329-330; political 
 corruption in. III, 395-396, 397; 
 political earth hunger of, II, 50-51, 
 53; political system of. III, 341-342; 
 position of, I, 26-27; II, 63-64; 
 111,321-322, 344,350-351; position 
 of laborers in, I, 196; position of 
 the president of. III, 283; race 
 antagonism in, I, 28; slavery in, 
 III, 311, 348-350, 355-356; social 
 classes in. III, 307-309; suffrage 
 in. III, 335; Supreme Court of, 
 II, 325-320; III, 329; treatment of 
 aborigines by, I, 27-28. 
 
 UNITED STATES, THE CONQUEST 
 OF THE, BY SPAIN, I, 297-334. 
 
 Universal peace, I, 35-36. 
 
 University, the. III, 82. 
 
 Unskilled laborers, I, 159, 249, 251-252; 
 II, 44; III, 122. 
 
 Utopias, I, 169; II, 25, 183; III, 
 243-244. 
 
 Vagabondage, 11, 125. 
 
 Value, IV, 196-198, 199, 210. 
 
 Van Buren, Martin, IV, 315, 318, 319, 
 
 355. 
 Vanderbilt, I, 201. 
 Vanity, I, 14, 130; III, 113; and war,
 
 INDEX 
 
 557 
 
 I, 14, 39; national, I, 300-301, 303, 
 304, 343, 344; 11, 46, 51. 
 
 Venezuela, I, 38, 278, 328. 
 
 Vice, II, 229; III, 19, 23, 67, 298; 
 IV, 470, 480, 487; and legislation, 
 I, 252; penalty of, I, 252; political, 
 I, 300-301, 302; sex-, I, 78. 
 
 Vices of human nature, III, 233-234. 
 
 Vicious legislation, II, 275, 277. 
 
 Village communities, III, 298-300, 
 313-314. 
 
 Violence, III, 73. 
 
 Virginians, IV, 322. 
 
 Virtues, the industrial, 11, 345-346; 
 
 III, 51-52, 201-202, 297; taught 
 by war, I, 15. 
 
 Vital energy. III, 96-97. 
 Voltaire, I, 121; II, 23. 
 Von Hoist, Professor, IV, 339, 340. 
 Vows, I, 157. 
 
 Wage-earners, III, 141-142, 162-163, 
 173-174; IV, 168. 
 
 Wages, I, 233, 251, 265-266; EI, 42, 43, 
 44, 61; III, 35, 102, 172; IV, 12, 
 29-30, 36, 43-46, 51-52, 70-78, 90, 
 119, 126, 168, 243-245, 249-250, 
 486-487; and prices, IV, 249-250. 
 252; -class. III, 94-97, 169, 170; 
 
 IV, 44-45, 71-72; rate of, I, 237; 
 "slavery," II, 136, 145, 187, 312; 
 system, II, 185-187; III, 97; IV, 
 71; system lacking. III, 294. 
 
 Wagner, II, 322. 
 
 Wall Street, IV, 152-153, 162. 
 
 Walras, IV, 196. 
 
 Wampum, TV, 208. 
 
 WAR, I, 3^0. 
 
 War, I, 3^0; 11, 50, 63, 79-80, 301; 
 III, 320-322, 359-360; IV, 67, 68, 
 95-96, 108, 324; about women, I, 5; 
 a ferment, I, 33; among the Papuans, 
 I, 4; and civilization, I, 16, 34-35; 
 and discipline, I, 14, 15; and group 
 sentiment, I, 9; and kinship, I, 19- 
 20; and poUtical organization, I, 4; 
 and property, I, 4; and racial 
 progress, I, 16; and religion, I, 11, 
 14-15, 19-20. 24-26; and social 
 reform, I, 31; and societal organiza- 
 
 tion, I, 15, 30-35; and societal 
 selection, I, 32-34; and statesman- 
 ship, I, 35; and the competition of 
 life, I, 9-10, 14; and the increase of 
 population, I, 4, 10; and vanity, I, 
 14, 39; bene6ts of, I, 30-34; between 
 the tribes of Israel, I, 9; causes of, 
 I, 14; Civil, the, I, 31, 32, 217, 
 219, 311; m, 277, 316, 321, 329-330. 
 333, 349, 351-354. 359-362, 398-400; 
 rV, 175, 223, 323-324, 330; com- 
 mercial, IV, 95-96; fairness in, I, 
 5; for duty. III, 362; for glory, I, 
 14; III, 362; for religious motives, 
 I, 14; for subsistence, I, 14; for 
 women, I, 14; Franco-Prussian, IV, 
 224; horrors of, reduced, I, 19-20; 
 industrial, I, 225, 232, 234-236, 237. 
 239, 241, 243; III, 98-102; IV, 246, 
 261; inevitable, I, 10; in Melanesia, 
 
 I, 5; in South Africa, I, 6; laws of, 
 
 II, 112-113; love of, I, 29; major 
 premises about, I, 3; makes peace, 
 I, 11; not kno^\Ti, I, 6; of 1812, IV, 
 301-302, 372; only a makeshift, I, 
 35; regulations, I, 19-20; rules of, 
 
 I, 19-20; social, 11, 312-317; IV, 
 169; Spanish- American, the, I, 29, 
 297, 298, 299, 300-301, 343; II, 69; 
 state of readiness for, I, 39-40; 
 virtues taught by, I, 15; waste 
 of, I, 16; within a peace-group, I, 
 18-19. 
 
 WAR, INDUSTRIAL, III, 93-102. 
 WAR, SOCIAL, m DEMOCRACY, 11, 
 
 312-317. 
 Warfare, modern, I, 29; political, TTT, 
 
 268-270. 
 Warlikeness, I, 7. 
 Wars, eighteenth century. I, 320; 
 
 II, 60; of the colonists with the 
 French and Indians, III, 250, 251; 
 railroad, I, 240; religious, I, 25. 
 
 " Wares," II, 185-186. 
 
 Washington, city of, IV, 26, 41, 44, 68. 
 
 Washington, George, III, 342, 343; 
 
 IV, 291, 292, 293, 341, 343. 
 Waste, IV, 33, 40, 43, 51, 106, 109, 
 
 111; land, 11, 37-38. 
 Watchwords, U, 322; IV, 298.
 
 558 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Water power, II, 318. 
 
 Water supply, II, 241; a natural mo- 
 nopoly, II, 246. 
 
 Weak, the, IV. 475, 494. 
 
 Wealth, I, 202; II, 10. 147, 149, 
 293-295; III, 42-43; 265-266; IV, 
 40; abolishing, II, 231; accumula- 
 tion of. III, 320; aggregation of, 
 III. 66-67, 81, 90; and Democracy, 
 III, 274-275; and liberty, II, 147-154; 
 and poverty. III, 65-77; cares of, 
 
 II, 150-154; concentration of. III, 
 81-90; distribution of, II, 228; 
 national, I, 307-308; pursuit of, IV, 
 295-296; relative, II, 229-230; thirst 
 for, II, 147. 
 
 WEALTH: THE CONCENTRATION 
 OF, ITS ECONOMIC JUSTIFI- 
 CATION, III, 81-90. 
 
 Webster, Daniel, II, 327; III, 177; IV, 
 316, 342, 353, 354. 
 
 Wedding, I, 43; ceremony, 1,75,76,93. 
 
 " We-group," the, I, 9. 
 
 West Africans, the, I, 49, 50. 
 
 West Australians, i>eace-institution3 
 of the, I, 18. 
 
 Westminster Review IV, 107. 
 
 WHAT EMANCIPATES, III, 137-142. 
 
 WHAT IS CIVIL LIBERTY? II, 
 10J>-130. 
 
 WHAT IS FREE TRADE ? IV, 123- 
 127. 
 
 WHAT IS THE '* PROLETARIAT " ? 
 
 III, 161-165. 
 
 WHAT MAKES THE RICH RICHER 
 AND THE POOR POORER? Ill, 
 65-77. 
 
 WHAT OUR BOYS ARE READING, 
 II, 367-377. 
 
 WHAT THE " SOCIAL QUESTION " 
 IS. ni, 127-133. 
 
 Wheat, IV, 42, 47, 55-56, 58, 59, 85, 
 91-92, 97; and iron. III, 39. 
 
 Whigs, the, lU, 325, 327, 328; IV, 
 314, 315, 316, 319, 321, 355, 357, 
 363. 
 
 WHO IS FREE? IS IT THE CIVI- 
 LIZED MAN? II, 140-145. 
 
 WHO IS FREE? IS IT THE MIL- 
 LIONAIRE? n, 145-150. 
 
 WHO IS FREE? IS IT THE SAVAGE? 
 II, 136-140. 
 
 WHO IS FREE? IS IT THE TRAMP? 
 II, 150-1.55. 
 
 WHO WIN BY PROGRESS? III. 
 169-174. 
 
 Wife, the status-. I. 47, 68, 76, 85-86, 
 89,90,91, 101. 
 
 Wife-capture, I, 48, 77, 85. 
 
 Wife-purchase, I, 66, 68, 70, 74. 85. 86. 
 
 Wilder, IV, 387. 
 
 " WiU of the people," IV. 314. 318, 328, 
 329, 344, 348. 
 
 Williams, IV, 136, 137. 
 
 Wilhmantic linen company, IV, 492. 
 
 Willson, Wildes, and Wiggins, IV, 378, 
 379. 
 
 Winthrop, John, HI, 293; IV, 72. 
 
 Wire-pullers, IV, 362. 
 
 Wisdom, IV, 426, 427. 
 
 WITCHCRAFT, I, 105-126. 
 
 Witchcraft, I, 105-126; II, 21-23; 
 IV, 153; and Christianity, I. 112; 
 and heresy, I, 105; and hysteria, 
 I. 108, 119-120; and poUtics, I, 
 125-126; II, 23; and religion, I, 
 119-121; and the aleatory element, 
 I, 110, 119-120; and the Catholic 
 Church, I, 123; and the Inquisition, 
 I, 105-109; and women, I, 105-107; 
 decline of, I, 121; in France, I, 
 117-118; in Germany, I, 106, 107, 
 112, 116; in Italy, I, 112, 117-118; 
 in New England, I, 122-123; mania, 
 opposition to the, I, 110, 113-115. 
 
 Witch-persecutions, I, 109-112; II, 
 21-22; and greed for money, I, 111; 
 in Scotland, I, 115-116; recent, I, 
 124-125; the extent of, I, 118. 
 
 Witch-trials, I, 109-110. 
 
 Wolcott, Oliver, IV, 292, 295. 
 
 Wolowski, L., IV, 191-193, 194, 197. 
 
 Woman, the forgotten, I, 264-266; 
 IV, 492^93. 
 
 Women, I, 65-102; as property, II, 
 262; as witches, I, 105-107; domi- 
 nance of, II, 122; how regarded, I, 
 50-60, 73, 74, 77, 78-79, 81, 89, 91-92, 
 95-97, 100-101; in industry, IV, 
 243; medieval views of, I, 106-109;
 
 INDEX 
 
 559 
 
 peace for, I, 21; rule of, I, 49; 
 seclusion of, I, 65, 69-70, 71, 89, 92, 
 94, 101; slaves, I, 47, 67, 68, 69, 75, 
 77, 85, 87; II, 262; status of, among 
 nomads, I, 65; status of, among the 
 Jews, I, 51-52, 76-81; status of, 
 among the Persians, I, 75-76; 
 status of, and the mores, I, 67, 68; 
 status of, at Rome, I, 56-60; status 
 of, how controlled, I, 65-67; status 
 of, in Babylonia, I, 69-71 ; status of, 
 in Chaldea, I, 69, 70, 71; sUtus of, 
 in early Christianity, I, 52-60; 
 status of, in Egypt, I, 81-85; status 
 of, in Greece, I, 85-102; status of, 
 in Homer, I, 85-87; status of, in 
 India, I, 72-75; status of, in Judea, 
 
 I, 76-80; status of, in monogamy, 
 
 II, i^5, 257; status of, in savage 
 life, I, 46; status of, in the father- 
 family, I, 51; status of, in the laws 
 of Hammurabi, I, 67-69, 71; status 
 of, in the laws of Manu, I, 72-75; 
 status of, in the laws of Solon, I, 
 101; status of, in the New Testa- 
 ment, I, 80-81; status of, in the Old 
 Testament, I, 76-80; status of, 
 imder agriculture, I, 65; strength 
 of, I, 44^6; subjection of, II, 
 122-123; war about, I, 5; war for, 
 I, 14. 
 
 WOMEN, THE STATUS OF, IN 
 CHALDEA.EGYPT, INDIA, JUDEA, 
 AND GREECE TO THE TIME OF 
 CHRIST, I, 65-102. 
 
 Wood supply, II, 241. 
 
 Wool, IV, 33-34, 36, 54, 55, 90. 
 
 Woolen mill, IV, 39-^0. 
 
 Woolen operative, IV, 46-47. 
 
 Work, II, 149, 150, 220; III, 34, 35; 
 
 IV. 36, 55, 91, 98; intellectual, II, 
 
 192-193; the right to. III, 34-35. 
 Working classes, the, I, 24»-250; IV, 
 
 477^78. 
 " Working man," the, H, 102; IV, 43; 
 
 and education, II, 100. 
 Workshops, public, IV, 79, 92. 
 WORLD, THE ABSURD EFFORT 
 
 TO MAKE THE, OVER, I, 195-210. 
 World-improvers, HI, 188, 210, 416. 
 World-philosophy, I, 129, 133, 134, 
 
 143. 
 World-system, the dual, I, 276, 277, 
 
 278; II, 60-62. 
 Worry, II, 150, 154. 
 Wright, Carroll, IV, 77. 
 Writers on industrial problems, I, 
 
 236-238. 
 
 Yakuts, the, I, 45. 
 
 Yale diploma, what it ought to mean* 
 
 I, 361-362. 
 Yeomen, III, 300. 
 
 Zendavesta, the, I, 75-76. 
 Zoroaster, I, 75, 134. 
 Zoroastrianism, I, 137. 
 Zulus, the, HI, 129.
 
 ^79 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 Santa Barbara 
 
 Y THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 
 STAMPED BELOW. 
 
 50m-l,'63(t>4r4as8)475^ Sty^j
 
 D 000 790 206 7
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 rmiin^ 
 
 H^'iii'i' 
 
 ii 
 
 j 
 
 '"^ 
 
 
 1 
 
 '1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1