THE
Co INTER-MUTUAL STATE
Air, 
A
I 
A LABOR CATECHISM
OF
POLITICAL ECONOMY
id' v ~or  th,e  Peohle.
COMIPRISING THE PRINCIPAL ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST THE
PROMINENT  DECLARATIONS OF THE INDUSTRIAL
PARTY, REQUIRING THAT THE STATE AS           SUME CONTROL OF INDUSTRIES.
By OSBORNE WARD.
"Nature often apportions talent, genius and capacity to those whom
,iety repudiates."-GoDIN.
TWENTY-FIRST THOUSAND.
PRESS OF THE AUTHOR; No.  214 NINTH  St. Sw_
WASHINGTON,  D.C.,
1877-1892
0 
c 0p  r, G T  -g 3,11f,, 
OSON WIARD,
..  i — 
I"
I i-, e-) -    Ad
PREFACE.
SiNcE the first issue of this work in 1877, thlere
have been many editions published and sold or given
away.  It is well known among the now iapidly increasing friends of government ownership of mines,
telegraphs, railroads and factories, that this book, being the pioneer, was met by a powerfully organized
resistance, which worked and dealt blows il the dark.
On an old, hard-running press, in a cellar, editions,
numerous but small, were struck off; and the meag,re
returns from their sale went to buy more paper and
pay renlt, while the author earned his bread by teaching.
Many reviews and editorials appeared fromn time
to time in the newspapers, and numberless criticisns,
letters, meetings and disvssions, as well as club-organizations in the towns and cities followed.  Then came
Mfr. George's less pronounced but more popular "Progress and Poverty;" afterwards Mr. Gronluind's "(ooperative Commnonwealth" and still later, the seoaistic bookls and essays of Dr. Ely, and thlopheneren
ally happy "Looking Backward," of Mr. Bellmy; aly
of' which have not only tacitly endorsed but evidentlyv
built upon, tie carefully studied arguments delincat
in these pioneer chapters, written in 1870-1875.
"I I L#
,"
....
}
I 
PREFACE.
The good effects which have cheered the author more
than: coilpe,nsate all the sad ones acting personally upon
himself.  Splendid results of radical agitation of those
days came in foam of a law, the effect of which was
to establish at the National Capital, a genuine social istic mioney-manufactory, the beneficent power of which
has already been used to checkmate combinations of
persons gambling in money and overproduction.
In some of the large cities the book-piracy, argued
against in this volume, was raging at the moment of
its first appearance, to such an extent that it conflicted with the compulsory-education law of the public
schools. Children too poor to buy books at contract
or monopoly prices had either to stay out and defy the
law or be placed on the degrading indigent-list and
furnished by a humiliating species of charity. Highminded workpeople's sons and daughters would not be
thus debased. Once this wrong clearly shown to the
people, they reacted against it; and the book-piracy
has given place to the pure and permanent socialistic
system.
Hundreds of the first, second and third editions were
read by the gentlemen of the City Halls of Brooklyn and New York. It was during the construction
of the great inter-urban bridge. The author's pleadings that this magnificent monument of skill and labor
in a common cause, should be done by the two cities
and out of the common purse, were thoroughly considered at the time and most of the suggestions have
already been conceded;  for the majestic structure  is
already a common property of that great community
and the barbarism of toll-taking will soon be a relic of
the past.' 
vi 
PREFACE.
The book also reached the Sachems of Tamnmany, not
long afterwards, and might have exerted a strong in fluence upon New York politics, particularly in s'o far
as the public works are concerned, had it not ulfor tunately lost powerful aid, by the death of Mir. John
Kelly who had a clear, practical perception of the ideas
involved in state control of industries; for he promised the
author's friends to exert his future influence in applyiing
the principles herein set forth, as a policy of the city of
New York whereby much of the prevailing distress and
crime might have been ended.  But he was met by fierce
opposition, defeated and soon afterwards brought downby death.
In the great public libraries of the country, the generous Librarians wherever in  charge, have for many
years, been in a habit of ordering from its shelf the LABOR CATECHISM in response to the numberless inquiries,
by members of Congress, Legislatures and Municipal
bodies, when questions of labor pressed for a solution.
The author's personal communings with his much
loved friend, Courtlandt Paliri, began soon after the
first edition appeared, through a letter addressed by that
gentleman, as an inquirer in 1878, on the siubject of its
contents; and hlie ever afterwards declared that his views
had been greatly influenced or guided bv ideas herein set
forth.  To that brave, exquisite nature, now passed away,
the author has dedicated his more recenlt work on "The
Ancient Lowly."
To Mrs. Eliza,beth Tlhom-pson the book owes its existence,  As stated above, the CATECHISM  Was written
four or five years before it appeared.  Nobody would
undertake its publication and the autlhor was roundly
berated by the wealthy miila(,er of a large irLin,  br
. -vii 
PREFACE.
presuming to offer him such a manuscript of heretical
problems.  Finally, Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson took the
matter up and furnished the author means for bringing out the first two or three editions. After this, it
plodded, under frowning skies, through four more editions.  By this time the author had become so impecunious and obscure that his thankless work had to be
temporarily suspended.
About 20,000 volumes of the Catechism have thus
been scattered along the by-ways of toiling humanity,
from Maine to Texas and California, even to Canada,
Great Britain and Australia.
And now, since the recent appearance of the "Ancient
Lowly," whereby old readers and converts of the Catechism are informed that the author is still among the
living, a swarm of letters of kind inquiry, confessing to
a re-awakened love of justice, pours in, persuading him
to bring out this enlarged and revised edition to meet an
ever-growing want.
-,,iii
I 
t'ONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS
INTRODUCTION.
'Tr COMING Subject of Discussion-Diffusion of the Means of
Knowledge-Oompetitive System No Longer Applicable to
Enlarged Minds-True Votive Franchise Never yet Wholly
Enjoyed-If Political Government is Becoming Democratic
Why is Industrial Government Still Monarchical and Des    potic?-The Public Schools are a Vast Business Undertak    ing, or Industry-People as a Collective Unit, Growing into
the Comprehension that Collective, or Governmentalized
Management may Safely and Satisfactorily Assume and So    cialize All Industry-Specimens mentioned of Such Indus    tries already Socialized-"Each for All and All for Each"    Discussion of Radical Propositions Wanted,      Page 1.
CHAPTER I.
VoNVERSATIcN Between a Delegation from the United Dry-Goods
Merchants, Shop-Keepers, Butchers, Fuel Dealers and Apoth    ecaries, and the Industrial Council-Co-Operation with the
Nation's Aid for Fuel, Clothes and Food-A Department,
With Bureaus for Provisioning the People-Co-Operation
for this Purpose Absorbing a Majority in the North of Eng    land and Making a Socialistic State-How John Stuart Alill
Tells the Author that England Must Soon be a Socialistic
State-The State Must Provide for its Children and so Stop
Their Cruel Murder by Trampery and Starvation-This Prin.
ciple Dispassionately Argued Pro and  ontra-Wise Vot    ing will thus be Forced, by Household Needs, Discussions
and Practice, upon every Man and Woman-The Method
-How to Work It-Examples,                       Page 23. 
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER II.
THE Irresponsible Poor-Case of the Outcasts, Felons and Tramps
Plea of the Wanderer-The Poor House must Become ti)he
Rich House-Compulsory Paupers vs. Privileged Paupers    An Argument Showing how Labor has always Pined in its
Fetters and Degradation, because Capital Maintained a Taint
upon it by using Public Charity as though it were Mean    Poor-Houses to Become Government Workshops —Discrep   ancy in the Law for Compulsory Education-Impossible to
Carry out the Law until the People are Supplied with Gov   ernment Workshops WVithin the Schools-The Children must
be Supplied with Free School Books-Then Labor Becomes
an Educating Capital-Air, Land and Water Alre the Gifts of
Nature-Enormous Waste of the Competitive System-How
Poverty Stifles and Stagnates the Flow of Thought-Means
Must be Furnished for Righting Wrong,          Page 51.
CHAPTER IIL
HYPOCRACIES and demoralizing Influences of Competitive Deal-A
Clerk at the Counter Must be a professional Liar-He Asks
How to be Saved-Is Told that the Only Escape is through
the Door of a Radical Political Party and Agitation for a So    cialistic Form of Deal-Competition Defined-Monopoly is
a Coterie of Dealers Organized to close upon the Defenseless
and thus Throttle Competition itself-Government, the lPeo    ple's Natural Association, must Assume the Sale of Goods    This Alonei can Moralize the Salesman; for it will punish all
professional Tricks-The Subject lengthily Argied-Co-Op    eration-The Method Carried Out by a State, Shown to be
practicable-Lessons That have been Taught by Great Mo    nopolists-Modern Bent of Free Genius and Benevolence is
Socializing-How Men now Bequeathe their Fortunes to In    stitutions rather than to Hereditary Ties,       Page  75.
CHAPTER IV.
MzERrs of the Labor Conflict before the University-Dialogue Be    tween Members of a College Faculty and an Advocate of the
Labor Movement —The Workers claim that they a,re Ens'laved
2
0 
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
through bad Management caused by Ignorance-The College
Denies that it is its Duty to Help-Labor Advocate in Reply
Thinks the School is the proper Field for such Work-Bothi
Sides Discussed-Inventions are Elements of Advancement
-Why then, Do they Enslave?-Monopoly the Offspring of
Competition-It is the Highwayman of Competitions, Scienced down to Legal Brigandage-How Telegraphs should
Become State Property The Law of Preponderance and of
C omnparative Claims-Law of Approximate Interests-The
Great Third Incentive of Citizenship-In the Nationalistic
State it Adds a powerful, New Motive of Honor and Integrity in Citizenship, Unknown in competitive Rule-New
Factor of Political Virtue Explained-It not only Warrants
the Assumption by Government of Telegraphs, but Also of
Mines, Rail Roads, Ocean Lines, Sub-Marine Cables, Ferries
and even Household Supplies-Professor is Terrorized, and
asks What Limits?-Only the Natural Limits Set by Reason, Want, and Experimental Test,                Page 93.
CHAPTER V.
SIMILARITY of -Objects Residing in Trade and Political Unions of
Workingmen-Dialogue with a Deputation From a Trade
Union-Forces composing this Element-Approximate Num    bers-They practice the True Referendum, thus Excelling
Political Governments in Practical Wisdom-All for One and
One for All-Their Referendum Government Explailled   Experimenting both Ways-a oolies-What to Do with them
-They are Victims of the Labor Contract Jobbers-How
Victimized-Mortal Decoys Slavery-Value of the Card of
Membership-Plants of Trade Unionism in American Soil   Deliverance from The Shambles-Its Law laid down-Po   litico-Economic Nature of Trade Unions No Use for Lead   ership-War a Co-Operative Death-Trap Higher Knowledge
Wanted-This will Result in turning the Navy Yards of the
World into Government Manufactories for Life-Means in    stead of Death-Means-This is Political Economy Looking up
-Trade Unionists, Awake, and See to This!-School of De    liberation-Judgment of Masses Surer, more Satisfactory and
Trustworthy than Judgment of Individuals Whien they can
Agree in Council-How, under Government or Nationalized
Control, a Trade Union might Become a Board of Publio
Works, Purveyors or Street Commissioners,     Page 107.
XI 
TABLE OF CONTENTS'
CHAPTER VI.
AN ENGROSSING Question of National C oal Mined, Public Highways
and other Routes for Distributing Cheap Fuel among the Peo    ple-Discussion with an Editor on Duties of the Newspaper
-Idea of Working People to Devote Individual Powers to
the State by making Government Assume Guardianship over
their Lives-The Corrupted Press-There should be a Gov    ernment Newspaper-To be Done Under the Referendum
Democracy-Elect Editors-Gigantic Proposition to Get Rid
of Competition and the Joint Stock System-Rail Roads,
Coal Fields and Canals to be made Common Property-It is
the Resolution of All Important Assemblies of Labor in the
World-Fuel and Freight Lobbies-Counter Lobby of Work    ing People to Defeat them —Demoralized,sy the Profit Incen    tives-Great Advantage if the State worked the Mines,  137.
CHAPTER VII.
REASONS more fully explained why Railways, Canals, Rapid Transit
Accommodations and Electric Lines should Belong to the
People instead of IndiYiduasOpinions Exchanged between
Industrial Party and Iron and Metal Mastels Power of a
Few over great Numbers-Society is like the Human Body
-Delicate Structure easily Ruptured —Monopoly in the Holy
Name of Justice Falsely Arrayed Against It-Go Slowly    Sudden Changes Paralyze-Easy and Natural Absorption of
these monopolizable Features by the Entire People-Duty of
Brotherhoods-Functions of Government Greater and more
Sacred than those of Individuals and Companies-The Latter
Lack the Incentive of Good Citizenship which Provides the
Peaceful Business Element of Supply,by creating more Enno    bling Incentives of citizenship,               Page I55
CHAPTER VIII.
GENERAL VIEWS, Feelings and Expressions of the Wealthy con    cerning the Politico-Industrial Organization-Colloquy Be    tween an Advocate of a Political Party and a- Conservative
Doctor of Laws-Radical Ideas Derived from chronic State
of Abuses-Definition of Terms-All Sciences whatsoever,
xii 
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Derived from Mechanics-roofs of it-Narrow Views o!
Those who Object-Lawgiver complains that the Workers
make their Claims in tlihe Name of Political Economy-His
Objection Met-The Labor Problem Intensely Political-Vicissitudes of the Workingmen's Life-They should Become
a Unity-Ballot Co-Operation-Small Concerns Devoured
by Large Ones —Old Form of Competitive State Getting Diseased-Social Political Action Leads the Way Out, Page 167.
CHAPTER Ix.
REVIEWING the Political Phases of the Rising Question of Land
— Dialogue Between Dwellers upon Farms and in Cities    Foreshadowing an Ominons CrisisOrganization of Farmers
-They are in a Passive, not a Combative State-Drudgery
of the Farm Laborer-Improvements of Machinery do not
HIelp Hirn-He Still Plods his Weary Twelve to Sixteen
Hours -Weaving Two Extremes into an Argument-Learn
to Obey Nature more and Usage less-Farmers, though a
Thinking People, Drudge so Excessively that they Cannot
Think-Bowed Down under the Burden of great Transport    ation Monopolies-Begin to perceive that they must Legis-.
late Themselves into the Ownership of the Means of Trans    portation-Railways a Part of Postal System-Co-Operative
Farms Possible-Government should Encourage Inventors
by Buying and Operating their Inventions-Growth of Pau    perism is in Proportion to the Numbers Displaced by Mo    nopolized Machinery-Shall the State Attempt the Exploit    ure of Agriculture?-Farmers Awakening,       Page 183
CHAPTER X.
WORxING PEOPLE the Tax PayersDuties of Political Organi    zations controlling Public Works-Debate Between Members,
of Qld Political Parties and an Attorney for the Movement
of Labor-Delegation of Politicians-Their Secret Political
Manceuvres-They are Shown that they might Aid, if They'
Would Turn their Disciplined Bands to the Achievement of
Right Aims and Principles-What These are, Lengthily andu
Dispassionately Discussed-Political Management to Worlk
Harmoniously with Honest Purpose,              Pae 20t.
xi'ii'
i 
TABLE  OF CONTE.YNTS.
CHAPTER XL
A MIsOLL,ANEOus Distribution of the four prevailing Misconstruo   tionr3 Troubling Agitators of Scientific Socialism-Friendly
Combat of Opinions with Persons Interested in Forms of
Human Improvement-Plain Talk on Natural Gifts, Farm   ing and Intemperance-What makes Us Honest and What
Dishonest-Fallacy of the Opinionl that Nationalism Under   mines Genius, Fully Shown Liberates It from Thraldom of
Want and Allows It to become more Brilliant-Whole Sub   ject Hotly Canvassed fiom Both Points of View Great Men
who would not have Developed, but for Liberties Derived
From Government Hire-Same Support Advances Scholars
of the Universities-Cases Cited-Kant of the Royal Uni   versity of Koenigsberg-Great Alexandrian Library-What,
It Accomplished-The Mlonk of Ermeland-Columbus could
Do Nothing Without Socialistic Aid from a Government —
Newton Gets his Fower and Light under University Pay   Poets Laureate Statesmen aud Navigators-Government like
the Air, is common to the Inhabitants-The more It Affords
Means, the fewer will be the Slaves, the greater the Liberty
and the higher will be the Quality of Intelligence-What
would Take Place if Our Lives and Intelligence were common
Property Instead of private Plunder-Government can work
a Cotton Factory-Why not?-Only because Growth of Po   litical Economy does not keep Pace with Growth of Inven   tions-Workman Ahead of Statesman-So We still Dwell
Among those who Debase modern Labor by ancient Systems
of Rapine-Amazing Enlightenment!-Ruled by Beast-mon   arch Instincts of,he Tiger and Lion-Places where the Sick
might go to get Well-But No Industries there to Employ
Them-Government Neglects her Children-. Old Time Poli  ticians Learn Nothing-Plant Government Farms and Fac   tories-Various Sets of Principles of Socialist or Nationalist
Party Quoted-That of 1863-That of 1858, or The New
Democracy of New York-That of International Labor Con  ventions in Europe-Verbatim Quotations,        Page 221.
CHAPTER XIi.
. TriE GaR!AT Land Question-Bold Words on Its Nationalization —
Standard Philosophers of "Tax "-Whole Question Treated
zi4 
-TABLE OF CONTENTS.
as a Finality-Conversation Between a Senator and a SocialistStatesman is informed That the Land Question is on
the Docket and will come Up-But First Nationalize al-} the
Implements of Labor-First, Get Ready; Otherwise, when
Your greater Land Problem Urges, You will Fail because Unprepared -Naionalization of Land means Both the Word
and the Deed-Ancient Land Nationalization always F.iled
Because the Tools and the Labor remained, as now, Enslaved
-First Nationalize the Tools-Ancient Tools of Labor were
Slaves —Modern, under Monopolies, Not much better-Let
Land be Cultivated by the State-The Individual has proved
Himself a Failure-Proofs of It-Alone by Himself He is
Competitive-In a Collective Capacity, like the State, He
is Co-Operative-Exhaustive Discussion For and AgaifstItGrowing FeelingAgainstWar-More Tillage and ess Fighting-The State can Sow and Reap as well as Fight —Flunkies of the Quill-Whythose Terrible Revolts of the Ancient
Workingmen-Because Aristocrats Worked the Nationalized
Lands with Competitive Tools-efferson Hobnobbing with
Saint Simon-Modern Forms of Co-Operation Culminate in
Socialized Land-Tillage-After that No Mortgages No Failures-Great Inventions have the Right to Supersede Old
Pigmy Forms of Business-Cadmian Literature-Its FateGrowth of Collective Will-Monopolies Seeking to Shirk the
Payment of Taxes are Glad to Help Nurse Land-Tax Theories-The Millionaires Rarely Land Owners; Only Commercial, Manufacturing and Financial Speculators-Milhall
Quoted in Proof,                              (Parge 253
CHAPTER XIII.
NATIONqALIZED Wealth Worth more to the Individual, Dollar for
Dollar, than Private Wealth-System of General Averages
-Conversation Between a Bankrupt and a Mortgagee-Old
in Honest Toil-The Old Man thinks that if He, after a Life
Time of Studied Honesty, Failed, all the World must Fail    Works all his Life for the Isolated, Individual Family; Going
to Die Bankrupt, Believing in the Collective Family of Mlan    Scheme of Reasoning it Out-Mortgagee admits that Collect    ing his Fat Purses is Heartrending Business-Old Man Wants
to See the Inter-Mutual State-One that will Refuse to De    stroy the Citizen-Sharp Argument B]etween Them-Mur    derous Competitive Industries-They are in a Moribund State
RV 
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
-Slowly Dying Out-The  Man Without Genius to Enrich
the World is He who Drives Genius to the Grave-Small
Family too Weak to Grapple with the Wrong-Great Family
of Man as a collective Unit must Grapple with it-Mortgagee
Astonished to hear that if All Property were Nationalized,
Each wovl] be Wealthy-A Combat of Arglment-Sublimely
Prodigious Proposition-Natural, vs. Hypothetical Property
-Worse and Worse Failure of the Individual-Cheated at
Every Turn-Greatness of Human Enterprise Transcends the
Powers of Individual Management-The State, which under
Wise Statesmanship, Becomes the Individual as a Collective
Unit, Is the Natural Power to Assume Industrial Management-Full Invoice Taken of the People's Business-Sum of
the Values Distributed Equally, Would make Each Citizen
Independent-Especially so as This also Yields the Boon of
a Guaranteed Life Position-How such Citizenship must end
the Cry of Want-Yields Work and Plentitude,  Page 287.
xvt 
INTRODUCION.
Tui coming subject of discussion and agitation among
the people, and especially the Laboring People, is to-day,
the same which has been more or less discoursed in private
and in public, ever since the dawn of the philosophic age
of Greece.
How much do men know?  How much are they capable
of knowing? These questions were asked by Zeno, by Socrates, by Aristotle, nearly four hundred years before Christ.
It was denied by some of the sages of those times that man
was-capable of positively knowing anything.  Aristotle said
that the only method man could take, by which to arrive at
an unmistakable knowledge of truth, was by beginning with
small things- by investigating through comparison, reason
and analysis; by beginning with the least and working out
to the greatest; leaving nothing neglected, nlothing unstudied, nothing which investigation had not wrought some bril.liant of truth from, or added some hitherto unknown. gem
to the diadem of knowledge.  The question is the same now
4 
INTRODUCTI()1N.
but more pointed. How much POLITICAL ECONOMY do we
know? Can men take mutual care of themselves? However
much, the world has repudiated that old doctrinal question
of the great philosophers of Ancient Greece, it is plain to
every one who reviews the methods of the world's moral
and mechanical development, that progress has ever follow ed, and is still following the lesson given by them. The
mind of man is evidently still in its infancy; and it seems
susceptible of growing ripe and rich, only as it attains these
separate auxiliary gems by the light of each successive investigation and experiment. The true secret of advance.
ment lies in an instrument. This instrument is mechanical.
With it the unpolished mechanic is moving the world. He
is at the helm of mechanics.  There is not a science that
does not develop from mechanics. The figures of Leverier
were useless without the accompanying telescope and pen.
The glory of the nineteenth century is due to the invention
and application of steam, of the telegraph, of the printing
press, and of a thousand other forms of mechanics.
Now the application and diffusion of these instruments of
science, of human knowledge, is just that which is making
the world wise; and the happiness of the human race does,
and ever must depend upon the wisdom with which these
mechanical instruments, mostly the product of the humble
worker, are applied in the production and the distribution of
our means of life and development. The merest tyro may,
therefore, see that this is Political Economy in its widest
and most practical sense.
This ancient plan of research and investigation, by both
theory and experiment suggested by Aristotle, led to the establishment of great laboratories, museums and libraries at
Athens and in Egypt, three hundred years before Christ;
2 
INTRODUCTION.
and nearly all the inventions, charts and books in the world
had to be collected into small compass, in order to attract
the attention of scholars, while the great masses of the people scattered over the world, were not only without their
uses, but were ignorant of their existence.
The world's subsequent labors reversed these conditions.
Now, all such instruments are diffused; scattered over every
part of the civilized globe; and the people are using them.
In those days, it was easy for an ignorant adventurer toy
send his brutal squadrons to Alexandria, and destroy those
invaluable specimens of books and invention, of which no
duplicates existed. Now, every individual specimen of either book or mechanical appliance posesses hundreds, perhaps even millions of its kind; and thus the destroyer can
no longer annihilate them because they are in actual use,
throughout all the lanes of life.
The subject of discussion, therefore, although similar to
that of more primitive ages, varies in its almost infinite diffusiveness. The ancient asked how an inistrument of humdan knowledge and development could be made. Curiosity
and desire of self culture, brought men from the antipodes
to see it.. The modern, seeing the instrument constantly before him, asks how it shall be applied to use. What is the
wisest method of applying all this science, art, invention,
so preeminently capable of producing the necessaries of human existence, and of producing them with such marvelous rapidity? What shall be, in future, the control or management over them.? Shall the labor-saving instrument be
a monopolizable thing? Must our potent sciences, enveloped in wealth, woven with railroads, electric instruments;
and lines of steamers, busy with factories, farms, literature.
be forever operated by the same narrow, competitive pro
3 
INTRODUCTION.
cess that the comparativey ignorant ancients used?  Mustit
still do in our age, when they have multiplied by millions,
and have diffused themselves to such a degree that the eye,
and the ear encounter them ait every turni  Among the ancients, the isolated family, thle individual, the competitor,
were the only source of government recognized, as applied
to the manipulation of labor and its products. All things ruling outside the labor societies, were operated from a central principle of competism. Every kind of business had a
conservative character. The tendency was constantly to aggregate-.  At the present day, the constant tendency is to
disperse; and humanity becomes diffused, in a direction of
levelism.
Is the competitive principle applicable then, to modern
humanity? The competitive system was natural to the anicient mind because religion was exclusive, and favorable to
individualism.  The family was a world by itself.  Over it
the father held supreme power. Hie could punish his wife or
his child with death. Back of that monarch-the ancient
family despot-there was no appeal. From the family arose
phratries, tribes, cities, nationalities, modeled from the same
ignorant and bigoted usages, and consequently established un der the same despotic regirne.  Jealousy, self-love, Ind many
concomitants of absolutism, and competitive rivality were
quite natural, even consistent with a public opinion which
such a state of things produced. But christianity, it is said,
broke the pagan religion down. Why then, does the com petitive system still hold unlimited sway? The competitive
system of control is natural to individualism and Ihuman
selfishness; yet the race is drifting, by the light of science
and its instruments, into liberalism; and govern m)eIIts are
becoming democracies or republics. Why then, should the
4 
INTRODUCTION.
control of the scientific labor-saving instrumentalities so infiitely more diffused than those of the ancients, continue in
the hands of individualists?   If governments, which wvere
manipulated by competing individuals in ancient days, have
changed from the despotic to the democratic form, why
may not the control of the people's industries be also relatively changed from the despotic, or-comrapetitive, to the
demnocratical form?
Public opinion must bend to knowledge; to demonstrable truth. It cannot always remain the poltroon of a monopoly-hugging, competitive system, however delusive its inculcations and natural instincts.  The control and ownership of
production and distribution tend to escape from the hands
of the individual, and to be assumed by the people themselves; and this variation of its control, and ownership must
keep pace with the variation of the form of government,
from the despotic to the democratic.
It is a mistake to suppose, that there ever was a time when
the people of Greece and Rome could have enjoyed a votive
franchise and elected their own choice of men to control politics. The popular idea is, that they did; but this opinion is
derived from the fact that those ancient governments were
called republic8. Research into the truth reveals to us, howver, that magistrates —who were religious priests, by a
rite of the ancient religion-,,used to consult the heavens at
night, in search of the will of the gods, concerning the eli gibility of c:lndi(lates!  The people were too unenlightened
:indc superstitious to see these tricks of priestcraft; and it of tell happened that an unpropitious star, meteor, or phosphor escenit liglit was interpreted by such priest-soothsayers as un favorable omens against the favorite of the po,r majorities
who, on the day of elections, felt themselves obliged through
5 
INTRODUCTION
awe and intimidation te speak and decide against themselves,
Political control is rapidly outgrowing despotic con  trol.   The mind of man has, since those days, changed
from the exclusive ideas that led to concentrativeness, in  to ideas of fellowship, that lead to business cooperation,
joint management, republicanism.    By whatsoever the
present generation has developed, through the repudiation
of religious superstitions, the inroads of mechanics, public
schools, postal bureaus, galleries and museums of art and
science, general enlightenment, which all come from the
errors of the past as well as the successes of the present,
and the hopes of the future, by just so much is modern
GoVErNMENT  better than ancient.   And yet notwith standing all this, there has scarcely been a jot of improve ment in the control of business which produ~es the means
of existence and of happiness of the millions, for whom
these governments are made!  There has been much po litical and scientific growth, bnt no corresponding eeo ioiuic growth among the proletarian classes.
Out of this mechanical enginery produced by the study
and toil of working people,  we see much social improvement among the wealthy and medium portions of the
conmunity yet nothing but degradation among those
whom society tenaciously persists in making no provision
for. People still refuse to take control of the manufacture
and distribution of their means of life, in a similar manner
il which they have been so successful, in the coutrol of
political governments.
It is the belief of the author of these pages, that it is
as possible for any enlightened people, who possess such
facilitating instruments  of research,  and of Industrial
Economy, both in production and distribution, to govern
6 
INTRODTICT.ION
%tlir economical methods of labor, as it is to govern tlheir
Clitical methods of law-giving.  The people of this couiitry make their own laws collectively.   Why should they
not make their own bread collectively? They can agree
so far as to elect representatives, and send them to Congress and Legislatures, pay them for their work, watch
over their actions, study and criticise their motives, approve and accept, or censure and repudiate  the laiws
which they create.    Why cannot they, also, elect representative men to take control of theii cotton mills, instead
,f leaving this important branch of supply forever in the
hands, and at the caprice of irresponsible individuals, without the least improvement (except in mechanical  instruments) upon the methods that prevailed in the days of the
C-SARS?   Political government has become democratical.
Why is mechanical government still monarchical?
These thoughts lead us to ask whether it is possible for
the mechanical, or more properly, the economical affairs of
mankind, to be assumed under a democratical or communistic form. But we do not reflect that this same question
once was asked of republicanism, or government by the people.   There now remains no longer a doubt of the perfect
capability of the people to govern themselves.        Every
experiment proves it.   Every new republic acts as a purifier of human intelligence, and the plan is growing more
popular every year throughout enlightenment.
But has the plan of a democratic administration of our
economical and household affairs ever been submitted to
a similar collective test? Certainly; and on a vast scale;
and by the government!  Nothing can be more intimately
connected with our household, our private, and our business
matters than the business of the great Post Office.    It is a
17 
INTRODUCTION
natural part of the people's business which political governmbnt adjusts; but it is intimately related to our economical
means of producing and enjoying the means of life.    It is
so vast that it cannot be operated by an individual.
Besides, the people, collectively, are eternal; while as
individuals, they are fleeting.   Individual, and even joint
stock enterprises, however large and prosperous, are fleeting and perishable.    they  owe their present, and their
future to a man or to a certain set of men who, while they
live, are the supreme rhlers of their industries.    Thus the
people are supposed to have no right to question arbitrary
dispensations; because they are beyond their collective control.
The reverse is the fact in regard to all business enterprises
which are the undertakings of a state or government.   Although any individual, be he a private, or a ruler, may die,
yet the COLLECTIVE individual,  the great Body  Politic,
never dies.  In the modern form of elective republicanism,
this mutual collectivity is not only eternal, endowed with a
constantly self purifying tendency, but it is supreme in its
control.   This collective control dispenses the laws.   It
operates from year to year, all the vast practical business
as well as theoretical functions of a great government.
Auxiliary to this government is the Post  Office.  The
Postal Department grew out of, or rather outgrew a joint
stock company. While a company carried the mails of
the nation, the people were supposed to have nothing to
say; they were obliged to submit to paying prices for their
letter carrying service, such as in these days, would be considered insufferable.   Gradually, however, the people have
assumed this business. Instead of the old monarchical form,
this business'is now conducted under a democratical form;
18
, I 
INTRODUCTION
and experience has made it very dear to the people generally. It will be shown in these chapters that it is yet far
from being perfect, but it is made to answer the purpose
very well until we are enabled by our own experience,
to see light more clearly.
The public schools furnish another important instance
of the application of the principle of democracy to the
practical uses of great masses of people by the collective,
instead of the individual control.   This institution is
democratical and a reverse of individualism in principle;
however imperfect its details may be, owing to ignorance
of the people who control it. It is an institution which
is rapidly assuming enormous proportions.   It is so democratical that it educates the pooi man's child with the rich
man's money; and this collective power, the people find, is
a safeguard to the perpetuity of their democratical form
of government; because it develops one of the most
important resources of national prosperity and happinessthe intellect.   It is impossible to compute the immense
importance of this intellectual development, to a nation.
When the people, as a collective unit, have grown,
by experience, in appreciation of this importance, they
will doubtless convert the public schools into colleges,
with preparatory and graduating departments; and make
them Vie, in every respect, with the noblest colleges of the
world.   These schools are controlled by  the people in
common, who have already established laws in some
states, rendering it compulsory upon the children to attend.   The public school is a vast business undertaking
of the people, who by their votes and labors, control it
collectively; and through it, the monarchical idea of
business control, is being effectually expelled.
9
r.,.% —;;,- 
]INTRODUCTION
Still another important  example of the growth  of
collective over individual control is seen in the system of
hospitals and dispensaries.    The reason of this steady
growth is, that the public are more careful than the house hold, of the sick.,   Experience teaches that a private
house, even if it be a home, is a poor place to take one,
afflicted with a contagion; and altogether the wrong
place for the sick generally. The public are also becoming
aware that a great wrong is being practiced upon them
by druggists who, in collusion with doctors, exact exorbitant prices for medicines; and especially, for the prescriptions of these physicians.   The continuous tendency,
therefore, of the public is to supplant this ancient system
of the individual, by means of which he exacts large private profits, with public hospitals and dispensaries.
These institutions are maintained mostly by appropriation from Congress, Legislatures or municipal government,
over which the people preside. They are consequently,
democratical, and the people make the management of
them, a legitimate subject of discussion and of political
action. Thus people are forced into the supervision, economical as well as medical, of their own sick and suffering. The people, in common, are learning to take
charge of themselves.  They must, in the logic of such
a system, be constrained to do it well. They must make
the nioble and growing dispensary, a home. The idea
that these institutions are eleemosynary  in  character,
and that, to frequent the dispensary for medical service
is alTin to beggary and therefore degrading, is false and
foolish. It does not belong to sober business economies.
Nor does it savor of sound judgment.    It is an idea
based mainly upon vanity.   The people make  the  dis
10 
INTRODUCTION
pensaries. They own and control them. Is it not respectable then, for them to enjoy that which is their
own? These carpings at mistaken respectability, are
unbecoming the sound judgment of a great public.
They have almost entirely outgrown  this vanity  in
its application to the public school. Why should they not
be equally dignified in patronizing any other common
interest?
It is the often expressed doubt of many whether the
true theory of democracy will, when submitted to a
whole people with all their contrarieties of thought,
their conflicting interests, their love of amusement and
flattery, and their general ignorance, stand a solid and
practical trial. The pessimists in political economy and
governmental advancement are dismayed by the popular and increasing clamor that surges and roars on every side, bitter with accusation of malfeasance in office,
and convicting by scores the chosen representatives. of
the people. To all such doubters the world is better
prepared to-day than ever before to make an agreeable
report in the affirmative. The indications are, that this
democracy is successful, so far as its theory has gone
into practical trial.   The dismay caused by the conviction of a defaulter  need not discourage us.  The  fact
that individuals are often caught and convicted, does not
prove that under more ancient methods of government
no such rogues existed.  On the contrary  it proves that
under the democratical system, the people are anxious
to see the corruption of their representatives exposed,
and criminals punished.   This was not the case und(er
the monarchical system where one man, or one set of
men  held perpetual control.
w
11 
INTRODUCTION
The  consequence  is that the business of ferreting
out rogues has become popular and lucrative to many
persons who enter upon it.  The  people are  honest.
They want to know  the truth; and will reward, by
their patronage, any one who will furnish them with
it. This has created of late years. an enormous newspaper business. It has also occasioned the modern incentive to writing books containing the opinions of individuals, concerning true principles of political economy,
regarding statistics and examples.  The  same  popular
craving after the knowledge of the truth, is what makes
oratory successful; and thousands of good public speakers are kept busy, canvassing the relative capacity and
honesty of the people's candidates. All these efforts
shed light upon the inner qualification of the aspirant,
and the office holder. No amount of labor or expense
is spared to enlighten the people concerning them.
The fire that illuminates the prairie crackles loudly as
it burns, and purifies the ague swamps; but it is the
loud crackling that dismays the timid one. He will not
open his eyes to see the light. If he would, he would
see the miasma disappear, the dark forms of public
robbers lurk away for safety. He would seek to have
them caught and brought to trial. In old times, and
under less favorable systems, these robbers prowled and
glutted themselves upon the people's accumulations unmolested.  Indeed they were sovereign.  There was no
light to expose them. They held the masses in subjugation. In modern democracy the reverse is true; and
as the light of honest truth is requisite to collective
prosperity, the public will pay for it. The great newspaper is consequently assuming the function of the cen
12 
INTRODUCTION
sor, the tribune, and the lictor. Humanity may rejoice
rather than be frightened at the result!
Nine in eleven of all the individual enterprises of this
country are, by statistical count, known to end in failure.
About one half the joint stock companies fail.  But
in relief of this, four fifths of all the government enterprises succeed. These cardinal facts alone, are sufficient
to embolden the advocate of government employment,
or the employment mutually, of the people, by the people, for the sake of the EM]PLOYMENT and the PRODUCT,
rather than for the sake of profits to a controling few.
If nine out of eleven of the individuals who venture time and money upon business enterprises are found
to fail, it is time to doubt the capacity of an individual to conduct business at all. It is also time that the
people, who must be supplied by some means, should
begin to cast about for a method that will be more
successful. Why does the individual so frequently and
so ingloriously fail? Is it not because he lacks the
requisites of means, of judgment, of tact, that are indis pensable to success  and if so, do not a large number of in dividuals, say a nation of people, if they can come to
terms of agreement, possess just these various requi sites of money, of judgment and of tact, that would
ensure success? It is doubly evident that they do;
since they also possess the labor, which they always
prefer to sell to themselves, rather than to others.
If one half of the joint stock company enterprises
of the country, that are undertaken, prove failures, is
it not high time that the great masses who most suf fer by such failures by reason of the dearth of em ployment the financial depressions, and the demoralization
13 
INTRODUCTION
they create, should launch out upon the study of a
method that will add better factors of success? And
does not  the fact that a larger percentage of enter prises under the direction of companies succeeds,  than
under  the direction of an individual, prove that  the
factors of success in business lie in the variety of re quisites which nutmbers furnish.?
There is always one danger which the masses have
to fear from corporations;   that which  has given epression to the maxim, that "corporations have no
souls."   Yet this selfishness  that  makes  so  cruel a
saying true, is undoubtedly just, as applied to- the
welfare of all the members  of that corporation.
What a powerful argument, then, does this black
maxim furnish, in favor  of augmenting  the  number
of the  company in control  until it includes the  majorities of the people    The reason why  the corporation has no soul is because the business formula of
rules and of discipline  governing, and agreed to, by
that body, render it possible for the individuals to
shirk moral responsibility.
Business rules are inelastic and void of conscieptiousness. Individuals are not. The individual operates a
business for himself, and fails nine times in eleven.
The joint stock company runs a business  for itself,
and fails five times ill ten. No one will deny that
each individual engaged in these enterprises is actuated
by motives of self inierest. But what makes a number succeed so much more frequently than a single
person?  The answer is easy.   It is because,  in a
number,  who understand  the  principle of agreement,
there are  more factors  of success.   There  is more
14 
IINTRODUCTION
cpital and a greater variety of talent, which is requisite to the well-being of the business.   If there  is
agreement, there is certainly a number of individuals,
each with his peculiar aptitudes of business tact and
pecuniary means. This is evidently the reason why
the joint stock companies succeed so much more frequently than the individual, who has only his own
resources,  and is often  devoid  of experience.   The
whole argument, then, suggested by these statistics,
shows that there can be no danger from this augmentation of the numbers engaged in an enterprise,  even
though this number include the entire people.
First, because collective ownership and control dissipate, effectively, the danger mentioned regarding the
soullessness of corporations.  The corporation works only for the interests of the half dozen individuals who
form it.  It is gruff and heartless to all others.
The people's collective  enterprise is equally selfislih;
but it includes the entire people and consequently must
consult the welfare of all.  Secondly: admitted that it
possesses elements of agreement, it certainly possesses
all the factors of variety of talent, of adaptiveness, of
aptitude, of genius, and, not the least among its indispensable requisites, it has means and labor of its own
which it prefers to appropiate to its own business rather
than sell to others.
If four fifths of the government enterprises succeed,
does it not show that agreement is a possible thing?
It is possible for joint stock companies to enlarge
their numbers so as to include  not only a  dozen  or
a hundred thousand members and agree so perfectly,
as to perform the most difficult functions of business;
15 
INTRODUCTION
both legislative and mechanical.  It may  be said that
co-operation of large numbers instead of the joint stock
companies of a few  is a new thing in the world; and
therefore, a precarious example to judge from.
Not so; for if we are to believe the history of Christ,
and his apostles, the co.operative principle was carried
into operation successfully; and further, that it assumed
so radical a form, that not only labor, and the product
of labor were held, distributed, and enjoyed in common,
but the co.operative societies of the early christians,
were churches, or mutual selfhelp curies. Let no one
fear that co.operation does not possess elements of success. On the contrary, it is as much more successful
than joint stock comnpanies as the latter are more suecessful than the single individuals.
The co-operative societies have accumulated vast
sums of money which they appropriate to many of the
different industries, with perfect success. They have no
longer any difficulty in owning and controling in  common  their immense flouring mills, steam engine works,
printing establishments, and cotton and woollen mills.
They make many of their own shoes, bake their own
bread, own and operate their chop and sausage works,
tan their own leather and are among the best inventors
and discoverers of methods for economizing, and adapting labor to their own supply. The ratio of progression in these collectively managed, and mutually reciprocal
enterprises, is incredible. They are able to build lines
of steamers to America for purposes of mutual travel,
and supply. A hundred more years of such growth will
force the pen of political economists out of its wonted
grooves of argument, from the old standpoint of compe
16 
INTRODUCTION
tism, into a broad and bold defense of common interests;
for if the social, or co-operative experiments of different
people, are not sufficient to convince the reader of the
justice and feasibility of collective ownership and control,
in productive and distributive, as well as legislative industries, let him consult statistics, on a still more ponderous scale, and satisfy himself, regarding the ratio of
progression in collective control  by so prodigious, versatile, and mercurial an element, as the population of the
United States.
In four fifths of their business operations, the governments-Municipal, State, and General-of this people, have
succeeded. In this cast no mention is made of the form
of legislation, the mainner of conducting wars, or the
method of choosing the representatives of the people;
simply the actual business operations under government,
or rather, popular control.
The people have been quite successful in nearly every thing of this kind they have attempted, as a body
politic.   Within  a century, they have  shown their ability to maPnipulate, in the capacity of a compound integer, or a collective unit, almost every sort of business affair which hitherto had been conducted exclusively by  individuals.   Many  of these enterprises,  are
brought about and operated  not only for the sake of
the impr6vement they afford, in their various functions
of production and otherwise, but notably for the sake
of the  permanent,  and  economical labor,  which  they
offer to the people who own them, and in whose collective interest they are operated.
Tile  public schools are an example of this kind of
enterprise. The people possess them, support them by
17 
INTRODUCTION
their own wealth and industry, educate their children
by means of them, develop the grandest resource of
their national wealth by them, which is the public intellect; and at the same time, find employment for a
great many of their own numbers, in the capacity of
supervisors, teachers and janitors.
The general status of the human intellect has, within a century been greatly elevated, both in America
and in parts of Europe  by the public school; and it
is to-day the most potent agent in existence, of human
development, driving our superstition and darkness of
every form from the world, and shedding much of the
luster that distinguishes ours, from ages that are gone.
Much of the advance which has been made in me-chanics, that have  given the modern world so extraordinary an impulse, is due to the support of governm.ents.   Mechanics are at the bottom of nationalpro.
gress.  Through the mechanic arts  mankind have made
healthful advances in the direction of true enlightenment.
Now, no inconsiderable encouragement is being given to
mechanics, by governments. This Steam Fire Engine
is one of the most perfect mechanisms in the world. It
is, indeed, an institution, more perfect, if possible, than
the Public School Such an exquisite labor-saving apparatus, rolling and fuming down our avenues, mounted by
heroes of the fire-brand and water tube, is a stirring, but
not uncommon sight. It glistens with the polish of its
proud keeper; is powerful in nerve, and restive for em ployment. A citizens home is in flames! And a dozen
of these beauteous monsters followed by hook and lad der chariots are quickly centering in, to the rescue of
that home.    The wonderful  telegraph has noiselessly
is 
INTRODUCTION.
transmitted order upon order and dictating their rouLte
thither, indicated the exact spot, named the foreman, and
appointed from headquarters, each workman. The central administration has appointed to each, his work,
with a science that effects the greatest result from the
least number of men. There are no supernumeraries.
Indeed, the curiosity seekers are not wanted. They are
out of place. The steam pumps are immediate;y connected to their hose; the couplings are screwed to the
hydrants; the men at the nozzles are aiming at the glaring element that is gnawing down the peaceful cttizen's
home; and with incredible celerity and unconcern, and
with scarcely a visible motion, the burning property is
deluged from attic to basement, and the fire extinguished.
This case of the Steam Fire-extinguishing Department,
thus comes up before us as an argument. It is, perhaps,
the best of the four or five communistic instrumentalities
of which the world can yet boast. The Public School is indeed, something magnificent, but this is more mechanical;
although they are both industries, and belong to the Labor
Question. Every person in the city has an interest in the
fire destroyer. His very safety depends by night and day
upon its effectiveness. It is far more reliable, and less individually selfish than the fire insurance system of companies; and is superseding and supplanting them. It watches
the poorest of the poor, as well as the opulent Men, women and children, of all conditions are unselfishly protected by this wonderful agent provided it is properly kept
and scientifically operated. Now the fact that these
operations of this fire-police are unselfish, that they must
benefit every individual of the community in order to
benefit. a single individual, is what makes it an engine of
19r, 
INTRODUCTION
Communism.  It is a branch of mechanical science, applied
to the social welfare, and exemplifies the aphorism "each
for all and all for each."
But does it enforce the aphorism "each for all and all
for each?"   How  does it make  practical the theory
of the labor movement, that political economy demands
the greatest possible result of labor from the least possible effort.  How  does it purify itself from corruption
in its administration by the watchfulness of the people
from year to year? The answers to these questions are
an explanation of the phenomena of communism, as the
basis of political economy. They expose the absurdities,
and the anarchical, and unscientific tendencies of the
dogma of individual sovereignty.
In the steam fire engine this is done. It is a political
instrument.  It belongs to the people.  It is a part of
their democratic government. The people are voters.
The vote of the poor man is as good as the vote of the
rich man; and this is the poor man's only guarantee of
perfect equality. Take away this attribute of manhood
and he is a slave.  The city is the commune, of which
every voter is a member in good standing. It is also
a common property, of which every member owns an
untransferable share; -the share of citizenship.  Consequently, the voter is constantly on the alert. It is the
poor man's only hope.  lHe organizes, watches, criticises
its government, employs the best detectives to invest,
igate and report the acts of his agents, and thus forces
them to be scientific and thorough. In fact, experience
shows that voters have very well succeeded in ferreting out, exposing, and punishing those servants who
have dared to subordinate the great principle of col
20 
INTRODUCTION.
lective interest, to the welfare of the individual selfishly.
But there remains another great class of Industries
which the true Labor Movement alone can force into
the care of Governments. Namely Agriculture, and
Manufacture.  When we, as a nation of people, learn to
cultivate our own crops, manufacture our own cotton,
silk, woollen and other goods; our own boots and shoes;
apply our knowledge vf Mechanics, of every kind, for
the supply of human  wants, to PRODUCTION,  the
same as we are applying our knowledge of Mechanics
to the Fire Department,  the Postal Bureau, and the
Arsenals; when people can as a collective ildividual, do
that which now, is so unkindly done by'he isolated in
dividual, and do it as well as it is done in the example
of the Steam Fire Engine, then, and not till then, will
the Labor Problem be solved. Political Economy is
to-day trembling and creaking upcnu the hinges of this
collective controL       a
21 
10 
I 0=         Ar-4
OF
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
CHBAPTER I
CONVERSATION
BETWEEN A DELEGATIO1 FROM THE IUNITED SHOP-KEEPERS, BUTCHERS, DRY GOODS MERPCHANTS, FUEL DEALERS
AND APOTHECARIES.
CHAIRMAN.    WE  are a Delegation from a mutual
Organization for the protection of our special interests.
We are sent to the Industrial Council to obtain direct
information, concerning the object of the radical move
ment.
RESPoNsE.   Our movement is nothing other than an
innocent Co-operation of working men and women for
Self Help.
DELEGATE.    Do you call secret Trade Unions and other
schemes for exciting  harangue, co-operation?
........ 
A LABOR CATECHIISM
RESPoSsE.  This is not a mere scheme for excitement.
It is an earnest response, by an oppressed laboring
class, to a new proposition which affords them a ray
of hope. It is as much co-operation of the poor to ob tain, by self help, the several necessaries of life, such
as employment, homes, eatables, fuel, clothing and med icines, as the almost perfectly similar co-operations of
England.
DIE9LEGATE.   English co-operation consists of social so cieties.  They are peaceful and inoffensive; while your
movements are political 
RESPONSE.       But  remember,  we  are in America,
where no class is recognized.   Social co-operation  in volves the same principles that political co operation does.
It is through this social, political union, that Americans
must arrive at self supply.  We  have vainly tried, and
are trying, to establish the social system of co-operation as in Europe; but there being no guaranty to
the workingmen by the government, that this co-operation shall endure, or remain solvent, and responsible
to its creditors, it falls an easy prey to dishonest members.  Besides this, the country is so large, and the laboring class so nomadic, or  migratory, that nearly as
many  rogues join -in the hopes of getting a chance to
fleece innocents, as genuine, and solid members. The
society having once been deceived, becomes fickle and
dies of discouragement. Add this to the influences
brought to bear by your trading class, who now control these necessaries of life, and exert their strength
against co-operation, and you have the principal cause
of failure that seems to follow every attempt of American Social Combination for self help. There is one other
24 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMIY.
reason that must not be over'ooked. The extreme freedom of our iustitutioins renders every person a sovereign
of him or herself.  In Europe there is a sort of recognized
class. Any effort to set up a co-operative concern on a
social basis, however sound the prin ciple may be, is, in
America, received with coldness by the workingman, on
the ground that it suggests compulsory fraternization.
The trade union works in principle quite the reverse; for
that species of combination is based upon a sort of demand in which the idea of sovereignty is uppermost.  As
long as co-operation for furnishing the people means of
existence is based upon helpless social combination by
which the member has no positive guarantee from his own
organization, or from Congress or State Legislatures, that
his funds are safe from embezzlers and that his enterprise is sure, just so long is it logically true  that he
will refrain from supporting this otherwise promising
means of relief. These objections to co-operation a few
years ago would have seemed untrue, and perhaps ab surd;  but unhappy experience on every hand proves
them too correct.
CHIAIRMAN.    Yet this interference of any political gov ernment, for the means of existence of your half of the
population, is an interference directly subversive of the
very business and means of support, of our half of the
population. It is a direct threat; and an attack upon us
who now furnish your supplies.
REMARK.    Indirectly it bears its suggestiveness, but
it makes war upon nobody. Many working and useful
people whom no industry can afford to lose, have died
from starvation during the last few years in this country.
The competitive scheme for their supply upon which your
25 
A LABOR CATECHISM
class depend for support, failed to fur-nish them means of
sustenance.  They starved! It is not enough for humanity
to weep. Humanity has proved, amidst tears, to have
done little but nurture charity, and its concomitants of
degrading soup houses and humiliating asylums. All
this, under your system which has impoverished us, and
aggrandized you.
Supposing now, these suffering toilers on the verge
of starvation because without profitable  employ, were
to combine with one another, with Trade Unions and
communities, and under competent exponents and advisers  should  form themselves into a political  power
so strong, that at the elections they place in office tried
men of their own class pledged to enact laws so as to
legally effect the establishment, in the city of New
York, Boston or elsewhere, of a Bureau of Labor and
provision  supply.  Would that not be co-operation?
CHAIRMAN.       Of whom do you propose this Bureau of
supply shall purchase its articles?
ANsWER.      Of you;  or anybody  who  will sell supplies of the best quality and at the cheapest rates.
But it is not to be supposed that any broker is to
realize a  fortune.   Co-operation  and  speculation  are
strangers.   The  success of the social  co-operations of
England has always been in proportion to their ab
sence from speculation. Nothing can be more hateful to
a co-operative enterprise than individual speculations.
It is just as feasible, in a po]itical, municipal government like New-York, or Chicago, to attempt to furnish a supply of dry goods, eatables, fuel and medicines to its citizens, as it is, for a social establishment
at Rochdale with eight thousand members, to furnish 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
thie same to half the population of that city.  Years of
experience prove that this science of direct tranosaction
is a truly promising departure from old usages.
DELEGATE.   There appears a vein of artfulness running
in your argument.   You seem to wish us to infer that
Euriopea,  co-operation is not only similar, but almost
identical with this crazy, eleemosynary proposition of the
workingmnen that depends entirely for its success upon the
shrewdness of the politicians ill power.
ANSWER.    There are several answers to make to
your remark.
First: You seem not to recognize that the poor, starving founders of that immortal  enterprise in the north
of England were often waited upon by just such  delegations as your honorable body; and that they were
jeered at by those who, for many years made Toad
Lane the mock of Lancashire and Yorkshire.   The attempt to establish a co-operative Society on the social,
that is to say non-political basis, was treated by the
shopkeepers  and their friends with every kind of insult;
and for many years there was scarcely a newspaper in
the land that did not systematically ply its cant and
jibe until the poor experimenters forgot that it was cruel to be tabooed, or calumnious to be belied.
Secondly:  You do not recognize that this same calumny on the part of the shop-keepers, whose long-time
power was thus threatened by the new system, was,
and is yet, resorted to in every part of Europe, or whereever co-operation has exhibited itself.
Thirdly; You do not recognize that co-operation in
many parts of England is absorbing a large percentnge of the inhabitants; that it is becoming an institttion;
27 
A LABOR CATECHISi
and in all probability will soon have to be upheld by the
state insteald of the social gover,?meT7t.  sIr. John Stuart
Mtill had the shrewdness to foresee this when he made
the expression:
"I cannot deny that which is proved by the success of
co-operation in the North of England, nor that the future
of our political economy hangs upoD co-operation; and you
may imagine a time when the co-operative idea will be so
common and prevailing a thing that it will be endorsed by
the government and so end in superseding the competit,ve
system entirely."
DELEGATE.      Then the American worlingmen propose
to commence by a political Party of their own, that shall
create, on the political basis, a branch of government to
control the sale of the groceries, the dry goods, fuel and
medicines which we now furnish. All this they propose
to do, without even the experience of the social co-operators of Europe
ANSWER.    The American people are amply prepared
for it.  The workingmen's affair is simply a question of
slavery. Theoretically, our political slavery was swept
away by the war of the Revolution; and later, our chattel slavery, afterwards Dolitica, was swept away by the
war of the Rebellion. These experiences prepared us for
an attack upon the still more  subtle Wages Slavery
which must be swept away by co-operation. In this country this last swoop must be made by political power,
like both the preceding forms; because the evil is general
and because Americans, by reason of the peculiarity
of their institutions, cannot deal with matters affecting
the interests of the majorities in a small way. It has
been found to be not only dangerous, but disastrous; for
reasons heretofore descriLed.  The wages slavery of the
28 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
Europeans, is identical with the  wages slavery of the
Americans; but the  methods of cond(ucting  the  war
against  it, are different.   There, this method lmust be
social, that is, non-political; becausethe peopl)le are not
universally allowed the political, or rotive franchise.
Those who most need these home provisions which
are supplied by the co-operative store, are, of course,
the poorest, who are not allowed to vote at the great
elections.   But in the little co-operative government,
which they find must be intensely strict and severe, they
are allowed the votive franchise. It is the intense love
in mankind, of this ennobling franchise, that stimulates
the co-operators.  But our people are accustomed, in the
liberty of their citizenship, to use this fianchise at the
great elections; and it is no honor for them to amuse,
or trouble themselves with the affairs of smaller government. Hence, if this greater government neglects to
provide for the home provision of citizens; if the General, State, and Muuicipal Government do not assume
control and become purveyors for the people, then, these
majorities must remain forever at the mercy of your
competing purveyorship. Granted that co-operation is the
only means by which working people can obtain their
supplies without the "round-about," "change hands,"
competitive system, and it is easily proved  that direct,
"live and let live' deal is the legitimate function of a
republican government.
DELEGCATE.     Admitting that your workingnienr's pro ject, of cheap family purveyance may possibly be prac ticable in future ages, yet we cannot see in it anything
but the wildest vagaries; and we know by business ex periences of our own, that the very first experiment in it
291 
A LABOR CATECHISM.
will lead to chaos. Your proposition is revolutionary.
You propose to create a political power and with that
power, to force upon a vast municipality like New York
or Philadelphia, so immense a business as the marke,
dry goods, fuel and medicine supply; without once considering that in doing so, you are turning us who have
fed, clothed, warmed and doctored you long and faithfully, out into the world, perhaps penniless, and with
our business ruined, in old age when it is too late to
learn another. This may look very upright to you but
we look at the matter from another point of view. We
are disposed, moreover, to look at it from a standpoint
of your own good. We warn you that this is a direct
revolution.
RESPONSE.    So is the successful co-operation of England a direct revolution.
DELEGATE.       In taking such a distribution of these
goods upon yourselves you create a void and confusion
in the methods of transacting business!
ANswER.    Do  not your own stores remain?  And
is any man deprived of the right of buying of you and
paying your prices for a hundred years to come, if he
wishes to do so?
DELEGATE.      YOU destroy the long studied and practically learned functions of a great business economy,
before you have reared up even the busiless discipline,
to say nothing of the Officers, by which the new method
is to be transacted.
ANSWER..    This kind of argument is all very plaus.
ible and persuasive and deserves to be thoroughly considered. But the people remember very well when the
American colonies were suddenly converted, by a severe
30 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
political contest, from a dependency to a free common
wealth, that although the attempt involved  worse revolution than this you lament, they were found to be thoroughly prepared for the change; and neither this people nor the human race at large, have ever regretted
it. Your objection finds complete rebuttal again, in the
more recent event of the great Pro-Slavery Rebellion.
A great many people were plunged into consternation.
Emancipation was proclaimed before any preparations
were umade for a new order of things. The abolition
of chattel slavery was proclaimed in a day' And in a
few short months  it became a fact.   Yet the country
out-lived it all; and great as the change was, involving
the destiny of millions, the confiscation of properties,
the overturning of systems, and the creation of a new
and instructive page in history, yet the first swell of
time has launched us into the exercise of a new political economy; and all goes smoothly again. But if
history  at home  is not sufficient to convince you of
a falacy in your objection, you need but look at the little decree which in France, instantaneously revolutionized the system of weights and measures. On the evening of one day the old system was in full vogue.
On the morning ~f the next, it was a punishable offence to use any other than the new. Yet in a week
everybody was pleased with the change. In Japan and
China, mighty revolutions are going on, from the old,
barbarous systems, to the more convenient ones of modern science; and almost without a ripple of political discord. Now all these great and sudden changes which involve the destinies of the human race have been effected by governments and are political because anything
31 
A LABOR- CATECIIISM
decided by political action is supposed to be decided by
the consent of the majorities, or, at least, by the decree
of those  in whom  the  majorities  acquiesce, and have
confidence.   There  is no  appeal from this decision.  It
is final. But if it be a mere petty decision like that of
a social co-operative scheme, it is laughed at by one, obstinately upheld by another, tried and found  wanting
by another, by another proved a success, and betwixt
the wranglings of indecision, it is about sure, in this country to fail; while the old, one-sided, and advantage-takimg system of furnishing supplies, continues.
CHARMAN.        Can you give us any details as to your
proposed method of substituting your so called  political
management  for the present system of supply?
ANSWER.      We  are too actively engrossed in the preparatory work of organization and general discussion of
the great whole, to be able to attend to details.  Your
very natural question is asked several years too soon.
There are, however, several points upon which we are
agreed. All Officers entrusted with the management of
this business must be elected. Workingmen have been
badly misled by the appointing system; and they are
learning to agree upon this one point. They want no
more of it.
CIHAIRMAN.      Will not the system  tend to  destroy
the Trade Unions?
ANsWER.       On  the contrary. In this political co-operation the trades IUnion assumes  the functions  of the
co-operative society.   The Trades Unions,  or rather the
central council of Trades Unions  composed of their del egates, discovers any errors and frauds that may lurk in
the system, and is thus enabled to bring in all griev
;',3 2 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
ances, and to demand their correction If they be not
speedily corrected new Officers must be elected to fill
the places of those who prove incompetent. The honesty therefore, with which the supply of the whole people is conducted, will in this manner, prove the iiicentive of wise voting. Wise noting is thus forced by t/le
household needs, discussion and practice, upon every man
and woman.
There is no chance for corrutptionists in the s-ystem
because, if the people find their clothes, their table provisions, their coal and medicines come too high, they
begin to clamor about it. They agitate. They hold
indignation meetings. They take their grievance before their central councils. They take it to their own
hearth and home. The irregularity is first discovered
by the housekeeper; wno is the first to bring her suspicions of knavery to the attention of her husband. The
detective proclivities of every newspaper finds its noblest sanction, its harvest andcl heaven in it. Political
economy in this system becomes alike, the poor man's
and the rich man's economy. This is the first budding
of the true, honest, earnest, just and humanity-saving
political economy.
INQUIuY.   On what other points have you determined
that may come under the category of Details?
ANswER.      It is safe to conjecture that the outlines
of the system may consist as follows
First:    An Electedl Mayor, or Municipal Governor
Second:      An  Elected Common Council.
Third:    The Division of the City or Communit-y,
wherever it may  be, into a certain number of Districts,
C),
i) 
A LABOR CATECHISM4
Fourth:   A Great Central Provision Depot with RailRoad communication and Telegriaph Lines.
Fifth:    A Bureau of Fluctuations.
Sixth:    An Official Bulletin containing a price-current for each week, and Principles of the system.
Seventh:    A  system of telegraphy, by which the
cook, the housewife and the sick patient may for one
cent, send an order for what they want and receive
the package required, - the payment for the package
being given at the Telegraph Office, at the quoted
price.
Eighth:    The  Delivery,  conducted as follows:First:  There is a central market into which the wholesale buyers send the goods. Second: In this market
is a general Telegraph Office. Third: Radiating in different directions from this market, and among the people  at convenient points, are hundreds of Sub-Stations,
connecting by Telegraph, with the General Office. Fourth:
A Telegraph Boy or Girl at every office. Fifth: The
Delivery Service, with Head Quarters at the general
Telegraph Office. This Delivery of goods may be done
by horse or steam wagons. All the telegraph Offices
are open eight hours each day, and the expedition of
the wagons is at least once a day; or more if the
people desire. This expedition of the goods is made
regularly and at known intervals, and through known
and appointed routes.  The manner of enjoying advantages of this system is as follows: Each house is furnished with the Bulletin containing a price list Any one
wishing a market bill has only to consult the price list,
.and from it make out a list on paper of the articles
required; and with this  go to the nearest  Tele,graph
'-34 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.,
station, pass in the order, the address, and the money
for the goods. This order is then dispatched to the
Central Bureau, with the address; and the provisions or
other goods thus ordered are delivered at the house by
the first delivery wagon.
These are some of the rough outlines. Any subsequent, practical details might show the further venture
of ours in relation to operations of a practical kind and
their application, to be unsafe.
DELEGATE.    Do  you corl,sicler that the government
postal department acts as an example to be patterned
after?
ANSWER.     In very many respects.  The postalsystem
offers the same incentive to the people, to study and
to require honesty in its administraL'i   It is, like
this supply system, a service that comes right home to
every man, woman and child.  Like the supply service,
it depends upon the cheapness with which it transacts
its business. Like the supply service, it enters into
legislation and depends upon the political intelligence
of the people for its success. Like the supply service
it depends upon celerity and certainty in its evolutions.
But the postal service has many bad elemients. The
great principle involved in it is badly contaminated by
the contract system.  It is political only in the merest
nominal form. Contractors use it as an instrument wherewith to degrade political action. As all the officers of
the postal service are appointed they combine to secure
the con'linuance in the offices of their superiors  who
appointed them. These appointed office holders, however honest their intentions when they begin, tend to
bscome, on accoun-t of temptations that beset their office,
35 
A LABOR CATECHISM{.
the meanest of tricksters.  They allow manhood to be
trailed in the dust for the sake of keeping their positions, and thus securing the emoluments of a contract.
The theory is this: When a new Administration comes
into power a new post master is appointed.  This man
finds it to his political advantage to secure the appointment of such subordinates as are surest to wield an influence towa d his reappointment at the close of his term.
The administrative ability, therefore, of his subordinates,
is not so much consulted as the power they can exert in
maintaining him. If the people should elect these subordinates would they not vote for administrative ability?
The post master, as it is, naturally choses politicians as
his subordinates,  who  are versed in all the various
mysteries and trickery of bribing, ballot-stuffing, and
contract jobbery; and who often know or care the least
about attending to the people's business. Not so in the
elective system where the people themselves do the
appointing.  The appointing system has proved the bane
of our republican institutions. It is full of subtlety and
intrigue; it is as insidious as treason itself and must not
be permitted to enter into this scheme of economic
supply.
There is nothing about the postal system that worlks
badily, except this habit of jobbing its work to private
individuals and corporations known as the contract system. The people are finding out, thirough the abuses
and annual deficits which involve them in debt, that this
system of contracting their work out to labor brokers,
is pernicious in a high degree and must be supplanted
by government railroads, telegraphs, and other means
which shall do this work for them through the direct or
86 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
co-operative process;  and without the intermediaries at
all. Furthermore, all employ6s should be hired by the
year, or day, and not by the quantity, or piece; be.
cause the latter holds the seeds  of competism.    The
principles on which this new political, co-operative
home supply is based, are, therefore, directly anti-monopolistic. The Officers are elected by the people at fitting periods; and all men and women engaged in the
service under them are to be paid by the year. The
books are kept by law; open to investigation and censure.  An  annual report must be  officially  made,  and
the various articles of dry goods, groceries,  fuels and
medicines must be furnished to the people at their minimumn cost.  Like the co-operative  stores of England,
they must be of the first class only; and the country,
far and wide must be searched for the best and the
cheapest.
It is here again, that the present competitive system
of supply is practicing the grossest outrages upon the
people. It is conducted by individuals for individuals.
JSut the most lamentable phlease is, that it is not universal but partial.   The grocers themselves  need, of
course, pay no more for their own provisions than the
cost prices.  All the well-to-do people  if they have  any
eye to economy, can buy their provisions at some advantage, more or less.   That is to say, they do not pay
the full retail prices  they get  them less.   It is only
the working majorities, the poor, who have no advantages of leisure, or of mutual  reciprocity,  or of prestige, who  must  pay these bills of extortionate price.
It is they who, for want of combination and wisdom,
are forced to enrich this powerful, numerous, well corn
31 
A. LABOR CATECHISM
bined  and better educated class of intermediary dealers
which your Delegation represents And it is these poor
people, made poorer in proportion as you are made
richer, who have determined at last, and after long
ages of hunger and deprivation, to attempt this plan
of co-operation for self supply which you very naturally deplore.
DELEGATE.        This scheme may  look beautiful on
paper, but before  you accomplish  anything you  must
expect our opposition; and that of all the class in sympathy with us, which is very numerous and powerful.
REsPONSE.    Powerful only through wealth and prejudice. Numerous only in the cities and towns. The proletariat or non-favored class are in the majority everywhere;-even in the great centres of congregated labor,
like New York, or Manchester; but they are especially
in the majority in the country.
DELEGATE.       What! Do you expect to be heard, or
to be other than scouted by the Farmers' organizations?
ANsWER.  Not until they have studied their own interests more thoroughly. Until recently, there has always been too, strong a tendency of all people to regard our movements as something disreputable. Fools
look upon us with pity.   The fact is, the cause of the
slavery of working people is attributable to their own
stupid acquiescence  in the logic of their chains.   The
farmers, taken as a class are worse imposed upon if anything,  than  the  mechanics.   They are just beginning
to see great advantages in combination.   But in order
to see its full advantages  they must lay aside their
prejudices against what they imagine to be disreputable,
and learn to pity less.  In short, there is no permanent
38 
'OF POLITICAL ECONOLY.
und complete relief for them, except in this co-operation
with mechanics and laborers of the cities. The two
classes combined in this political co-operation can in a
few years sweep away all kinds of mercenary opposition
,by dint of political party tactics.
DEL LEGATE.    Will you enlighten us with further details
of your methods?
ANswER.    At the great centers, say of New York,
Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, and other cities, a central
Bureau of supplies is created by the commissioners, or
puiweyors of the city, who are elected.  Attached to this
central bureau or depot are all the modern arrangements
of telegraphy and telephony.
Let us suppose, that a central depot is stationed, say
at the old Washington Market; New York City.   Then
in each of the wards of New York, Brooklyn and the environing towns are little telegraph stations.  Teams connect from the great central depot with the people who
thus receive their supplies through a government railroad and water communication, with the farmers the?mselves in all parts of the country.  This system binds producers and consumers together with no possible chance
for monopoly.
A  board of purveyors, or commissioners of supply
is elected annually whose duty it is to inspect every
article, keep down rings, permit none but the best to
enter the market, buy directly from the best supply mar kets, and keep the prices of the provisions of each week
advertised ahead; so that house-keepers may have only
to consult the Saturday's paper containing the official
price-list of articles, for the ensuing week.   At all con venient points electrical stations connect with the many
39 
A LABOR CATECHISM
centres.  Any person wanting a beefsteak, or any refreshment, has only to step out to the telegraph station,
deposit the amount as advertised, for the article required
and go home.   When the hour of expedition arrives,
the porter is at the door with the package.  The feasibility, beauty and cheapness, of this system  are selfapparent.   By it, the people rid themselves of poisons
that now infect, more  or less, nearly everything  we
consume.  By it the old English and French co-operations are introduced practically; only in a political way
through the genuineness of every article bought. By it,
the prices may be abated from five  to five hundred
per-cent.;  and the present freebooters in our market
system are forced to relinquish their strong hold where
they have so long and mercilessly prowled upon the
defenseless people.
Any one doubting the practicability of this system,
has only to carefully study the similar evolutions of the
Steam Fire Engine Department; the only blur upon the
aalogyl being the fact that the Fire-extinguishing
Department is a trifle more in the interest of the capitalis   than of the non-property holders; since houses,
stores, churches-even streets, and cities themselvesare property of a comparatively few individuals; and their
numbers are few in comparison with the masses who
tenant them. The co-operation for safety from fires,
therefore, acts intensely in the interest of everybody; but
especially, in the interest of these comparatively few
owners; while that of the Municipal Market is more in
the direct interest of the poorest class or those who
are now too helpless to avoid the exorbitant market
prices tlihat keep them poor. Just in proportion, then,
-40 
OF POLITICAL ECONOM IY.
as the easier class are able to avoid these high prices
by purchasing in large quantities, watching the market
eliminating petty rings, and utilizing their commodious
cellars which the poor cannot have, in such a proportion, do these well-to-do dealers seek to perpetuate the
system which enriches their own class, or those in sympathy with them, by impoverishing their proletarian
neighbors
The  Fire  Department is a complete  co-operative
organization of a class of citizens.  It is political.  Why?
Because it involves too large an area of the social
fabric to be merely social. The Fire Department is too
immense and too important to be contracted out. No
junto of contractors can have the Fire Department. The
intimate home interests of too many persons are at
stake.  So the people themselves take it, and operate
it in their own sovereign interests at cost; and the perfect success which has crowned the enterprise shows
the wisdom of the people. It is a successful politicoco-operative enterprise of the people. The Post Offic(.
is another. The Water Board is another. The School
System another. Their purity depends upon the absence
of brokers or contractors among them.  They are too
numerous to mention.
Now in the face of all these exquisite specimens of
popular co-operation as applied to specific purposes, how
long must the people be wronged by a diseased and
chronic system of supply? How long must their food,
clothing, fuel and medicines be doled out to them, by
profit-making persons operating in the dark, concocting
bargains, as purveyors for the defenseless masses who
are chained too low by their ignorance and poverty, to
41 
A LABOR CATECHISM
be dangerous; and binding yearly the thongs of destitution and infatuate slavery around them? How long
must this last in the dazzle of such an enlightened age
as this, when the people have no better excuse for their
miseries than apathy and ignorance?  A little political
organization of the truly useful classes; a little imitation
of these magnificent examples, whose very splendor
mocks them;  a little wholesome combination of independent work, in the direction of self-help, would sweep
away the shackles from their limbs, the cobwebs from
their vision, the lethargy from their nerves and launch
them out upon a field of co-operative economy, redundant
in manhood and gladness.
DELEGATE.      We are here to assure you that we
have no fear of the progress of your utopian system for
generations to come. The press bases its success upon
the opinion of society. The press rules. The public have
no opinion whatever of your affair. It is as unintelligible
to the public as it is obscure. The press wants moneya good thing which we possess. While we can, as now,
organize a pool and have the means of approaching and
dictating to the press through our subventions, you
will be wrangling with others, incapable of putting confidence in your own managers and too poor to hire managers from our ranks to carry on your business to a
successful financial issue.
ANsWER.      The politico-co-operative plan may be paradoxical, but it is far from being utopian. That it
depends upon the influence of the press exerted in its
favor, no one can deny. Neither shall we attempt to
denv that the press has -too often sold its honor to
monopolies who are secretly organizing to enslave and
42 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
degrade the people.  This is the mcrtal ignis fatuus that
degenerate+ the press while ever degrading the people.
But there lingers yet, in man, much that is noble; and
fortunately this element of honor, too much employed
hitherto, is seeking its exponent in the press.  The
newspaper makes a doubly sad mistake in perfidiously
sacrificing honor; sad in the fact that it degrades and
demoralizes its inner conscience; sad in the fact that
it falsifies the conditions upon which humanity depends
for happiness. The history of the newspaper shows that
notwithstanding the temporary advantages, sometimes
derived from influence, gifts and political subsidies, by far
the most successful newspapers are those that energetically take the part of the common people. In the public
school it is the duty of the newspaper to expose every
evil great or small, that exists, So in political affairs,
it is also its duty to bring all defaulters to an account.
The people invariably buy such papers.   They are sure
to get the largest circulation The subject matter of such
journals being motived in purity, the tone of their columns becomes spicy. A proclivity.to act the part of
the detective, grows in the editors and reporters of its
staff.  The people love to read the revelations of the
detective. They want news; and if anything is going on,
nobody has a better right to know it than the public.
To sift out truth and lay it bare before the eyes of the
whole people, in all its sickly phases, and amid all its
ghastly surroundings, is the true function of the newspaper; and those sheets that yield to bribery, though
they may seem to thrive for a time, are doubly doomed
liars; in that they palm off falsehood rather than truth
for the people,  calling it news,  thus  demoralizing
4a 
A LABOR CATECHISM
public opinion, and they lie to their own consciences,
thus demoralizing themselves.
DELEOTE.    How  can the newspaper  come  to the
rescue of a system which few candid persons can subscribe to? It would be death to any newspaper enterprise to attempt to foist an idea upon the people that
cannot be comprehended by the average man.
RESPONSE.    The press has an extraordinary idiosyncracy or a peculiar belief in regard to its "average man."
It is well enough to truckle to mental middlings, even at
the expense of manhood, for the sake of maintaining a
well filled purse; but not at the expense of common sense.
That is going too far. The elements of success are plainly
visible in every phase of Politico-co-operation. All
the peeple want is a clear, plain explanation.   These
people are in the majority over the vendors of the day.
They are the larger part of the newspaper-reading public. If the feasibility of this plan with all its arguments,
accompanied by diagrams, were plainly and boldly set
forth by newspapers, as points of the current news, like
awy other interestiing invention, it would find support in
the favorable opinion of the public. It is the custom
of the newspaper to devote money and space on every
important invention. Should the discovery of a motive
power be made  that were better than any now in use,
no matter how many steam engine manufacturers it
might threaten or how many millions of organized and
operating capital  it might bankrupt,  or how  many
thousands of employees it might deprive of labor, the
press would nevertheless, take an active interest in the
discovery;  and it is equally the duty of the press notwithstanding this possibility of a revolution of things,
44 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
among the market dealers of a city, to take an equally
active interest in any new and good system of distributing provisions among the people   Let the people
organize in clubs, in the different communities and
boldly maintain Politico-Co-operation and the press will
publish the news.
CHAIRMAN.    Not alone the press, and all the most
respectable business concerns upheld by public opinion
will be against you but also the entire orthodox Church,
which includes a respectable majority of the people.
ANsWER.    It is the duty of the Church  and all
other great organizations tc contribute their share in
all movements for the benefit of man.  The Church most
especially, ought to aid in the development of a good
method of provisioning the people  because it is democratic. The Church claims to be democratic; since it
seeks to admit and provide for the welfareof all, without regard to race, color, sex or condition. It is, therefore, just the organization that should be foremost in
an effort to relieve poor people and place them under the
influence of angels rather than of devils.
DELEGATE..   Religion has always proved itself out of
place when tampering with the temporal affairs of people.
The Church is an organization with an exclusively spiritual object.
ANswER.    True, it so claims to be; but souls have
some sympathy and business connection with our bodies,
more material. To be religious is to have the soul softened into love for living mankind. How can a man
learn to love his neighbor as himself when his means
of existence  set him in ghastly antagonism with his
neighbor? It is not enough for a dozen, or a hundred
45 
A LABOR CATEClHIS
well-to-do persons  to be able to co-operate for their
own selfish interests. WTe want advantages opened for
the poorest of the poor. The very poorest are those
who most need charity, the boasted virtue of religion;
yet the Church, in giving them no material aid leaves
them in the depths of every misery.  Not having means
they linger in squalor and rags a condition too profane
to admit of the education of emotions or the desire to
enter the carpeted halls or sit upon the cushioned seats
of church edifices.  They are out of place there.  Thousands of'people, naturally intelligent enough, die every
year for the want of fruits which in our seaboard cities
can be had by the whole cargo for about one quarter the
money they are sold at, by our market dealers on the
day after their arrival.  There is wanted a practical
religion; one of whose tenets shall be to afford the poor,
needy sufferers, the means of bringing  such aliment
wvithinl their reach. Souls and consciences are always in
a state of rebellion so long as they are girdled in by
disease, poverty  ignorance  and other seeds of crime
Politico —co-operation as a government economy,  would
save humanity, giving people, in mass, the means of saving themselves from the ravenous wolf of need.  Igno
rance and suffering are the initial animus of blashemy
and crime. Let the Christian begin right, and show his
charity in practical earnest or the critical majority looking at the havoc of unabated sin, will continue to sneer
him down as a hypocrite. Religion is assimilated with
purity and development. How can a man live purely
without the practical means? Religion means goodness.
How can you expect this in the toils of squalor and
rags 9  Tile mistake is that religion refuses to touch tile
46 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
'labor queston   In truth, it stands in inexpressible need
,of the practical appliances which characterize successful
business.'You cannot soften-a desperado's heart until
you smoothen the approaches to it.  To provide these
means of distributing food at cost prices, and of furnishing the people with fresh oranges, lemons, apples and
other fruits and delicacies direct from the ships. and of
purchasing them direct, by the cargo, is to repeat Christ's
practical benevolence in providing bread for a multitude.
But what killed Him was the fact that He was not in the
interest of speculators who now hold the monopoly over
I*  Church.  How can people get time to elevate themselves to a disposition to obey the mandates of Christ, a
lowly workingman, when in a community like New York,
Brooklyn, Jersey City and environs, they are summer
after summer  slowly rotting with disease?   Remove
the causes of disease. The River Hudson, called one of
the most beautiful in the world wafts on its slow waters,
mfillions of tons of mnalaria-breeding offal, past this great
cra.munaity every year. Horses, cattle hogs, sheep, dogs,
cats, rats and even human beings, in all the sickening
puitrescence of every conceivable state of decomposition.
The sewerage of great cities and populous towns, rotting reekings from a thousand hamlets, putrefying exerement, blood and offal finom a hundred abattoirs and fishshiambles are vomited fteth from great sewer-mlainis into
the mouth of this beautiful river making its water doubly
brackish with their foul disintegration-poison, whose
noxious emanations floating on the in-bound breezes are
swallowed into the steich-abhorrilng lungs of the poor.
The rich and wiser class can escape to the mountains
and the waters where the air is sweet.  It is~the poor
47 
A LABOR CATECHISM
and the thus defiled whom it is religion's duty to purify
who are abandoned, for want of wisdom and means of
escape to all the ghastly summer epidemics and contagions.  Men and women of the mire blaspheme  God
and hate both God and man when under the torture of
disease. The remedy must come in the removal of the
carrion; and this, it seems, is too much like work for the
Church in easy opulence.
Yet this application of politico-co-operation would
soon open men's eyes to a great and double economy.
This very offal so fearfully destructive to humanity when
left to putrefy in the stagnating eddies of our rivers, is
of great value to farms and gardens; and the chemnical
process is by no means wanting whereby to convert it
into a fertilizer equal to the richest guano. In Paris and
other cities of the east large sums are paid to city treasuries, by companies, for the mere privilege of sweeping
streets, and the cleanliness of the streets of Paris, is
renowned. But there is no justice even in letting the
work out to companies; for the cities could do this work
direct. The filth of our streets and rivers would be worth
millions of dollars annually, to the city treasuries, if it
were converted into manures for fertilizing gardens and
farms; and it is a shame  that such resources of disease
should be allowed to remain, without either practical or
moral protest from churches or boards of public works.
The alimentation of the inhabitants of our cities as well as
the work of keeping them healthy should be performed
by the people in common.
DELEGATE.    Do you propose to start this system in
your social co-operations?
AsWER.      Certainly.   And any councii, or club of
48 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
co-operators can start it. A dozen men and women may
organize.  After selecting a nook in which to safely put
their goods say the basement of a residence of one of
the members, using the parlor floor as a hall to meet in,
and partake weekly of the business and social enjoyments-purchasing and auditing committees are created
to begin the work.  The goods are sold to members who
have trade cards or credentials. Bills of purchase, and
accounts of sale must be regularly and thoroughly audited
and balanced, and then reported to the council. This
becomes the head center. Similar associations may exist
around it, too far away for families to come for goods.
The telegraph or telephone system when the organization has become strong enough, does away with every
difficulty. Allpurchases and all sales are supervised and
audited by the head committee.  Whenever the system
has grown too large to be merely social it will naturally
take the political form like the fire department, the water
board or the public school.
DELEGATE.  But what about that great, much talked-of
commodity known in commerce as liquor? If you can
mnanage by co-operation the supply of table stores why
can you not in the same way manage the supply of beverages?  Wou!d not such a method as you have pictured
apply also to their distribution, so as to sap the profits of
saloon keepers by giving applicants a chance to order a
purer article directly from a government storage dep6t or
warehouse?
A-SWER.  Yes. All liquors maybe manufactured, stored
and dispensed by government, and upon the same vast
scale. By this means the true interests of the people are
subserved in two ways: first, by buying the best distilling and fermenting products through the direct, instead
49 
A LABOR CATECHISM
of the prevailing roundabout system which is cheating
the farmers.  High-wine concerns fleece the overtasked
agriculturists cruelly to gratify a greedy impulse little
better than that of the highwayman.   Not unfrequently
they cheat in another way, by working poor cereals into
the liquors; and cover the deception by adding another,
in form of a seasoning of cheap and dangerous poisons
The people, the great conscientious mass, would not allow
this if they could rectify the calamity at the ballot box.
Secondly, the true interests of the people are subserved
by simplifying both the methods of production and distribution. It is co-operation wherein people deal directly
with one another without making use of these middlemen
at all. Nothing is simpler, for it follows the well-tried
lines of business as exhibited in the post office or a fire
extinguishing service in a city. The people will thus be
emancipated from the powerfully organized greed-inceitive of the go-betweens who for their paltry baubles of
profit create statutes to legalize and foster fashions and
concoctions that wheedle and entice humanity into the
envenomed paths of self-destruction. No. There is no
solution for this question of rum except to submit it, on
these lines of political economy, to the vote of the people
of both sexes, relying upon their slow judgment coupled
with experience and their honest and tender solicitude
for the victims they love. Give the masses this opportunity unrestricted, and they will adjust the manufacture
and distribution of liquors to their new, equitable andl
scientific belongings.
50 
CHAPTER IL.
THE IRRESPONSIBLE POOR.
VISIT WITHII THE OUTCASTS, UNFORTUNATES, FELOIqS,
AND TRAMPs.
WANDERER.        We  are told that there is in store for
us, a means  by  which we, the  socalled "irresponsible
poor," may obtain pleity of that which we  all desire,.
but which is so hard to obtain, viz: work. A guaranty of it and, decent  compensation.   We  represent a
class of people, who are said to infest the country rather than live in it. We are looked upon as loathsome
enemies and treated as such. The onlv habitations supplied us by your society or government  are poor houses,
and prisons.  Such is our condition by nature and by circurnstance.  We  do not come  to hear  repeated against
us, the world's worn-out complaints.  We  are just what
we are - the out-laws of society - and ever have been..
Nothing can care our case but work, without degrada —
tion.  If we must suffer the latter, we prefer to degrade
........ 
A LABOR CATECIHIISM
ourselves anc enjoy the benefits of it, rather than be
degraded by employers. There is a certain enjoyment in
our degradation  and we prefer to have it rather thai
be subjugated to others.
OBSERVATION.      The poor house must become the rich
house.  That only can cure your case.  The government
should furnish us all an asylum.   Why  should you be
furnished with a home at the public expense, and we
left out in the cold? What makes the pool- house life
a humiliation and a shame is the contempt that attaches to its accommodations and surroundings. Many a rich
house is less lavishly funded, and actually poorer than
the poor house. Society is not managed by the people,
but by a few individuals; and they, iii addition to being
poor managers, have stamped a curse upon all those,
whose turn of genius and peculiar aptitudes render them
incompetent to manage for themselves.
WANDERER.        Instead of providing us many honored work-shops we are provided all occasional unhonored one. But we do manage for ourselves. If nature has
adapted us for anything it is for this; and we are followed by your society from which we are outcasts, because we have this independence to strike for ourselves.
We possess adaptiveness, each of us to his or her peculiar sort of business.  The tramp among us has both
ability and independence. Turned out of work by no
matter what cause, he has too much enterprise to sink
into slavering mendicancy.  He  does  not hold out the
commonli beggar's hand. Should a war occur -which is
his constant hope - he is the first to enlist and fight;
for he longs for occupation. In times of profound peace,
he wanders in search of employment; and begs  or de
52 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
mands, or gets by his wits, that which he cannot get
by pillage; for like the plebeian of old, he belongs to the
class for whom society makes no provision and has not
even a hearth or sacred fire, to worship at. And further, like the plebeian, his increasing numbers and. belligerent spirit are likely to gain the priority some day,
over those who now fail to recognize his right to live.
What is true of the wandering tramp, is, in many respects, true of the worse degraded and downtrodden
class of abandons.  Can it be  said of them  that they
would  not accept  and  prefer honorable  positions, at
which to earn  a livelihood?   The  imputation heaped
upon them that they are indolent, is entirely inconsistant with truth.   You will observe this,  when you
consider that the labor they actually undergo is far
more tedious  and wearing  than the labor of earning
a living respectably.   It is not  true if you say that
these outcasts have not characteristics within theiii which
are valuable, if the world in which they live were
leniently and economically adjusted. Nor is it true that
such people are naturally heartless and brutal.
OBSERVATION.       We  are willing to admit  that what
you say in defense of your people is mostly true.
But do you not think,  that  both  on  your part  and
that of the  world,  there is an unnecessary  bitterness?
What society is mostly in  need of,  is the knowledge,
and adoption,  of a system  by  which  all these good
points you extol in the people you represent, may be
employed and paid in a manner that shall be profitable to all the parties.   There is need of more mutual
association  and less individualism in  the  management
of these talents.- Under the individualist system, this
53 
A LABOR CATECHISM
cannot be brotught about because the individual cravings for profit, keep rife the spirit of competition; and
where people strive to out-do each other, there is antagonism and rivality. The country stands in great need
of enormous and splendid work houses, sufficiently nuinerous to accoi-modate us all rather t/han the present
few degrading ones.  In  large  work  shops,  working
people do not rank by the merits of their antecedents.
In this country the question is seldom asked a mechanic, or laborer, where do you hail firom, or what have
you done? If you are a good, faithful hand it is sufficient for the purposes of the business.  We  mean  by
this that there exists little or no aristocracy in the workshop. In the petty work-houses now operated by government, this question is asked; because misdemeanor,
or poverty,  is the suspected  cause  of a person being
there.  But if the people had a work-shop conducted on
an immense scale, where there were a demand for employ6s in large numbers, no such questions would be
asked; because the people's asylum, would then be merged into the people's manufactory.  It would furnish both
employment and thus correct misdemeanor. It would be
proudly yours and be at your bidding. Besides, it would
be perfectly respectable. If all the people had such an
asylum to work in, we should avail ourselves of the opportunrity as frequently as you and class you on an equal footing. Governments must learn to provide them
for us. This will cure the social evil.
aWANDERER.      It is useless to waste time in thinking about such an elysium as you p'aints in lieu of the
poor-house and penitentiary work-shops. There are too
many rich rulers of the nation's industries, who operate
54 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
production on the profit system to admit of any such
co-operation of the people for self employment and supply.
OPTNION.     Not at all.  It is true that competitive
labor exceeds the co-operative, at present; but the same
was the case in regard to the public schools, a hundred
years ago.  For many years, people of the easy class
thought it was compromising their dignity to send their
children to the public school, to be educated free. It
looked like putting them on the town.    The institution nevertheless, prospered; because it was maintaiied, as it were, by endowment of this well-to-do class
themselves, who actually paid for it through taxes, irrmposed by government.
It was constantly against  their pecuniary  interest,
to cavil with their pride; and the conviction became
doubly strong  when  they saw that by  sending  their
children to select schools they were compelled to pay
twice for  their  instruction.   Sober reflection  is now
rapidly prevailing against prejudice; and the private or
select schools are dying out. The public school opens
its door free to all; and it affords them great opportunities,  benefiting  alike,  rich and  pool, developing
national intellect and leveling social grades  which after
all, are found to be nothing but an idea.
But the difference is infinately greater between the
poor-house, or penitentiary work-shop and the Public
School, than between the Select and Public School.
A government poor-house or county-house is an object
of disgust and humiliation.   It infects a neighborhood
for miles around it.  Society  which always has a small
percentage of indigent, sickly, demented,  and otherwi.se
55 
A LABOR CATECHISM
disqualified persons, huddles them together in the cominin
poor-house; and low and distastefuil beings are thus forced
into contact Obscenity and profanity meet and greet.
Bad habits grow little better, in contact with disrepute.
They learn to recognize misfortune which the world's
censure and sneers charge them with. Their health may
be cared for, but the stamp of obloquy fastens upon their
names. They are in the poor-house and this is their disgrace. What can be expected of such a government
Institution but a moral stench, infecting society, miles
around it?  There is no mixture  or variety.  Its own
dreary sameness stagnates; and its natural elements are
far from sweet.
The greater government work-shop, obviates all this
difficulty, by affording impartial  erployment  for any
member of society, mixing all together;-the ungifted,
as helpers of the gifted- and rewarding all; not with
contempt to one  and honor to another   but each  according to actual productive  mnerit.  It thus entirely
leaves relative social merit out of question and cavil,
and recognizes all as citizens.   Beggars  and  tramps
would gladly avail themselves of such a woi-k-shop;
whereas, they dread the poor-house. The result would
save society much of the disgusting and demoralizing
work of intrusive beggars and marauding tramps.
WANDERER.    Education, and its methods are one
thing; means of existence, another. They are two very
different things.
REsPONSE.    Yes, practically they are different; but
they are identical in principle. The public school is certainly a hundred years in advance of the public workshop. But the public school is as superior to the peni
661 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
tentiary and poor-house-school, as the public work-shop
will be, to the penitentiary and the county workhouse. It is as much the duty of society to guarantee
you labor, where you may all be independent and happy, as it is to furnish you schools  where you may receive instruction.
WANDERER.        You have passed laws compelling us
who are of a certain age  to attend school;  knowing
very well that we have no means to do so.  We have
no time to go to school We must pick rags, search
ash barrels, pick up coals, coke and wood, black boots,
sell papers,  grind  organs,  court  paramours,  juggle,
prowl, pilfer, and otherwise profit off our own wits,
and others' hen-roosts.   All the time is occupied  in
getting a bare living; how can we go to school?
CO-ESS1ON.    Your question is the same  that discovered the discrepency in this law of compulsory education. You are quite correct. You cannot go to school
You must live by some labor; and if the law that would
force you to attend the public school fiils to provide
you a place to work  so that you may liv(, it makes a
stupid mistake. Tt is an incompatibility whichl can only
be rectified by another Institution that shall provide a
supply of labor by government.   It is clear that you
must be guaranteed a comfortable home and work, of
some kind during a certain portion of the day. The law
of compulsory education ought to provide labor as a necessity for your class; else it can never go fully into
force; and this fact is, of itself, sufficiently strong to
cause, sooner or later, the establishment of government
employment among the people. Compulsory Education,
and Government Work-shops go hand in hand.
57
I 
A LAB3OR CAIECilISM
WANDERER.       It would indeed, be a happy changlh
from our present miserable condition, to be thus favorably benefited, each with a home; to have respectable work
furnished us; to be looked upon by our fellow men no
longer with contempt and fear, but in the sweet spirit of equality and friendship.   Furnish the outcaststhe tramps, the unfortunates, and all others, for whom
society now makes no provision -furnish us all a safe,
and steady place to work, where our peculiar constitutional adaptibilities may be practically applied; put us
where our neglected minds, abused bodies, and broken
hearts shall be trained, trimmed and healed; and let us
mingle with the good, and profit by their counsel; in
short, give to the neglected and despised, this noble asylum of labor that by an impartial and just government,
is guaranteed us, by right of our inherited citizenship,
and you will rid the world of many an evil doer and illuminate human society, in places now shadowed by the
darkness and sin of despair.
REMARK.       It should  be  understood that the social
element must enter largely into the methods of labor. It
cannot be denied that co-operation contains something of
this social principle. But in a system of government employment where manufactories are providedfor the people,
by the people themselves, the longed-for economical independence of the working portion of society, is readily
realized. Yours is a peculiar class of people who of themselves, think little about bringing such an arangement into the world. It must be done by their aid. They will
not do it themselves; but when it is done they will accept and sustain it.   A respectable position guaranteed a
girl- no matter what her habits might previously have
I 
OF POLITRICAL ECONOMY.
been- secures her respectability and independence. In it,
she can always be respected. She need not expect to get
this position in a joint stock company, because her claim
of citizenship  which is all she possesses, has no force.
She cannot expect anything of an individual concern, because the espionage of individualism will pass censorship
upon her former life.  But her SHARE IN CITIZENSHIP,
dignifies her claim to a permanent position in an establishment, in the land of her birth. Here only can she
demand labor by right of her inheritance. The story of
individual industries is as old as history. They have appallingly failed in your grievous case. They must be
supplanted by those of mutual care.
WANDERER.    Will you give us an idea of the grounds;
upon  which a government industry should be based?
RESPONSE.    Your question is one that requires plain
language in its answer.  The laws of co-operation apply
nearly the same in production and distribution. Gov ernments, however, have had comparatively little experi ence in pure production, whether of agriculture or man ufacture. We will suggest one of pure government man ufacture. Among the numerous staple articles that lack
a thorough and economical administration in the method
of production, is bread. There is a surprising waste of
time, money, and labor, in its manufacture. In the city
of New York there are a thousand bread bakeries. Each
is an individual concern, possessing its own little adminis tration. Each has its owner who oversees, and its work
men, its salesmen, and porters. There is no system re garding the territory that each is to supply. Consequent ly, wagons are kept running across each other's routes,
and the ground is gone over many times each day, be
St
I
II 
A LABOR CRATECtIISM
fore the distribution is made; thus incurring much loss
of time and waste of labor. A careful computation on
this competitive interfering with neighbors' routes reveals
enormous losses on the part of the people  in the econ omy of their effort, just in this one article of bread.
The flour necessary to supply these bakeries is never
shipped, in a methodical mlanner to them from one canal boat, train or ship. It is first allowed to go through
the h-ands of brokers  or commission-men; each one of
whom  sends it to his particular customers. The smaller
and m[ore numerous these bakeries and the more isolated their business administrations the better are the opportunities offered for adulterating the flour and deceiving in weight. The bakers have all the advantage; the
people none.  Besides  this, many  bakers can  organize
themselves into a protective union and in a mutual and
secret way frame rules for the regulation of prices and
thus substitute Monopoly for competition; and while people are made to believe they are getting their bread
at low prices, they are actually paying enormously for
a badly adulterated article.
WANDERERR.   WVhat plan do j on propose for preventing such wrongs?
ANsWER.      In the cities of Lyons, Lausanne,  Halifax, and Rochdale, in Europe, there  are  co-operative
bakeries, which are owned by  a large number of per-.
sons. These bakeries supply, not only the families of
the member but also all the people who desire to buy
of them. Now the members or owners, of the co-operative bakery, have no desire to make money. Their
only desire is to get pure, wholesome bread, at cost
price.   They hire their own bakers,  and consequently
60
i 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
are an administration of themselves. They have found
by a long experience that the larger the average numhber of loaves baked, the cheaper they can be produced.  They get them at cost.  Nobody speculates on
a pecuniary profit. They hire their own workmen, buy
their own flour, employ no brokers, and eat unpoisoned bread. Besides this, they employ themselves. Now
let us return to the New York bread bakeries. Suppose the people here should erect a great bakery sufficiently large to supply the whole city, from one single administration. In other words, suppose there were
an immense bread baking establishment in New York,
which had  capacity  for  supplying all the people with
bread, daily; and that it were the property of the entire
people somewhat like the Fire Departments, the Water
Works, and the Public Schools.  Do you not see, that it
would be co-operation of the citizens, for bread tile some
as at Lyons, Rochdale and Lausanlne?   The  differeilce
is only in the comparative numbers   not in the l)rinciple.
Now  we know  that the Fire  and Police Departments
furnish a great mmny situations for people having children; and that these clildren are thus afforded means of
attending our Public Schools. In law, parents are obliged
to send their children to the Public School, in some states.
Practically, however, many can do no such thing  because
they are too pioor.  If they had workl, and even a small
recoinpens(, the law might be observed.  Many vagrant
children like our poor little wanderers of both sexes, our
unfortunate girls, our uncultivated tramps  or those who
become such, would, if the law enforced it, attend school
and receive instruction; thus ridding city and cotuntry of
61
I 
A LABOR CATECIlSM
much ignorance and the attendant crimes and vices nat.
ural to ignorance. But without the Public Industry the
Public School is unable to perform its true function; and
the Law is necessarily a dead letter;-a miserable mockery.
WANDERER.  Now you have touched the interesting
point of our case. It is true that nothing but the compulsion of law which opens up our opportunities and
as rigidly enforces their participation, can ever turn us
fromnt wickedness. Many believe we are born to do evil;
but although some of us, as of yourselves, are born with
evil minds, yet our ranks develop many  good citizens;
and if we had these excellent opportunities we might
develop more.
REMARK.   In theory, this law is right  in compelling your education. The city cannot afford, on grounds
of political economy, to allow, either your ignorance,
vagrancy, or disgrace. We have no moral right to go
prowling in quest of things that do not belong to us;
or to do that which is uncomely and pernicious. It is not
just that people should live upon their wits, studying
nothing but methods of advantage-getting.  This robbing hen-roosts, and other pillage and this begging, fighting, tramping and decoying persons in the streets, of
which you speak, is, intrinsically, pernicious, when reduced to habit; no matter to what extent, your needfuI condition may excuse the offense. We ought, all,
to be allowed some profitable work.  The same law that
would compel you to attend the Public School must
break away from its own absurdities.  It is a dead let.
ter because it is incompatible with circumstances. A bakery would employ thousands of people. They wonld be
62 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
iiployed by the Board of Public Works which has a
direct communication with the Board of Public Instruction, The law requires that children attend school.
The officers of the law would no longer be baffled in
enforcing it; because they would have recourse to the
Board of Public Works, in securing situations for parents  who are now too poor to send their children to
school. If the children have no parents, positions must
be assigned them direct, dmuring certain hours each day.
As it is, there are, unfortunately, no such positions.
There  is not  a single  Public Industry  to off-set against the Public School -the verypoinit wherein our
political economy  is  lame.    But  the public  bakery
would supply some of this deficiency. It furnishes employment for many thousands  and i.t is a peculiar class
of employment that adapts itself to the capabilities of
your particular people. The bakeries of this city employ boys during certain hours  each day,  as porters,
girls as clerks, men as bakers. With the exception of
the latter, these are occupied only a part of the day.
The remainder of the time may be occupied in study
and rest.  The demands of the law of Compulsory Education would force the needy of your class into these
places as naturally as the law of gravitation fills with
air and water, the cavities of nature.
W AnDelRER.     Would not the result of such an industry be to displace from their situations large numbers of needy persons who are already employed in the
present baking industry of the city?
ANSWER.    This is no more a question under consid eration than was the establishment of Co-operative Bak eries at Lausanne, Lyons, and the cities of England. They
63 
A LABOR CATECHISM
did it because it became necessary; in order to secure
pure bread at wholesale price. In this they have succeeded. At Lausanne the Co-operative Bakery has actually reduced the price of bread in nearly all parts of
the Canton Vaudois  and taught speculators never more
to attempt to make wealth  out of profits on this most
important and staple article of food, for rich and poor.
Every one who knows the true extent of adulteration
and short weight from which many people of America,
are suffering in bread-stuffs, cannot fail to see that we
have great need of a similar system here. If co-operation cannot be applied  as at Lausanne, we must make
this many-headed wrong a subject of legislative enactment and introduce the Government Bakery, as a MIunicipal accommodation for the people.
WANDERER.   Will not the establishment of all Government Industries be so contraryto the present methods of production and deal that the competitive rulers will rise against us?
REsPONsE.   Wrong must sooner or later give way
to right. Individualism governed mankind thousands
of years before it was attacked by the old philosophers
of Greece, who with all their powers were unable to break
it down, because they were divided. This old individualism was so exclusive  and so absolute  that no  two
estates or houses were permitted, even to join.   They
must, by both divine and statute law, be separated from
each other. All through those ages harsh laws of primogeniture prevailed, that excluded wills and natural entailments and the whole of this class to which we belong.  Before the beginning of our era  there were  at
Rome actually two nationalities of people-the Patri
64 
OF POLITICAL ECONOS{Y.
clans and the common  people.  The  very touch of the
latter, defiled the former.  Thilere  was an aristocracy of
which  the poor could not  partake.   Solon of Athens
and Servius  of?omae, were  about tLo first of the real,
Labor Reformers  among  the Ancients  outside the se  cret Societies. Before the conflicts carried on by these
men, the cruel religious laws made outcasts of daughters
and younger sons. Homes were made sullen, forbidding
fortresses, whose ceaseless fires were aglow, in the hon  or of some god of the particular patrimony of each house;
and each succeeding inheritor of that aristocratic patrimtno  ny became, after death, that god. One will observe
then, that, bad as is the condition of the human race
to-day, we are much less shackled than in those old ages
of comparative superstition and ignorance.   The father,
and the first born son only, were privileged ones. They
owned everything by license of religion, law and usage, all
of which they themselves controlled. All others were
unprovided for, except,  by their  own shrewdness  and
what little they got through charity. Comparatively,
therefore, there were  in those times, many  more peo  ple of these predatory classes than at she present time.
During all those times, communistic organizations of re  sistence, formed from the aggrieved outcasts of your
class were constantly creating turmoils. There has al
ways been competition in society and always will be, un  til it receives its death blow by the institution of a sys  tem of labor, wherein  guaranteed employment   and just,
and honorable compensation for all shall be established by
the people themselves. Little progress can be claimed to  wardsetting wrong right, until the masses of the people
themselves  take their own grievanc,s in hand,  and de
.6.5 
A LABOR CATECHISM
stroy the huge evil of competism.  Competitors in power are now  comparatively few, andthey cannot holdout
against a wise and well directed organization of the people.
WANDERFR.        Do  you claim that the employment of
the people  by the government  is better  for  our  own
case than the system adopted by the social communities,
such as that at Oneida,  and those of the  shakers and
others?
ANsWER.       No.  It does not claim to  reach so  far.
These communities you mention, are miniatures of a far
future state of society in which there shall be agreement
among the people,  on points of industry,  religion, and
social habits. They may be called microcosms of a vast
system toward which this government employment may
possibly lead  and eventually  ultimate  in.   People are
proving themselves not only capable of furnishing members with constant employment and plenty, but they also engross some other things which the furnishing of
labor to the people by the government, may make it
possible for people as citizens, to do, by giving them
freedom to act. Our labor party will render it possible
for the people as citizens, to step farther, by emrancipating  them from the bondage  of want  in which you
and many others exist. No sensible person would do anything to stifle the formation or growth of these con)munities. Such societies ought to augment in numbers,
until every hill-s:ide and valley  has  its example.  But it
is clear that if they ever become thus numerous their
votes will be turned toward  the  propagation  of their
principles, until they themselves become a political power, and seek the guaranty and endowment of government
'66
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OF POLITICAL ECONOiIY.
on a large scale, by means of legislation.  But their syslem of equal compensations  covers too much ground.
Vie cannot hope soon to realize it.  We are all in the
great cauldron of competitive strife where human society
seems forever to be bubbling, sweating and suffering.
WANDEERR.       Mention was made of a system of equal
compensations.  Has it been adopted by any associations
or any governments?
RESPONSE.      Certainly.  It is in general use in the
family.  Because one child of a family of many children
is so unfortunate as to be born a cripple, or to be deprived of his physical or mental powers, the just and humane father does not think he should be deprived of the
means of life. The unfortunate child, on the contrary,
is often more beloved and better provided for than the
rest, because of his misfortune.
WANDERER.      We can easily conceive of such a thing
in the private family although it is seldom our own lot
to be so treated. But what of the rest?
ANSwER.   A community or an association of co-operators, is, to the same extent, conducted upon this family
principle of equal compensations. Now the main point
upon which outside society fails, is exactly the point
where the family communism succeeds.  We repeat that
it is too far for us to reach at present.
The idea, however, is as follows: We are becoming agreed that air, land and water are the gifts of nature. They cost nothing, except so far as labor is applied. Therefore, they should have no exchangeable
value. All value attributable to them, in justice, is that
which the hand of man has bestowed upon them in
form of Labor.  They are gifts of nature  and free to
C7.. 
A LABOR CATECItISMS
all, except  where they are wrongfully misallotted. Therefore, if air, land and water are gifts of nature and cost
nothing,  so also the innocent geniits that makes A. a
better accountant, B. a better blacksmith, C. a better
machinist, D. a superior farmer, is a free gift of nature.  It costs nothing.  They  were  born  with  that
gift.  Now  E. a stouter man, having a larger fatmily to
support  and consequently more wants to supply, works
by their side.   To learni his trade,  he has  served  a
longer apprenticeship and has worked more years. But
he is outstripped by A. B. C. and D. who are enldowed with a gift.  By means of that gift of nature they
are adroit in workmanship. This gift cost them nothizg.  Its exercise is their pleasure.  It is an unboughten aptitude, which is their pride, their praise, their
glory, their noblest recompense. Their bodies perhaps,
are smaller. They eat less, wear less, require less; but
by dint of  this gift of peculiar  adativeness  wvhich
costs them nothing, they easily excel E. who is stouter, eats more, needs more; and who, ungifted, labors
harder, with an equally honest heart. The question before the community and the family and that ought
to be before the government, is this: if E. works as
faithfully and needs more, is it just to pay him less?
()r, let us take another case:  A. is a scavenger.  B. is
a physician. A. works among the debris and the offal.
He cleans up the garbage. The sinks and the slumimy
places  in centre  and banlieue,  are, by himn  de-odorized and renovated. HIe is a better community physician  than all the practitioners of the  materia  medica.
Yet the world starves and spurns him.  If he is willing and useful  ought he not to have enough? Oulght
69
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OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
he not to be educated, refined, loved, and socially privileged with the rest'? Ought he not to have enough?
It is said he has no capacity; and therefore no claim.
Yes he has.  He  posesses  the  valuable gift of faithfulness  together with that most beneficent of gifts, humility. He is adapted to usefulness by humility, resignation, qtn-ambition, absence of pride, that would disqualify B, or C, for this disagreeable task.  How unjust then,
it must be   for us, to disdain  and cheat  this indispensable doctor, while we bow in honor to the physician
who rides in a carriage and exacts a heavy fee for
that which is often of less value. Is it not clear firom
these illustrations so often repeated in society, that the
old egotism  resting upon  assuined relative merit, constantly applied in. the competitive system  and so  uniformly averse to the idea of equal compensations, is
the very argument which, backed by immemorial usage, all the individualists and their joint stock companies,
and all the monopolists  ever'ave   sed and are still
using, as a means of getting superior rmaterial recompense
called )ay?
Is it not tllis argument which, b.a,,cd upon a no less
fickle and shifting founda,tion than received opinion, leaves
the willing and naturally honest  but ungifted multitude
to freeze and starve?  Is it not this one-sided, non-community of recompense  that has ever fostered  arrogance
and forced crinme?  These selfish instincts tend to throttle
knowledge  and development.    There seems no possible
method of adjusting this apparent incongruity caused by
the diversity of our aptitudes and capacities, except by a
sweeping adoption of this apothegm, namely:- JUSTICE
T)EMYNDS THAT WE WORK ALL FOR EAC.H; AND EACH FOR
69
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A LABOR CATECHISM
ALL; and  that we  struggle for the  adoption of equal
compensations.   There is no judging  from an average
of each workingman's capabilities.  Neither is there satisfactory economy in the aged system of competitions.
It is complex with disputes, rivalries, intrigues; and prof
ligate in a concomitant  waste industry  the great  advertising system.  No  community or co-operative society can affoird this expense  nor the enormous  waste that
attends these friction brakes in political economy. Simplicity, not complication in an invention, is what makes
it a practical success.   How  can we  judge  the exact
relative worth of a producer? Who can discriminate,
under the intricacies of circumstance, of prejudice, of
influence, of variety of relative grades, of advantages,
and disadvantages, to which the mass of human genius
and muscle is subjected in the present apportionment
of work and pay?   Can an  honest and  wise  public
afford to be harrassed by the competition, the dissatisfaction, the rivality and tendency to intrigue, that fester in an aggrieved  and slighted spirit?   Is not the
principle of equal compensation which guarantees a
sufficiency to all, the true leveller of class? Are JUSTICE
and EQUALITY compatible with class?
WANDERER.         Do  you claim that this system of
employing the people by the  people  themselves,  will
be better than the system adopted  by the close  associations whose governments have solved the problem
of labor  and even that of socialism itself?
ANSWER.      There is a resemblance    These  associations are fore-runners of the vaster government.   The
idea of government employment in the one, seems almost identical with that of the other. The well directed
70
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OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
little community contains nearly the same elements,
both in philosophy and practical detail, as the true empire of a wise and great people.   Each works  for its
members, the citizens; and each realizes that which it
works for. But the small close association, because it
is small, realizes its ultimatum earlier. It is, however,
the same perfection which the greater government, pur
suing the same course, will inevitably arrive at with
far better satisfaction as to personal freedom.  The close
associations are based  not only upon the idea of  fuirnishing members  with constant employment  and constant plenty but they drink in also, deeper sentiments,
which the furnishing of labor to the  people  by selfgovernment  makes it possible for members  to do, by
affording them freedom  economically.  The small  society, wisely managed, affords labor  to every  member
This labor is not excessive.   The  people  have  time
to think. They agree in joint deal from year to year;
and consequently become rich.   They live, labor  and
enjoy, on a method of just compensation.  With plenty,
and some leisure, and the accumulations of experience,
they are better prepared to put in practice the more
subtle points of socialism than the outside world.  They
are a little government. They can better attempt the
settlement of questions of mental culture, and even of
race culture than those in the midst of withering want
and prejudice, such as rage in competitive society. In
fact they have advantages which do not exist elsewhere.
But the fact Chat the miniature governments are capable of yielding independence and happiness to a few,
does not prevent the growth  of the same  principle in
the great community through the aid of a greater gov
71
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A LABORP CATECIlSM,
ernment, on a greater scale.   The small Community  is
strictly a government.  It is a government by the people.  So also a Republic is a government by the people.
Its members possess property in form of industries, schools
buildings, institutions of pleasure, of priofit, and a code of
ethics, in common. So also the citizens of a republic,
own in common the schools, the institutions of legislation, of jurisprudence, the Postal business, and many
other things in common.   If you ask why they do  not
own and control all business, the answer will be that
they are not yet as uniformly  wise  as the people  of
the small community.
WANDERER.   You speak of the true Social Problem;
and mention  the adoption of  methods of race culture.
We  are interested here, because representatives of a class
whose miseries are of ante-natal, more  frequently than
post-natal origin.   We  are outcasts firom good society,
because we are often the children of inebriate, or malformed, or vicious parents. We remember the dark alleys where our infancy was passed; not the tapestried
parlors of the opulent. Our females hover nighLly on
the gloomy corners. The dens they wander from are
wanting the luxuries that cheer the more favored homes
of cultivated people.  What does your beautiful theory
promise that shall prevent the contaminating touch of
these hideous dens of unchecked and vicious concupiscence. Some of us live in promiscuous incest, the result
of being forced together.  We  are crammed into squalid abodes, which are made to abuse thetheory of breeding by making our social habits too prolific. Sheer poverty coaxes us into indcliscriminate contact with one another overfilling home with mortals who, in turn, procre
"2
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OF POLITICAL ECQN()MY.
ate their own bad traits from one generation to another.
Could society see its way clear to procure us labor and
good influeinces, would it separate us from this too close
contact and mix us with the world?
REsPONSE.      We hold that what is wrong must be corrected.  With Kant, we say, that means must, at every
hazard be furnished for righting wrong. If the Church, if
the Schools and Colleges, if tile social influences of Society,
if the individual, can do nothing but fail and forever suffer
disgraceful and inglorious discomfiture in their feeble efforts to correct such dismal wrongs, then must the PEOPLE,
as the federated units of nations, brand your wrongs into
their Platform of Party  and upon thleir Flags of liberty,
and hurl them into Parliaments and Legislatures for correction.  If there is not enough strength in human modesty to recoil firom and revolt against such scurrilous and
unsightly scenes, then must the people be incited to look at
wretchedness from a view of Political Economiy and blazon
the fact that neither yourselves nor the world at large can
afford to tolerate social ulcers which both degrade and infect community with a death-rot. It is no way to correct
these evils by proffering charitable pittances. Tlhe lecipients of such, learn to sneer at gift-g,vers and regard giftgiving with the contempt it merits; since it inculcates indolence bynurturing churlish expectancy.  Squalol, groveling, packing, drunkenness, are reflections of indolence and
ignorance.  No nation of people can afford to permit the
causes of your complaints; much less the effects. No.
Let us strike against evil and urge a forthcoming remedy.
The remedv lies in Lahor.  Labor will purchase your admittance into the Public Schools; and society, respecting
you, will extend her hand of love and care. There arc
13 
A LABOR CATECHISM
gems in your ranks which need but to be thus cleansed
and their crudeness rasped away, to sparkle among the
radiant brilliants of intellect and of man and womanhood.
Neither city, state, or nation can afford to pay the costs
entailed upon society by your condition.  The natural consequence of want of instruction and development among the
non-propertied citizens, is helplessness.  It cannot reasonably be expected that it should be otherwise.  This state of
depravity then, is calculable and might have been foreseen
and avoided. Society, calmly looking upon these blemishes,
and suffering them, while noisomely imbibing infectious torments from them, yet being furnished with means of prevention and cure, such as a pretentious church, a promising
government, a world of exact sciences, all under control, and
doing nothing from cycle to cycle to prevent such blight,
cannot but feel compunctions of guilt mixed with its crowning shame and humiliation.
74
. 
CHAPTER m.
THE HYPOCRISIES OF COMPETITIVE DEAL.
CONVERSATION
WITH A MERCHANT'S CLERK.
CLERK.      WE  HEAR VAGUE reports concerning a proposed new system of distributing goods; and it has
occured to us to inquire  what  the  advantages  are;
whether there need be as much  perversion  of morals
of young clerks, or whether  young people  need to be
thrown into so constant temptation as at  present   It
being a part of the clerk's qualifications to be a shrewd
liar, and indeed the strongest  requisite to  secure  him
permanency in his situation, we should be very glad to
know of any method that would render such habits
unnecessary.
REMARKS       There is a method which is calculated to
obviate this evil of lying, cheating, and stealing; but
to introduce it in the place of present  systems  is a
very difficult affair.  That involves  the  formation and
career of a vast political  Party; and  a succession  of
battles and  skirmishes  against a great  and  vitiating
....... 
A LA OR CATECHIS-[
system  of  deal.    This  method  proposed,  consists of
Community deal, wherein government, in the interests
of all the  people alike, takes the  place  of  the  two
prevailing methods  of competition  and  mnonopoly.
CLERK.      What  difference is  there  between  competition and monopoly?
ANsWER.       There  is  much  difference.    So  muclh,
that they cannot be compared together.   A   competitive trade is  isolating   and rather repels  than attracts
others engaged in the same traffic.   There  is a strife
among dealers  as to which  shall sell cheapest, and this
strife or conmpetition too often amounts to mutual hatred.
Colnpetition is as old as communities and is seen not only
in all varieties of trade, but it exists in the spirit of people.  It is competism that causes the sad and often deadly animosities that exist between nationalities.  It is competism that keeps cities, colleges, manufactories aglow with
strife. In a good sense it makes an element of health in
the literary attainments of scholars and is indispensable,
as a heightener of all kinds of qualifications  requisite to
society. In a bad sense, it is pernicious in promoting low
strifes like fighting, gambling and rivalry in deal. In a
word, it appears from the most careful survey of the history of competism, that it is a natural attribute in man;
which  when applied in a bad sense, produces not only
the thievery and falsehood among clerks, of which you
complain, but also almost every kind of degrading result,
from the carnage of warfare  down to the meanest brawl;
but when applied in a good sense it promotes a restless
activity of the intellect and results in inventions, discoveries  and imrprovements in science which are rapidly fitting the world for a new economy of Distribution that
"G.
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OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
will render prevarication and deceit no longer a qualifieation for the clerk.
Monopoly, on the other hand, is a ring of merchants or
of manufacturers, or of miners or whatsoever trade, combined to close in upon the people and shut them out from
competition. The clerk engaged in selling articles in a
competitive store must demoralize himself by lying and
using every art of dazzle and dissimulation, in order  to
flatter purchasers and adroitly sell them a poor article instead of a good one, so as to win and entice a larger number of visitors. The clerk in a monopoly, is equally demoralized; because he must exhaust his genius in inventing every kind of device to make his customers believe it is fair deal, when, in reality it\ is extortion.   In either case, as a general rule it demoralizes
the clerk. It makes him the meanest species of thief;
because it makes  him  steal for others  instead  of himself.  It makes him  a confidence  swindler,  by  profession. It makes him a liar and an ingrate by cheating
his own society, often his own kindred. It makes hiim
a hypocrite; and the class legislation of his powerful
masters  legalizes his  hypocrisy.    When  we  come  to
consider that this large class of society's victims, not
only covers the clerks  of retail  and of wholesale deal,
but that there yet remain on the category all the clerks
of manufacturing deal, and of transportation -in fact
all the clerks of both the competitive, and the monopolistic systems  as  well as the  reckoners of their  imnmense accountability-when we consigner, that in these
legalized hells of falsehood and hypocrisy a large percentage  of our population  our best and noblest young
men and women.- are reared up and paid andl well ad
7-7 
7~A LABOR CATECHISMD!I
A LABOR CATECHISM
plauded in ratio to their success in such deceit; when we
see all this, can we wonder that there is a spontaneous
inclination not only on the part of clerks, but also on
the part of other working people, of scientists, of all lovers of truth, to rise up in power and blot it out of
existence?
CLEREX.    If, in the competitive and monopoly systems, there can be no hope of reform  and no cure for
this evil which is making compulsory liars of clerks and
otherwise vitiating their morals, to what system must
they look for reform?
ANSWER.    They must bend their energies toward the
gradual establishment of a system of deal which will require the opposite qualifications for a good clerk. The
world needs a system of deal that shall make people honest of necessity. People must study the character and
applicaton of Co-operative deal. We must learn to deal
with each other by direct approaches. Monopolists and
competitors are the middlemen of deal.  Demoralizing
clerks of which you speak, is one of the many pernicious
results of their system.  Society must destroy the evil by
dealing directly with its own membership, without aid of
a third person. The only object (other than common
interest he feels in society, )which the broker of the world's
deal has in view, is gain-exclusive individual profit In
co-operative deal, no thought of exclusively individual
profit can be entertained. A co-operative society never cheats
itself Its clerks must not lie. In the world's deal, society
allows itself to be cheated by the insidious intrigues of
which you complain, for profit. Profit lies at the bottom
of the evil. You must get down to the bottom, drag out
his old cankering lust for profit which fattens middlemen
78
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OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
and demoralizes you, and substitute it with a purer one
that repels exclusively individual profit and deals with
yourselves at cost. Let this be done by your government;
and you begin to feel the true incentive of citizenship.
You then begin to see what the use of a government is
and feel your first encouragement to honesty.
CLERRE     If the sale of dry goods should be assumed by
government instead of the individual merchant it would
still have to employ clerks. These clerks would have to be
superintended, strictly too; for if they were not expected
to steal for others, they might, unless guarded, inspire
their present employers' love of profit and practice deceit
for themselves. Besides, who is going to guarantee the
honesty of superintendents?  Are not the oft-repeated
exposures of fraud and other betrayals of trust, of our
government officials, sufficient to warrant the,eo)le in
doubting their capability to choose upright men as superintendents of the sale of dry goods?
ANSWER.    If the government assumes the sale of dry
goods it will be for the majority of the people; and the
first p)rinciple involved in that sale is the obtaining of the
best goods at least cost. The notion of profit does not enter here.  So that if their first and all-important object is
to obtain genuine goods at low cost, their next object
and privilege is to find out and know what they have cost.
This is the first greathome-duety of a people. Halving ascertained and made a record of the cost of goods in general,
they will very naturally inquire into the causes, if these
goods are not sold them at c08t. Do you not see that this
investigation leads to a profound and respectable Study of
causes and effects, right in the little matters of the house
hold?  Yet these little matters of the houseiold, so very
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A LABOR CATECHISM
long neglected, are after all, the subject of supreme importance in political economy. Now tell me how such important but difficult matters can ever be adjusted while the
sale of goods to the people intimately interested is given
over to the caprices of competitive strife or of the more
sweeping monopoly, back of which there is no appeal;
where the people have nothing to say and no more power
or control than the most abject subjects of a monarchy in
the East.
CLERK.   It indeed seems very clear that people should
look at this proposed change in distribution as a matter of
no second rate importance; and once shown that they are
really capable of constructing an efficient, distributive service under government, the same as that of the Postal service, or the distribution of water in cities, they will certainly take action toward its establishment.   But such a
proposition involves revolution. It will seriously interfere
with this profit incentive you speak of, which combines and
makes formidable the individual power of our present
managers of distribution.  This power, though perhaps
numerically small, is immense in influence. It borrows its
greatest strength from the usage of ages.   It is therefore,
acquiesced in even by those whose sons and daughters are
demoralized by it.  It is a recognized system of our civilization; and though its outworkings are so pernicious as
to vilify morals and create and perpetuate the two great
castes of wealth and poverty, the very parents of its thus
demoralized victims are, in a majority of cases, its strenuous supporters. Now supposing it even to be true, that
government as an instrument of popular behest, were perfectly competent to distribute the necessaries of life direct, that is, without any brokers of deal, or profit-paid
so 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
service, through the management of the people's own chos
en supervisors; do you suppose the people could be prevailed upon  to make such a gigantic atteimpt?
ANSWER.        Certainly.  They will attempt anything,
when once convinced that it is right.   Of all tribunals, that
of a great people is the least susceptible. Before them there
is no dodging to please friends.   They want unequivocal
justice. They are a great while making up their minds
what justice is and are incapable of determining, except
through prolonged discussion and practical proof through
scientific application. But they are convinced by successful
specimens; and the practicability of doing away with this
profit, or fee pay, has been proved by co-operative expeliments.  Wherever the co-operation has been honestly
and patiently tried, it has yielded precisely the results you
seek. Even in America, where the fickleness of membership and sovereignty notions of the people  render these
experiments precarious and short lived, they have developed this unmistakable tendency to do away with the fee
offices and institute direct pay offices in their stead. But
in Europe, especially in England, where no such objections exist, they have already become powerful, and are
making sweeping inroads upon the old system of trade,
based upon exclusive profit to individuals.
CLERK.        DO  you think the change  can ever be
brought about by simple co-operation, as in England?
ANswER.       No.'Ihere are many characteristic differences between European and American institutions.  What
Europeans can accomplish socially,  Americans find most
conformable to their habits and institutions, to accomplish
by political means.  It is doubtless of little matter how  it
is done if it is done and well done.. It is evident that it
81 
A LABOR CATECHIISM
canp only be accomplished in this country by working up
the question on the various forces of experiment, necessity, feasibility and argument, until the people are forced to
choose sides definitively.   Then it will become a political
Party and remain at the option of the voters, subject to
their scrutiny. It will be shaken up by party newspapers,
until the rule of an enlightened and awakened majority
shall be thoroughly recognized.
CLERK.      But many enthusiasts overlook the fact that
even the most successful co-operative efforts -those of the
North of England -have from the first, been in an almost
constant wrangle with each other; and that many times they
have been on the point of dissolution and are not out of
danger yet. It is even hinted that there is an effort on foot
to secure the aid of government, or to fortify and consolidate them by a species of absorption into the general government.
ANswER.       Your remark is in theory correct; but you
misunderstand the schooling effects of wrangling.  The
world has prehaps never learned so valuable a lesson as these
wranglings of the Co-operators have taught. It is through
-the jargon of distrust and a thousand other mutual contraTrieties to which may be added many fierce personal criminations and expulsions that the ever jealous, watchful, but
honest co-operators have fought down this lurking spirit of
cheating, lying and money-getting you complain of. For
many years the treacherous emissaries of the old system of
profit paid deal plied their tricks with a view to disrupt the
organizations. In hundreds of cases they succeeded as we
succeed in this republic. But every failure was a lesson of
experience  to the indefatigable organizers  of England,
who have at last turned the tide of the great battle in favor
8
i 
OF POLTICAL ECONOMY.
of themselves; so that within a half century the practical application of the idea of straight deal without the fee
profit or commissioners' service  has been obtained, with
certain modifications. In some parts, this new system
has absorbed from ten to seventy per cent of the population.  Its effect has been to completely route the incentive to lie, cheat, or steal; making the labor of a clerk puree
and innocent.   The store becomes the common property
of the people. The people are thus the owners instead of.
the individual competitor or the monopolist, whose only
object is to sell for more than he gave, and in that way,
which naturally inspires and urges him into prevarication
and deceit, make a wealth of profit, exclusively to himself.  Co-operation works out the reverse of this principle..
It cannot make profit out of itself because it can realize
no advantages by profit.   Its object is to buy cheap and
sell cheap. Sell for the sake of furnishing its owners, the
people, with articles at.cost. Sell for the sake of convenient interchange; not for the sake of accumulating profit..
-The clerk who handles the goods  has no object in being:
dishonest.  It is this that has already signalized co-operation and made it the nursery of honorable deal.  Indeed
in the heartless desert of competitive deal, and still later, its
all-destroying conspiracy in form of monopoly whose sickening blight corrupts the entire moral atmosphere of human
interchange, co-operation is the green Oasis; a speck indeed
compared with the boundless wastes within, but full of the
balmy verdure of innocence and goodness. Upright deal,
and honest manliness, with frankness and cheer, take the
place of the shy approach and obsequious servility and
cheat of the money-getter and his cronies.
Then as to its being absorbed by the government that is
i
83,
t
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A LABOR CATECHISfi
the most wholesome sign of our age. English Co.operation
has only to conquetr one half of the competitive system and
thus obtain a meire majority to secure its permanent adoptioii l)y the government. Deal is that moment out of the
hlands of middlemen. Deal comes under the control of the
people; because the people choose and commission the persons who are to supervise it the same as they now do in the
Co-ol)erative Store. Every citizen becomes an equally interested party.  It is a vast joint stock company whose members are the citizens; all the people. Can a man cheat himself: lie to or deceive himself, extort profits out of himself?
The collective interests of millions are the individual inter.
ests of one. All our government services to the people are
standing proof of the earnest, honest innocence of the cooperative incentive. It is seen in the Postal'service with
its impartial precision in distributing the mails at cost. It
is seen in the Fire Department with its exquisite and marvelous effectiveness in saving from'the devouring element,
all property without grudge or favor. It is seen in the impartial politeness toward all at the peoples' Parks; the cost
of distributing abundance of water in cities; the democratical
and impartial instruction of (children at the Public Sc(hools.
These are specimens of co-operation in which every citizen,
without exception feels an equal incentive to watchfulness,
and control.
CLERK.      You seem to have lost sight of the fact, that
the great English co-operative stores exact a profit.
AnswER.       Not at all.  There is by collective agreement, a certain fluctuating percentage taken over and above
costs from the receipts, for all articles. This percentage is
held by the society as a fund. A provision makes it optional with all buyers to withdraw this percentage, but most
84 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
of the members allow it to accumulate. This is their fund,
thebcir exchequer. They use it as an instrument of levelism.
With this fund they, in common, build homes, schoolhouses, splendid central and( branch store buildings, debating halls, committee  and reading rooms, and other
decorations that have made co-operation world-renowned.
None of these improvements are made by the arbitrary
decision of a man or even a council of men.  The people
themselves discuss and decide the most important measures and instruct their executive centers to act accordingly. Co-operation is thus for the people and ot the
people; and on the whole the people have shown themselves slow but wiser than individuals have been, in creating and adjusting the means of existence and happiness.
The government when it undertakes a co-operative enterprise imitates the government of co-operation. The people;
elect a council or legislature who do as they are bidden.
Failure to do right creates the same wrangling and crimination we have seen in co-operation; so by this means we
slowly make improvements until, as in the fire and postal
departments the people are quite satisfied. The money
used for such enterprises, is as in the co-operation of
England, invariably the money of the people taken in the
same manner, only by vote of the people at the elections,
out of the public exchequer; and if it is not as wise as the
best English co-operations it is because the people are
not as active in guarding their interests.  It is because
they trust too much to individuals and irresponsible counsel and job their interests out to intermediary persons.
It is easy therefore, to see that there is no analogy between the percentage of profit on retail over wholesale prices in the co-operative store which goes back to the meem
I
85
I
I 
A LABOR CATECHISM
ber who issued it and the privilege of profit, which ac —
crues to the outside competitive and monopoly deal. The
one  is, in truth, the reverse of the other.   For in the
first case every member in the co-operation is a merchant;
in the second, only one person, or the individuals of one
company are merchants. In the one, there is a sympathy,
compulsory on the part of each, for the other, which amounts to pure mutual care.   In  the other, the feeling
is arbitrary and utterly and mutually selfish. With the
one, the profits go back principally to the mutual exchequer for the improvement of the members' common possessions; in the other the profits fall into the hand of an individual and furnish him the means with which if he be
unkind, to take advantage of those who have enriched him.
In the co-operation the capitalized fiend becomes an instrument of levelismt.  In the outside store it becomes the central force of individualism or oligarchy. Co-operation pays
the clerk for his labor in delivering goods to their owners.
It takes the cost money  and a voted percentage; nothing
more. The merchant pays his clerk who sells and delivers
goods, for every sort of successful wiles, of allurement, of affected platitude, of lying and subtlety so far as is compatible with the inflated and depraved sense of the people;
and the simple reason of all this difference lies in the inherent impossibility in either system to do differently  under
the circumstances.
CLERK.      You mentioned that the system of profit making, so bad for the morals of clerks, resembles the fee payment for services rendered to certain public officers.
RESPONSE.       It does.  It also resembles the contract
system in which the people as thoughtlessly job their productive industries to work-brokers in place of taking them
86
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OF] POLITICAL ECONOMY.
into their own hands.  The wealth owner is a member of a
class. Legislation is in this country  largely in the interest
of class. The wealth owner, because his business makes him
rich and respected, is proud of his class; while the toiler,
because his business degrades him, ignores class. Consequently the wealth owner is stimulated to organize and procure class legislation for himself and becomes the darling of
the law, while the poor toiler, ashamed of the drudgery and
the compulsory deceit that degrade  him, though numerically in the majority makes no effort to procure legislation
for his class and becomes the outcast of the law.   The law
recognizes fees. The fee is a legalized price for a professional or official service. The law as distinctly recognizes
the profit of a merchant, as a fee. The successful merchants
are, therefore, as much the darlings of the law  as the feed
officials of government. But the great government is nevertheless the property of the people who have seen to the extent their blinded eyes will permit, the fallacy of fee offices;
and strong efforts are on foot to abolish fee offices, entirely.
When this is done, the payment of a service will have to be
direct from the people to their employes and class legislation receives a blow; because the people, in this case are
themselves empowered to fix the salaries of their employ6s.
Profit in all cases, as at present vitiated by desire to make
money, means "get all you can."  Fees,  where they are
limited at all, are limited only upon the same principle.
Both are long-time usages, partialized by legislation in
the interest of the classes enriched by them. They both be.
long to the same voluminous category that overflows the cup
of the toilers' woes; and the only sure method of removing
the evil is by a toilers' National Party, by force of which,
to turn legislation in the interest of these unhonored founda
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A LABOR CATECHISM
tions of national prosperity themselves instead of fee offi.
cers and profit speculators.  Turs CAN ONLY BE DONE BY
DIRECT GOVERNMENT EMPLOY -the surrender to the people, subject to their jealous watchfulness on the first incentive to citizenship, of the whole of the mercantile operations of exchange and the carefully guarded adjustment of
them by the supervisory control of the people's chosen agents subject always, to their experience and their ever
improving legislation from year to year.
CLERK.  In what particular do you see the analogy you
speak of between the fee-profit and the contract systems?
ANSWER.    Properly speaking the contract system belongs more to the productive than to the distributive industries and therefore, not to a discussion on merchants'
profits and their demoralizing barters. But there are some
departments in which the contract system, with all its hideous and demoralizing falsehood and deception has invaded the world's distributive service. Among these may be
mentioned the Post Offlce,
Athough the Postal Service as conducted by government, has proved infinitely'more able and satisfactory than
any company the people ever employed to carry the mails,
and has, within the remembrance of many who are now ]ivming, reduced the postage on a written communication from
twenty five cents down to one cent, still we have not yet
been able to shake off competism from our mail service.
As a consequence, we find immense annual deficits in
our Postal Bureau. The people, it is true, have the credit
of conducting the Postal Department of government, and
have by gradual legislation from year to year, corrected
many abuses, assumed many duties and reduced the postal
'8 8, 
OF POLITICAL ECONOIY.
tariffs until the poorest may derive the instructive benefits of correspondence. But they have not yet been able
to develop the work sufficiently to do it themselves. They
cannot yet see clearly enough to trust themselves, and
they must still submit much of it to contractors. Nobody
knows better than these the purse-inflating quiddity of
public innocence. So the railroad owners continue to
press and the lobby, that modern conclavium of republicanism, still emits its effluvia of job-corruption and the
demoralizing, poison-pointed foils of falsehood, faithlessness, simulation and finally of biased legislation throttle
the people's hopes, inducing them to surrender rights
belonging to a majority. Labor, a natural right, is thus
jobbed out to outside parties to favor outside interests,
while the people themselves, or a large portion of them,
are left ignorant and otherwise destitute of every means
of Associative employment.  Great majorities see annual
subsidies voted to such purveyorsof their business yearly;
yet their work is poorly done.  Many other similar examples of this very evil of partial, or individualist profit
exist, proving that there is an analogy between the
mercantile job-letting, wherein the people give their exchange-service to the brokerage party, and the contract
system itself.  If then, the people as a unity are able
to dispense with advantage the business of governing, of
law making, of operating government bureaus and great
boards of public works, public health, and other matters
of business activity, they need not fear to undertake the
further task of administering a system of buying and
selling, that will require less perversion of good morals
among their employes.
CLsRRK.     We have not thoroughly exhausted  this
i
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A LABOR CATECHISM
subject in its bearings upon the weight as models of our
regal merchants.  We  see men of great ability -iike"thp
Girards, the Peabodys, the Stewarts, applying indefatigable toil, amassing fortunes so huge that people seeing
themselves outstripped, shrink in fear from them. Their
career is so oversweeping that the timid world shudders;
vhile.the followers of fashion and those who are of more
obsequious turn are infatuated to idolatry; and the moral
atmosphere is soured betwixt jealousy, peevishness and
servility.  By-and-by, the rich man dies leaving to the
astonished world, not only the rich lesson of his work,
but also a noble legacy in his property.  We ask if, on
the whole, though he may have been penuriously business-like, he has not set a good example?
ANSWER.    Such men are undoubtedly doing good in
a manner of their own. On every hand we see year by
-year the methods of business administration verging in
a direction of frugalities. Great labor-saving instruments,
that result from the energy of our workers, make it possible for our inventive tact to swoop business formulas
into larger and more comprehensive areas. Genius nowa-days becomes the fulcrum over which brain and hand
labor has a leverage. Formerly this was true only of
those born to position; and this only happened. among
those whose material advantages were most in unison
with their natural advantages or heritage. Many of them
distributed their gift of genius upon a low level; and so
made bad use of their advantages.  Inherited or arro gated rights of this kind are believed to be dying away.
Free-born smartness is taking their place.  Consequently,
since genius will have sway, we have merchant pines
instead of princes; money kings instead of kings;, rail
so
I
i 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
road autocrats instead of emperors; commonwealths
instead of empires. Phenomena like these designate the
difference between the self-made and the endowed fortune. Now the modern bent of free genius is, in the
competitive world to take advantage of scientific appur
tenances in use and thus enlarge those intellectual opportunities formerly curtailed for want of them. We see this
in the great business enterprises of Stewart, Claflin, and
Vanderbilt. They teach an invaluable lesson. Even if
they extort undue value from their clerks, they have a
certain sort of usefulness  as ushers at the portals of a
more humane and engrossing business method that may
yet absorb competitive methods into those of common
interest; uprooting the competing system upon which
these men build their fortune and renown.
When we look at the immense capabilities of a single
individual of genius we ask whether there is not agreement enough among all the geniuses of a whole people,
providing their ultimate object be in the end, realized,
and their life-ambitions equally satisfied, to join issues,
as a BODY POLITIC, and carve for themselves  and for
the people for whom they manifest so much death-bed
solicitation a new career of wealth-making and of wealth distributing. This is the question of labor. Solve it and
you have overcome the source-causes of your complaints.
91 
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CHAPTER IV.
MERITS OF THE LABOR CONFLICT BEFORE
THE UNIVERSITY.
COLLOQUY BETWEEN MEMBERS OF A COLLEGE FAOULTY
AND AN ADVOCATE OF THE LXBOR MOV.
PROFESSOR.  THERE are few colleges in the land whose
faculties and advanced students do not feel a desire to
encourage, in their literary and rhetorical societies as
well as their magazines, a large amount of radical sentiment. In how much do your theories of government
employ conflict with religion; or how far do they in your
opinion, project heresies against the established principles upon which most of our colleges are conducted?
ADVOCATE. The people say they are enslaved; that the
cause of their enslavement is bad management; that
their struggle is for economical emancipation; that bad
management is the result of ignorance. Certainly then,
0
ft 
A LABOR CATECHISM
the College which professes to teach wisdom, should  by
all means do its duty to the people!
PROFESSOR.       It is not the duty of the College to
undertake the education of those outside. Those inside
are generally well provided for. Nevertheless there appears a desire to discuss the question of integral education  which would,  as you state, abate the general ig
norance that has enslaved the working people and kept
them impoverished.
RESPONSE.       This discussion is the first and perhaps
most nfecessary thing.  It is of all other things most necessary that our high schools begin at once the discussion of
new fled launching points of political economy. They educate the young man  and start him in life; and generally,
the theme of thought inculcated during the college life is
that which moulds his future career and builds life habits
which a life-time cannot eradicate.
PROFESSOR.       Most college faculties are conservative.
They are  at present hesitating upon prudential grounds.
Is'it prudent we ask, for us to entertain a line of discussion,
that leads in opposite directions fromn rules of society which
is established?
OBSERVATION.        There is nothing in the principle of
Social Employment of the people by the people that conflicts with any college duty.   The idea is based upon Mechanics: upon the adjustment of things so that the greatest amount of production and distribution shall result,
through Mechanical Economies, from the least possible amount of time and effort. It seeks economical applications
of machines to the uses of the people. It might not yet
have been raised even to the dignity of a question had not
certain apt individuals, by a superior tact in management
94 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
and acquisition obtained the control of these inventions,
and applied them to their individual uses, thus encroaching
upon the people as a mass by accumulating collossal fortunes from an overplus that accrues from this partial or
individual management of inventions belonging, as the
Problem of Labor hypothecates, to the Commonwealth.
PROFESSOR.    Will you give us an example? You: propositions are too vague and blind. Do not fear to state your
question boldly.
REMARK.       An example of this misallotment is seen in
almost every great invention of recent date.   Printing by
types is old; and consequently has, through successive
stages evolved from their control, and is now rapidly
coming under control of masses, though it has for ages,
groaned under  rigorous censorship of class rule.   The
newspaper must in order to please the people, throw light
into dark places. It must, to be a success for its manager,
work for the people at almost cost terms. A scheming
editor or a junta of them may, even in the comparative
enlightenment of our century, manage to withhold from
the public the news and the knowledge of the truth; but
this is fast vanishing. The best papers find it the most
successful plan and most to their own personal advantage,
to steer entirely aloof from combinations for purposes of
accaparation and build their reputation upon the ingenuous patronage of the people.  So far as they do this we
find no fault. We even recognize that the printing press
will in course of time evolve from the control of monopolies. This fact is of grave importance as it shows a similar evolutionary tendency in all of the inventions, the
monopoly of which is now oppressing humanity. The
press unfortunately, has only made one forward step in
95 
A LABOR CATECHISM
this direction. There is yet much of the old egoism left,
as well as a powerful spirit of exclusiveness but the plainest examples of the accaparation of inventions are found in
things more modern. The rail road is a modern instrument of progress. It is an invention. Its patent right has
run out and left it the property of civilization. Its economical and impartial use by our race as a collective interest would facilitate to an incalculable extent, the wellbeing of society. Instead of this it is made the property
of companies who, by successful business tact have found
it possible to control transportation; and thus cut off or
dole out, at something like imperial pleasure, the very
table supplies of whole nations of people. This abuse is
looked upon as a revival of old imperialism under a new
form. It is regarded with alarm and should be thoroughly
considered within the College halls.  All we ask of the
College student is that he enlarge the domain of discussion; and freely take into his literary clubs all subjects
that come under the head of mechanics applied, or science of economics-uses of mechanical instruments, their
benefits to masses instead of particular individuals.
PROFESSOR.    Will you state a single case of proposed
remedy for this so-stated usurpation of a great invention
by monopoly merely as a clue for the students?
RESPoNsE.    Interesting examples may be studied in
many mechanical contrivances called public highways.
But are they public highways, strictly speaking, when
they are private property? Can this be called an iunequivocal expression? We have an excellent instance in th(
great inter-urban bridge at Brooklyn.  For many year;
this great population of two cities were chafing in ill content under the individualist system of ferriage across the
go 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
strait that divides them. Municipal authority was powerless because under the competitive system the apothegm
"what's everybody's business is nobody's business," is true.
The ferry business had grown up in the hands of individuals. Boats proving insufficient as a public highway, the
bridge became a necessity. It was too enormous an undertaking for an individual or company to complete. Nothing could consummate it but the combined populations of
these two great cities. Power of legislation was all they
could bring to bear. But this they held as a most sovereign reserve. With this legislation the two cities by the
will of the people, built the bridge.   Money was drawn
from the treasuries of both. If the bridge belongs to the
people instead of a company, it follows that they are the
power which in future must adjust the tariffs over it;
and a magnificent rapid transit industry is thus whipped
into the control of the correct owners. Revolution seems
absolutely involved in it; for should other industries undergo a similar metamorphosis you would have communism. People are hereafter to own their means of transit
from their homes to their business. Great efforts will be
made by them to abate the fare. Further legislation will
be resorted to. When the fare has fallen to two cents they
will agitate further reduction until the best of rapid transit is enjoyed free. Perhaps the most striking case before
us is that of the Telegraph monopoly. The natural remedy for its present dangerous and distressing misuse lies in a
similar method of public ownership and management instead of an individual.
PROFESSOR.   How shall the great people with all their
varying opinions, their contrarieties and incompatibilities,
their incongruous mingling of shrewdness of one with tur
97 
A LABOR CATECHISM
pitude of another, of aptitude with inexperience, think of
taking the duties of so huge a net work as the telegraph,
and of managing it with harmony?
'ANswER.    You have asked the question every person
should ask; every student especially.  It is just the question we desire every College Faculty to present to the Literary Clubs. We strongly urge that they examine it thoroughly, and without bias; because they are to go forth,
eventually into the world to reconcile these incompatibilties you speak of and fix the people for assuming their legitimate duties. The world of humanity must adopt a severe adjustment of the mechanical science they possess, and
adapt both its management and its results to masses rather than to individuals.   It is for the college of all other
schools, to understand and to set forth this enlightened application of invention, purely as a matter of science. It iS'
not a matter of opinion, belief, morality, ethics or even
equity any more than the law of gravity or the laws that
govern the force of projectiles. Who is so silly as to falsify
nature with such inexplicable crudities as morality, ethics,
or equity? Either of these terms suggests volumes of doubt
and cavil, when the simplest law of nature after being discovered and applied hushes forever all disagreement by
the inexorable accuracy of its fiat.
You know when you send a telegram what will be the
results of your action. It is severe science. Apply the telegraph. so that dispatches may be sent by every citizen at
cost, say at one or two cents for thirty words and you immediately effect a revolution. You abolish letter writing.
You do entirely away with secret correspondence, which
has been the bane of races.  You abolish a large part of the
?ostil Service  with its secret and hateful espionage, its
98 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY'.
costly jobbing of transit contracts  and its tedious delays;
You improve the money order system to a degree that in
tercepts all individual and company commissions and in)
fact, you simplify and improve the entire Post Office busi:
ness.  And yet the Telegraph is an innocent instruments
harmless and unconscious in itself, of the inroads it is destined to make upon old systems. Now this change comes
from the innocent adoption by the people, of an invention
which works in accord with natural laws; following them
with a severe yet harmonious mechanical exactitude and
without any more reference to moral rectitude or ideas of
justice and equity than the equally harmonious but greatSier planetary and solar systems, that form the universe.
T'he morals of ethics change with indoctrinated belief. Science is changeless.  This should be distinctly understood 
since it clears off all objections to the discussion in schools;
of the politco-economic adjustment of invention, on the
ground of usages and creeds.
PROFESSOR.      Hlow shall the Telegraph be made to
work these advantages?
ANSWER.    That is a business detail.   The government which is the agent of the people  and in this country entirely subject to their collective voice, has for many
years managed the Postal Department with success.   If
the Department can improve this service by an invention
like the Telegraph, there can be no doubt that the government has a perfect right, if the people order it through
their representatives in Congress, to buy up every line of
telegraph now in possession of companies.  If the companies will not sell, it has an equal right to construct new
lines and operate them for the masses of people represented
in Congress, which is to say, the entire popuilation  instead:
.9 
A LABOR CATECHISM
of the few people who now control them. But this subject needs careful consideration by the people; and who
could debate it with more care or impartiality than students of the College?
PROFESSOR.    But is it right that the Telegraph com panies, after having constructed their lines with so much
patience and wisdom -run great risks in the adventure,
taught the whole world valuable lessons by developing the
application of telegraphs, which is next in importance to
the invention itself -is it right, after they have set up so
much and enjoyed the use of it so little, that a greater
power like an Alaric should descend upon, and sieze it
away from them? It may look quite possible but is it not
unfair?
RESPONSE.   Questions of merely adopted morals scarcely enter into a great mechanical equation.   With the people it is only a matter of physical result.   Shall the interests of forty millions be ignored to gratify a handful of forty? Shall an important means of life and happiness involv.
ing great facilities for gaining bread and knowledge, be de
nied a whole population for the paltry sake of an almost invisible minority? This query about equity, so dwindles
before the importance of much ver*sus little that the figures
take a new inspiration. The question is fbr the master mechanic to solve.  The people are physicists.   They do not
ask how much moral advantage is going to accrue from a
change like this.  They only ask concerning the material
advantages; or the advantages calculable from a general, economic point of view. In short, the application of the unerring mechanical laws is the base of the ethics of a vast
people. What percentage of general gain will the management of the telegraph by the government of the people, re.
100 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
suit in? And to whom will this percentage accrue? If it
can be proved that dispatches can be sent at one per cent
less money than letters, the question is settled from an economic standpoint.   If it can be proved that a dispatch,
which now costs one dollar can, by the Post Service of
government be sent with equal reliability and quickness,
for three cents, then it must be adopted by the people as a
mathematical co-efficient of their business.  If the whole
people as owners and managers can be substituted for the
present forty owners and managers, and this change of
management results in bringing the entire message Service
of the nation down to cost prices, the same being performed as the letter service now is, under the legalized head of
the Post Office Department, then it becomes no longer an
individual or company affair; but a huge co-operation of
the people for a cheap and effective message service; and
must be considered from the political point of view. It is
no longer personal, but public.  It is political economy.
The change amounts to revolution; yet its measure of argument is taken dynamicallyI not ethically; for its conclusion is arrived at by figures, without reference to whether
it overset personal interests and theories any more than
the calculations of Copernicus and Galileo had reference to
theories or creeds upon which millions based their law of
ethics and thousands their means of life. The bigotry that
prevents the politico-economic application of inventions on
considerations of moral right is as intolerant as the bigotry that imprisoned Galileo for making a physical discovery
of the earth's orbital path. What consideration of right
()r wrong actuated Professor Morse, while studying out
the vehicles of electric transmission? It was as much the
elaboration of the physicist as is the dissection of a newly
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A LABOR CATECHISM
found creature by the naturalist to gain and impart knowledge. Yet it may produce revolution as subversive of existing methods, their details and usages, as its mechanical
superiority proves itself in circumventing the older methods. No consideration of right or wrong will actuate the
great majority on questions of adopting it as a substitute,
when once they are assured of its superiority and feasibility. But if there were a question of justice involved, it
would soon be settled by the law of preponderance, or
comparative claims, which is the lever of the labor argument. The Electric Telegraph, under the leadership of
forty business men as owners, yields wealth, standing,
happiness to these forty and their families.  Success attends them because having almost unlimited rule, they
put the price of dispatches enormously high. But still,
these dispatches are available with certain business men.
Unfortunately, however, these rates are so high as tobe
out of the reach of our forty million inhabitants.   Not
one message is actually sent, where there ought to be,
and might be a thousand if they could be dispatched at
two or three cents apiece; or in other words at cost.
Now compare this increase of happiness made possible
to the forty owners which results from the enlargement
of their facilities for enjoyment, with the loss of happiness
caused by the exclusion of this mechanism from all the
forty millions of population  of the land.   The comparison is as forty and their families, to forty million. Make
this comparison and you at once calculate mathematically,
the preponderance of argument in favor of the people's
owning and managing the telegraph instead of the monopolies. The preponderance is immensely in favor of the
people.   At an average the family contains six persons.
102 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Multiply these by the forty owners having families and you
have only two hundred and forty persons benefited by
their ownership in telegraph stock. What an infinitesimal
claim is this, compared with the great collectivity, the
people, who would own and enjoy it as a common family,
if it were the property of government!  But lest this comparison from actual ownership seem unfair we will look at
it from another standpoint; —that of APPROXIMATE INTERESTS. The comparison from actual ownership and participation is, however, complete. Approximate Interest is
based. upon both the first and second incentives of citizenship.  By the first incentive to citizenship  the great monopolerfeels an honest desire to do a service to the people
and the country at large. It is his politico-economic incentive felt in common with the rest; buthis scope is curtailed by his selfish or second incentive which prompts him to
raise the price so high that comparatively few can enjoy
it. So again, on the first incentive, the people feel a strong
desire to do a general service to the country the same as
the monopoly; but their second incentive, though selfish,
is mutual and almost infinitely more diffused; since it is
participated in more than the monopoly's service, in proportion as the participants or members of the co-operation
are more numerous than those of the monopoly.   It becomes at once politico-economic and the people who own
and manage it feel two distinct impulses which grow dearer to them as the management improves -the general interest of citizenship and the interest in cheap and effective
interchange. The one affords them pleasure because it
enhances the prosperity of the country. The other yields
them ready cash because it creates them great numbers of
good situations and reduces the cost of dispatches to a
103 
A LABOR CATECHISM
figure that the poorest person can pay, thus leveling grades.
If you ask how this can serve as a leveler of grades then,
we answer, it is the same as in the Post Office. In former
times when the carrying service was in the hands of individuals as the telegraph now is, the cost of sending letters
was so great that few could afford to do it. The consequence was that fewer could write at all and those enabled
by easier circumstances to mail letters were most encouraged to learn to write. This caused an aristocracy and resulted in warranting the thus favored in assuming superiority over the less favored class. The assumption by the
government which in this country is the people, of the
administration of the Postal Service has resulted in gradually reducing the cost of letters and papers through legislation to the minimum sum.  Now that all can pay a cent
for a postal card and letter communications become possible for rich and poor, the old grades are completely leveled.  Aristocracy so far as the interchange of letters is concerned, is totally annihilated. Not so in the Magnetic
Dispatch Service, although the actual cost of short communications is less than by the old system and so really preferable that it will doubtless one day supplant it. But the
Telegraph is in the hands of monopolies. These monopolies can, and do, to the grief of the poorer people charge
such high rates for dispatches that few can use their dispatch service. Those who can, feel triumphant pride in it;
and obeying human instincts imagine themselves superior,
thereby engendering class. Nothing, we assume, but the
assumption of its control by the people, can level down
this feeling which recognizes human beings from a standpoint of quantities or acquired possession rather than qualities, or actual merit.
104 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
PROFESSOR.      Now with reference to the introduction
of discussion of this kind into the literary societi;es, what
does all our reasoning teach?
ANswER.        It teaches that while moralists are differing over points of justice, equity, and the science of laws
governing society, it often happens that a little innocent,
inanimate instrument jumps in and settles the question forcver.  It teaches that ethics based in doubt must succumb
to ethics based in positive truth:- the science of aplied
mechanics  as the only demonstrable and unalterable basis
of human society, excepting so far as we regard equity as
obedience to known natural law. WThat else  shall ever
become our unalterable moral guides?
PROFEssoR.      You exercise your ingenuity in presenting the Telegraph as an example; but while you malke it
appear reasonable  that the management of this invention
may T)e absorbed by the government and opera.ted more
extensively and more democratically  than it is at present,
'nder the control of companies, how far are you going to
extend your communism? The Telegraph is not the onlv
great invention in illustration.  There are Railroads, St(aam
Sbips, Ocean Cables, Ferries, even Coal, Iron and other
Mines, which might  with equal propriety be absorbed by
tihe government and operated for the common  advan.tage
of the great masses instead of the particular interests of a
company.  What limit do you set? The proposition magnifies itself into a terror!
ANSWER.      Only the limits set by reason and experimental proof.  The subject is worth the  con,;ideratio,u of
every student of economies, of philosophy, or of himself.
If the schools and colleges of the land will east aside that
almost hypocritcal reserve which i,, point of progress i;
105 
A LABOR CATECHISM
leaning them behind the work shop and will take up the
discussion of these grave subjects, we, of the experimental trades will prove by exact application what their
judgment recommends.  Until they do this there must
remain too much contrariety, apathy and error. We need
the varied judgment of all.
PROFESSOR.    Do you observe of late years a tendency
in this direction?
ANSWER.    Yes.  Wrong is being attacked.  In view
of the great progress already attained through the world's
labor-saving instruments, we are slowly but certainly
beginning to look upon this subject of equity, of morality,
of established ethics as a huge and gradually vanishing
infatuation, which is giving way to the more palpable
proof that lies in mechanics applied. We are safe only
when we base any venture upon severe physics that bring
forth perfectly calculable results, as those of mechanics
applied.
The rupture of the least law of mechanics is invariably
attended with punishment; the obedience to mechanic
laws, with foretold rewards. This is without regard to
questions of moral or religious observances with whibch
we do not interfere nor wih students to do so.
100 
CHAAPTER V.
SIMILARITY OF OBJECT RESIDING IN
TRADE AND POLITICAL UNIONS
OF WORKINGMAIEN.
DIALOGUE WITH A DEPUTY FROM A PROTECTIVE
UNION OF TRADESMEN.
PROTECTIVIST.'VE ARE TRADE UNIONISTS; and hearing of your movements agitating the working people and
inciting them to political action, have come to express
the views of our order upon your unwarrantable plans
and methods of conduct.
ADVOCATE OF POLITICAL PARTY. If YOU are a trade union
please inform us what the true object of this protective
union is.
PEOTECTIVIST. It is to elevate its members and promote union, equality and fraternity. To secure situations of work for our members out of employment.  To
establish a benefit fund for the sick and for old age and
to promote in various other ways, the social welfare of all
the indidicluals who compose the Order.  It is a governaent of the members.  It is a government on a small scale 
A LABOR CATECHISM
and prescribes for the actions  so far as possible of all its
people.  A point upon which it is particularly severe is in
relation to politics.  No political action has hitherto been
allowed. Such Unions are purely social institutions.
R:sPON-sE.     It was mnentioned that your trade union
governent is intended to secure employment to its mem bers who are idle.  Such is exactly what the unionists of
the political Labor persuasion are trying to do.  It is your
desire to collect a fund for the sick and the aged. We
are doing all we can to accomplish this object.  It is your
wish to promote the social well being of all members.
Who are your members, but the people?  So you are endorsing the functions belonging to the State, or Government and presume to accomplish its work as well or better
than your owa great Government which is yours by virtue
of your citizenship.
PROTECT1VIST.      Our best Trade organizations, such
as thie Amalgamated Engineers, the Amalgamated CarIpeInters and Joiners, the Bricklayers, Typographical Unions,
&e. carefully take care of their members.  In some of our
best Unions this fraternal care  one for mnother  amounts
to a sweet, reciprocal ownership by thle society, of its
members, body and soul.   The society  by joint endearment, one for all and all for one, stands ready to bring into play its combined forces, to help a worthy Brother.
All rules of our society are strict, plain, and concise; and
none but the law-breakers are censured.
REMARK.    Protective Unions then, of this kind, are
in all respects,  governments.   It is a government that
takes care not only of its working members in good standinlg, but also of their wives and children.  A  member in
good standing is not a pauper feeding on its benevolence,
108 
OF POLITICAL ECON(OMY.
but a veritable citizen, clothed with the power of legislation, and ready at any time when called upon, to take the
duties of office. Are not all important measures submitted
to the deliberations of each council or Branch for approve! or rejection, before they can be ratified by the Delegate
meeting?
PROTECTVIST.      They  are, in our best Trade Unions;
such as the Amalgamnated Societies of Engineers, and of
Carpenters and Joiners. All that have stood the test of
time and vicissitude have long since adopted this custom.
REMARK.  Trad(e Union government then, is even more
cautious and severe in its legislation than the government
of the United States or of England, whose citizens often
get deceived and imposed upon  because they do not exercise this, of all others most valuable right. Your government is quietly practicing not only the votive franchise,
but more. Its members (citizens) not satisfied with the
ever erring judgment  of its representatives, do not confide
to them, final powers.   They  find it dangerous.   They
find that representatives abuse their power.   Representatives form themselves into juntos; and having final powers, procure money and emoluments belonging to their
constituents.  This misappropriation cannot be possible,
if all the citizens in their various councils, reserve to themselves the final ratification or rejection of the laws and
measures that govern them, thus making the passage of
your laws slow, grave, and sure — even clumsy, perhaps,
and tiresome — but laws are grave and solemni things and
should not be trifled with.  MIisfortunes of the working
class are largely due to this almost criminal neglect and
ignorance on the part of citizen members, in not themselves carefully ratifying every measure before it becomes
109 
A LABOR CATECISM
a law. Your Protective Organization, then, is purely a
Referendum government; and is the wisest and most careful form of political guidance known in the world. The
referendum  government  makes it obligatory upon  each
member or citizen, to study and be wise for himself and
his family; since the destiny of his whole household depends upon his own legislative wisdom. It will never do
to entrust final decisions to representatives, who possess
the machinery of deceit and fraud, back of which there is
uo appeal at the command of the constituency.   Is not
this statement correct as to the details and out.workings
of the most successful and long tried Trade Union Government?
PROTECT1I ST.    It is.
RE AxK.    Our next important thing then, necessary
to decide, is with regard to the percentage of the general
public who have been absorbed by your growing Unions
How numerous are they in Great Britain and America?
PROTECT1VIST.      Why do you ask this question?
ANswER.      To get at facts so that we may talk intelligently; as it is for information that you call.
TRADE UNIONIST.        It is impossible to ascertain correctlv the number of trade Unions and members of Organizations for trade purposes. They are constantly growing up and falling off, according to their vicissitudes.
Sometimes they attempt too much and get defeated; when
there usually follows a reaction and we almost lose sight
of ourselves. Such reaction is again followed by a steady
re-growth and on looking it over, we find that in a few
years the Unions are more solid than ever; and what is
encouraging, more kindly disposed, more numerous and
wiser by both experience and study. Another important
110 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
feature of this growth, is seen in the tendency of the
Unions to amalgamate. In Great Britain they are thus
encouraging the growth of numbers, funds and power.  In
America they are also doing well.
Very many of these Trade Unionists are unmarried men
and we have many women.  So that no more than three or
four persons can be represented by each member, as dependent upon, or directly interested in the Union; footing up the entire number of parties directly and indirectly dependent upon such Unions for the means of life at
perhaps five or six million men, women  and children in
the world. But large as this may seem, they are few compared with the populations of the countries in which they
live. In the British Isles where there are thirty millions
of people, there are less than three million Trade Unionists.
and families looking to the Unions for the means of life.
The proportion therefore, of the people, absorbed by the
organizations is less than one in ten; or less than ten per
cent.  In the United States where the population is forty
millions, the number of these Unionists is only 350,000,
which multiplied by three-  about the average nunmber of
persons in the family they represent, who are also interested in the success of the Union —- gives less than four per
cent as the proportion of the inhabitants absorbed by these
Unions in this country. We give rough figures but the
exact number if we had, we might prefer to keep.
QU.ESTION.    Do all these Associations refer their important measures, such as amendments to their Constitution, heavy benefits to crippled members, decision regarding strikes &c, back to the members for approval or rejection, or do they mostly confide in the judgment  and honesty of an elected or appointed Congress, Executive Com
ill 
A LABOR CATIECHISS
mittee or Delegated Body who may, or may not operate
solely for the interests of the society?
WORKINGMAN.    They are experimenting both ways;
with a gradual growth of the former.
QUESTION.   Do you intend to augment your Unions?
ANsWER.      We  are very incessantly and actively engaged in forming new Unions and enlarging the old ones.
Growth of these associations is somewhat brisk at present and the prospect is brightening on every hand. The
members are attracted by the now clearly demonstrated
fact that the larger the proportion of workingmen in combination in any branch of trade, the easier it becomes to carry a point. The Bricklayers, for instance, when they were
a unit, found little difficulty in obtaining the Eight Hour
system of days work and in getting good wages. Good
organization makes men independent. When we are numerous we can drive out of the city, or force into our own
ranks, or otherwise rid ourselves of all intruders who attempt to underbid us.   In fact, a single vote has been
known to break up and completely route the business of
firms that refused to treat the Society with respect.   In
all cases  the power of organization  raises the workman
more nearly upon a level with his employer.    It seems
hard, and makes employers who have always supposed
themselves superior, wince as though it were an intolerable innovation.   But we hold that it is just that the old
tide be turned in favor of the unhappy many; and what
is just is fair. Mere sympathy for those who, since the
world began, have shown no sympathy, cannot avail against the cause of justice and of human equality.
QUESTION.    About this we will not quarrel.  Do you
think the successes you speak of will so advance the trade
112 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMIVY.
Iinioii cause, that anything like a result you refer to in
the case of the Bricklayers, could be obtained in every
trade as well as in every part of the country  where this
trade is applied?
A\NwER.       The combination of all, if wiselv managed
is sure to produce any reasonable result we may demaniid;
blut the comlbination of a part, produces fatal antagonisms
Iamong us.  Employers well understand this and they resort to every means by which to procure ruptures, thlrough
iasunilderstanding and competition between Its.   To  do
this they find it coivenienit to circulate among our most ignorant and credulous numbers, disagreeable newspaper  repo:'ts and circulars.  They make an extremely vicious use
of the word "communrisnm." They taunt the workmen who
otherwise might be disposed to organize themselves into
Trade Unions, with communism  and disrespect of religioii,
and crown their great cozgp de stratbgyic with cooly importation.  This is their growing clue.  For this they establish burea-s of inmmuigration, on both sides of the Ameri(an Conti-nent.  Europeans and Africans are imported to
the Atlantic seaboard,  while Asiatics swarm aloing the
Coasts of California.  Such facts are keenly- observed by
the ()rganization which sees the necessity of forming protective unions among all nationalities at home anid abroat.
Contractors of human flesh, or labor jobbers begin  inmediately to cry against the "Internationalists" who would
organize labor Societies in tll countries for a common fraternity and a common defense, using' their vast power of
money and tact, in butyiiLg  p the vehicles of calumny, obloquy and prejudice against the strutggling toilers ef:,!1
nations.
DEMA)ND.      Do  you sympat,l A'e witle these Coolies,
I III 
A LABOR CATECHISM
who are in that way prevailed upon to immigrate hither?
Is it the duty of your Organization to protect Coolies?
WoR.KIGMAK.         Yes. Asiatic Coolies would not emigrate cf their own will, wretched as is their situation
at home.  People in the Orient  have not the repute of
being enterprising in this way.   But while we find  no
fault with their growing spirit of enterprise, we dislike,
for their ow-n  sake, to see them  juggled and wheedled
off to America under the conditions described by American Consuls abroad.  We find that their appearance on
these shores is the result of a deep laid scheme of the
Contract System.  Men and women from Asia  are thus
made to enrich labor jobbers by underbidding our rates
of labor; and in this manner  have inaugurated a system
which may eventuate in driving us from the labor market entirely. In former years the African chattel traffic drove white labor firom a large territory by a similar and not much less revolting method. We are dealing with a grave question; for if one kind of slavery resulted in horrible carnage, why may not another? Our
Coolies, though not confessedly so, are slaves. They are
inrduced to come by treacherous means. Conniving men
versed in their religious superstitions, are posted in different localities of the eastern world, and working upon
the avarice of equally vicious persons of influence and
power, manage to decoy poor working people, by time
lease-bargains, mortgages  on their labor, glowing promises and other irresponsible overtures; and they are transported by means nearly as cruel as the horrid slave ships;
made many times to hover about the odious, sickening
slave pens and enchtces, as negroes were sold in days that
make us shitcler to recall.  The cooly Contract system
114 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
which may result in starving us, is the dismal opening of
another slavery. It is therefore, the system under which
these people are imported, that must be looked upon as
inhuman and enslaving. If these people came here of their
own accord and through their own enterprise and would
overcome their own prejudices and become citizens, it
would alter the matter. We have no more reasonable objections to their coming than we have to our respected and
honored Germans, or Englisli, or Irish, who are proving
themselves industrious citizens and of whom many of us
are a part, But if we attempt to organize these people illto unions of self-protection, or if we would combine them
at home and enlighten them on these principles of selfhelp which are proving of such immense advantage to
ourselves, we are immediately sneered down as "communists" or "internationalists."
QUESTION.    Are we not led to infer by your glowing
views, that the growth of Trade Unions ought to be extended all over the world?
PROTECTIVIST.    Most certainly.  Ai,d it should be so
considered by every human being depending for his living
upon his labor. Never till such union is achieved, can class
be abolished, and equal man-hood and woman-hood established.  Let me give you an example:-There  is an arrangement of these human flesh contractors on the Atlantic Seaboard to supply Manufacturers, Builders and Farmers with cheap labor. Advertisements and circulars are
scattered over Germany, Holland, Scandinavia and elsewhere, setting forth in brilliant colors the marvelous wealth
and resources of the Americas.  Now among the many
who are induced to emigrate hither, some are members of
excellent Trade LTnions who are well posted on "II these
115 
A LA130R CAT1ECHISM
exaggerations.  Thev take out their card of membership
theie, which serves to instali them  into full membership
here.  Many of them find work through their UtiJion as soon
as they arrive; and thus avoid the discouraging and impoverishing necessity of tworking for alhost nol hing until they
pick up enough ot the language and usages ot the country
to demand higher pay. it is this tijat tiJe importer of humanity makes his profit upon -this first wear;- this intervai of time between the poor immigrant's landing, and
his acquirling enllough kn-owledge of the language and habits of his adopted country, to inspire him with the presumlption to demand more respectable wages.  The scheme is to
constantly keep a large number of employers supplied with
hands at almost nothing. Instances are common where laborers and others are, in the darkness of want aud credulity, decoyed off to brickyards and other slave pens, and
worked with such fiendish  brutality by the foreman  that
in a week, tired nature gives out, and their very groans and
agony are systematically mistaken for revolt and made the
beginning of a tumult. The scoundrels then drive the poor
wretches off without pay on the charge of iinsurrection -
their treacherous, inprovised pretext -n:Lid another gang
is irmmediately sent on by the impious knaves in league
withlthem, at the Labor Exchange Ofiices; and the same
outrage is re-committed, times without limit.  This damning practice is made to elude the law by presenting a shade
of legality in this wise:-  A verbal arrangement is made by
which the poor are made to a-)ree, through the wiles of in.
terpreters, to work a certain length of time.  if they quit
before theit time ihev forfeit all their wages  except the
conmi,sion, paid per liead, to the city  agent, andl their
transportation ticket from this Labor agency to the place
116 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
of work.   This thie law airanges for.  Thle money agreed
to be paid those who stay the full time is often a fabulous
blum to them  but just before this time expires the row  or
tunult ill disguise, is spruiig upon themi, and the ifss is so
cuIrilinig and surreptitu,us, and the yards are leared so
quickly by the hireling i)olice, or other parties, that the
poor unsophisticated bLdilders of Babel however innocent,
and wronged are assumed to be the only instigators of
their own if)rfeiture.  Snceh iearifl injustice cannot be practiced upon the Trade Unionist.
QUILSTION.     Did yoa not mention before  that some
of your best Trade Unions are those impqrted or transplanted firom Europe?
P)ROTECTIVIST.     Yes.   Quite a number of our most
effective labor organizations are purely British, bringing
with them, and conforming to, all the rules of the mother
societies.   The  Social-1)emokratisc/he Arbeiter Vereiic,
or Social Democratic Workingmen's Unions, are transplanted fr'om Germany.    Among  the valuable tiade unions
tfrom England are the Unlited Order of American Bricklayers, the Amalgamated Carpenters and Joiners, the Amnalgam-ated Engineers &e.  These  poweifui organizations of
ILab.r are becoming  rich, and with wealth, they  carry
their points.  Now to my argument.  If there were pertfct organizations which included a majority of the workers of ea('h trade and calling in existence, in the different
countries where these people are, and if tihere were corresponding Unions here so that each person could be helped by the fraternal energy of his owiin Union, on his arrival, in short, if there were no chances for these ubiquitons Labor Exchange agents, to swindle the immigrant,
what an immense amount of suffering would be avoided.'
iii 
A LABOP CATECHISM
Once acknowledge this and you acknowledge the need of
an International Workingmen's Union of Trades.   The
world's workers, male and female, are in great need of
more Organization in their respective homes and more of
the science of international deliberation.  There ought to
be Trade Unions started in China, Japan, India, everywhere; and our own Organizations at home, would not
only be doing a humane deed, but would make honor and
progress by sending missionaries to all parts of the world,
to teach the benefits of combination among working peopie, against systems that enslave them.
RErARK.    After all you have said you only concur
with us although we would avoid using harsh words; because these so called Jobbers of Labor's Profits, are in another way but unhappy victims of the competitive system.
The evil is inherent in the system, not in the men.
PROTECTIvrST.    How do you agree with us? Instead
of advocati',g these practical nmerns  of solidarity among
the down-trodden working people, and instituting plans of
deliverance from the horrible shambles of slavery  which
exist systematically at home and abroad, interlinking
with each other for the propagation of this disunion among
us, avarice among them, and the establishment of a still
more extended and exclusive reign of monopoly; instead of
this, you would, if we comprehend you, get us mixed up in
petty politics and divide us by political wrangles!
REsPoNsE.    On the contrary  you have shown that
the very finest and richest as well as most powerful unions
of tradesmen are those that exercise most wisely, the votive franchise. The very oldest and most thoroughly established of them, such as have stood the rack of trial, you ae
knowledge to be those which enforce the discussion by all
118 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
members, of every project of a new law  or change of an
old one. It is claimed in fact that your organizations which
are producing the happiest results are those that have been
practicing the referendum. This is the most radical proposition in political science. Yours is an entirely political
manceuvre, because you would have it engross the masses,
and you work by ballot. It is a subject of discussion and
doubt to-day among classes of education and means, whether the people who compose the CTrIzENs of any country,
monarchical, or republican, are yet wise enough to assume
this function.  It is strongly insisted that the citizens, under the government of the American Republic, are not yet
advanced enough to legislate for themselves by assuming
and executing the ratifying power.  Men argue that if the
people send their Representatives to makle the laws which
govern them, it is as far as it will do to trust them. They
still insist that such laws will be better made  and more
strictly enforced by the Representatives than by referring
them back to the people at large for final adoption or rejection.  In other words, the political economists and scholastic thinkers are of opinion that the people are not clearheaded enough yet to be able to criticise and properly sanction the Bills which their own representatives have codified at their Congress and Legislature.  Your trade mnlion
experiment is a bomb-shell in their iranks, which explodes
a great theory.  It proves that a class of citizens who cannot be regarded as possessing a full average of experience,
-the mechanics and laborers of England and America the
education of whom has been greatly neglected,-arefound
i2:fect7y com)getent to not only 9ratify their own laws, i)ut
(ttso to dletect annd p?enish all attemelts at nlaadmiistrat;on. It is not only a fact, but it is a cheering chapter of
119 
A LABOIPR CA'LECiISMI
?ewvs; whose portent might well be advocated among our
political economists who find it easier to gain money and
popularity by doubting truth than by telling it.  In fact,
the experiment of the Trade Union is political; and it is a
foretaste of a mighty revolution. Can you not see that
the very measures you are advocating, such as the building
up of Orgaiizations for mutual protection over the world,
is an intensely political movement? Any action for the advantage of large numbers of people, if that action depend
for its success upon the casting of the vote, is political.
Trade Unions are politico-economical; because, their business is to fuirther the economy of Trade Labor, in a way
which it shall redound to the best interest of the members
and their families.  What more can a Parliament or a Legislature do? The state is a compact of the Citizens within
a given territory, to be governed by the laws which are
tlhe result of mutual deliberations. Such action of any communlity is political. A trade -union is a compact between
each other, of many workmen who are in like manner, governed by la,ws of their own enactment.  All laws, alike of
the State and of the Lnion, are for the general welfare of
tho members or citizens and their families.
PrOTECTIVIST.      We  do not pretend to deny that the
trade organization, on the whole, has a political aspect.
But we are opposed to having any thing to do wiith local
polities. The moment we begin to meddle with politics we
ftincl that the interest in the organization wanes.  Worklingmen have been repeatedly plundered by the tricks of political rings. They hare learned by grim experience to,loathe
all polities of the times and place no confidence in the harpies of political jug,gleryv,
ANswER.       This is wisdom itself.  But it is clear that
120 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
you fail to see that you are yourselves building up a Political Party in your Trade Organization. The moment your
Organization becomes so perfect that it can carry its own
points, as in the cases you have mentioned and you begin
to perceive the strength of your command, you will see the
wisdom of applying this strength to crush out the selfish
corruptionists. In a country like this, where privileges are
inot denied those who have the manhood to claim them,
such a power cannot remain inactive. In fact, the workingomen are already deliberating upon the practicability of
political action; and the result has been rather to combine
than to disperse them.
PROTECTIVIST  X  There is too much vagary about political action.  We At  practical   We  want to apply our
effort where it will yield something direct for our families.
We want principally the guaranty of work, at good prices,
so that we shall no longer feel the dread of poverty pinbching at our firesides. How is this to be obtained by politics?
ANswER.       We do not propose to curtail the functions
of your Unions. Not in the least. On the contrary, they
should be made more effective. What we propose is to
extend their functions; not to curtail them. If the Trade
Union can educate its members by discussion so far as to effectually refer its propositions back to the entire membership for ratification or rejection, it is safe to conclude that
it can vote with wisdom for or against any person whom it
may nominate for office.
PROTECTIVIST.      What course of action can you prescribe that would commend itself to the Unions we represent?
ANswEpR.    We would advise no particular course; for
that would partake of leadership.  The great Labor Move
121 
A LABOR CATECHISM
ment should shiun leaders. In the march of great principles
there can be no leaders any more than there can be lead ers in science. There may be doctors or teachers but they
are mere exponents not leaders. In this political point of
view, a leader is, in this movement, a mere political mount ebank whom you should always shun as one who seeks to
jump on the car you have with toil constructed, and drive
it to perdition. Most leaders are designing persons whose
scheme is to accomplish the two-fold object of glorifying
themselves by distroying you. They wheedle your votes,
get elected, betray your trust, work all their influence against you, break up your organization by stimulating dissentions and then leave you, disarmed and disgusted, at
the profuse emolument they obtain from the common enemy whom their treacherous betrayal of yourselves has served. Beware of such Politicians. We can only mark out
an object to be gained by political action. The manner in
which this purpose is realized, it is safest to leave to you.
We will simply suppose you represent four Societies: the
Iron Workers, the Ship Carpenters, the Riggers and the
Caulkers; and that you are located, say in and around
Boston. Apart from the multitude of industries, great
and small in that busy city, there is one which we hear little about but which is the common property of citizens.
Immediately in the vicinity is the Charlestown Navy
Yard.   It contains all the advantages of a first class industry.  Ship-yards, Rigging lofts, 5Ia(,hine shops, and every possible requisite of a great and flourishing business.
These immense concerns are the property of the people,
and should be conducted by the people in their own interests.  These works must get out of warlike grooves and
be turned to general use. -Mat is the use of a manufactory
122 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
if it is not to supply the people? Yet in times of peace,
these vast works lie idle because there is no more use for
the engines of death. How long must the individual enterIrise and the spirit of gain be the chief incentive to manufacture.  Rightly considered these are co-operative works;
to produce Adhat? Death! The people do not want death;
they wiant life. Now is it not clear that if a company build
ships for sale and sell them to the public for what they can
get, that they are prompted by a reverse spirit from that
which prompts the people when they manufacture their
own ships? In the one case it is pure individualism incited by speculation. In the other, it is collectivism; and
makes and distributes these necessaries according to the
people's own wants, without any spirit of speculation
whatever. It is pure co-operation which reverses the old
order of things, and avoids the methods of intermediary
manufacturers and sellers. The immense difference between
an industry conducted upon the co-operative system, is
shown in the fact that co-operation saves advertising. Advertising is an enormous branch of human labor belonging
to competism. It is neither natural to monopoly nor to
co-operation; and if it is used in them it is because they
are not the offspring of competism exclusively; and what
ever of the advertising trade exists in co-operation or monopoly, comes from the competism that lingers in them.
N~othing lin)t a higher knowledge and practice of Political Economy can ever rid the world of these ravenous and
all devouring urgents -competition and monopoly- that
feed upon the labor of the poor; and nothing but the combined virtues of wisdom and organized force can eliminate
this,igaintic and unproductive branch of human lahor, the
advertisingi!ystcm.
12a 
A LABOR CATECHISM
From this it will be seen that there are three very distinct methods upon which society conducts its economies
of life: —Competition, Monopoly, and Co-operation.
The Navy Yard alluded to, so long as it performs its own
work direct, according to the regulations of government, is
a co-operation. When the government authorities banter
with outside parties for bids to execute the work without
regard to the advantage of the citizens employed, then it
is no longer co-operation, but competitive in its nature.
But when Congress orders work  and appropriates money
for it, and a single individual outside conspires with Senators, Representatives and other persons of influence, to get
this work entirely away from the government ship-yards,
and shops, in order that he may himself do the work,
and by reducing wages, lengthening the day's labor and
slighting the work performed, make a fortune for himself
only, while his neighbors suffer, then our Navy Yard becomes a victim to monopoly.   The workingmen, therefore, as a natural consequence cannot fail to see the need
of combination in favor of the purely co-operative management of this naturally co-operative industry.
Trades Unions are learning by experience that a little combination and energy lend more influence than the
promises of Senators or Representatives. With wisdom
they can nominate and elect representatives of their own;
and with such power can secure all this work to co-operation notwithstanding the wishes of outside competitors
and monopolists. A workmingman always prefers to work
for himself. Now no lover of liberty is destitute of feelings of responsibility toward his government. He must,
and does, from the nature of his stock in the government
which is his citizenship, feel a pleasure in seeing his ships
124 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMIY.
and other means of defense, in time of war, well constructed. In times of peace, what is to hinder their performing the work of the people? A workingman owns
his government, an#  has a right, in common with all others, not only to look to its best interests but also to be
employed by it.
If, therefore, the Navy Yards produce better ships than
the outside ship-yards and if they pay and treat the workmen better, then it is easy to conclude that they should
be allowed to do the necessary work; even if it be the
manufacture of mowers or sewing machines,  Manufacture
is a thing which every cititzen has an interest in.  Its natural peace method is co-operation. Workingmen who must
bear the brunt of war, want no more of it.  Co-operation
means peace; competism, war.  Here then we have an inldustry furnished with all the Stocks, Docks, Shops and
fxtures, necessary for a business, which, if set in operation, would employ fifteen thousand workmen, on the cooperative principle.  The men are better paid, work less
time, produce more genuine ships and for as little money as the outside contractor produces them.   Not that
the workman's labor is less efficient in an outside concern,
but because the proprietor generally requires for his individual profit that percentage, which in good co-operation,
goes to the workmain in form of inoreased wages and short
hours. The proposition is clear. If you possess organized
numbers and social management, you restore the co-operation to yourselves. The simple application of that power,
involves political action.  In times of peace, when you
want social prosperity, men are speculating out of you upon contracts paid by appropriations to build engines of
war.  Turn these works into social factories of peace; for
11 
A LABOR CATECHISM
workingmen are the true victims of war; and an Interna  tioinil Association of them, if it had energy, discipline soli  darity, virtue, might prove the only power, to check t,he
war spirit and turn arsenals and anories into people's
workslhops and bring about the universal peace.
PROTEC'vIST.   The Trade Unionists could not consent
to do anything until they are more instructed on the ar gumllent you adduce. Most of us are accustomed to work
in outside establishments and know little or nothing of the
principles you advocate. It might be years before we could
acquire sufficient clearness to see the permanent advanta ges of this sort of co-operation. We cannot understand how
co-operation can be so fraternal as to do away with war,
although we are its victims.
REMARK.       It is plain that it requires something more
than a knowledge of thie rules of your Order to be a true
Trade Unionist.  The votive fianchise is supreme in this
country, and if you will not use it when you see an oppor tunity to set such an enormous industry as this, in motion,
manufacturing the necessaries of life and thereby bringing
employment and gladness to the homes of 15,000 families,
you must expect that competism will organize its political
forces againstWyou and crush you down. Whel)i maiuthcture and distribution are conducted in the interests of the
people in general, it will speedily bring forth peace, prosperity and I)l,iity for all.  But so long as the Trade Uniouis
and other Labor associations persist in the neglect of these
great and important matters in which their happiness and
liberty are involved and throw away their golden OppOi'tunities to destroy the competitive system, so long must
labor remain in subjection.
PPrOTECTrVIST.    You speak only of one Navy Yard.
126 
()F POLITICAL ECONO'MY.
Are not these government or co-operative industries, as
you term them, numerous?
ANSwER.    They are already numerous enough to have
called forth the attention of the Labor Movement. Jobbers
who use them are the true cravers for government employ.
Do not therefore, allow your Unions to be influenced by
their taunts at you, as seekers after "Government Employ."
It is ofteil their own emissaries who, with all the wiles of
the competitive diplomate, cast obloquy upon you for that
which they themselves are surreptitiously surfeiting on;
-government employ.  The labor broker not only craves
contracts from government which furnish him wealth, but
he systematically turns the engines of power and persuasion
against you, who neither ask nor expect a tithe of that he
receives. He seeks, with the lobby, to use influence in casting obloquy upon your innocent effort to live by using
these arsenals co-operatively, while be destroys the virtue
of that co-operation and undermines the health of its democracy by using, in his monarchical methods of industry,
the appropriations that were intended to be paid you itt
days' work. The workingman has a right to help his government make ships not only for war but for peace; and
therefore, has a right to be employed by his government;
while the contractor who gets away this employment and
enriches himself on the appropriations, does it by irregular
means.
There exist already splendid industries, for which the
different governments, MIunicipal, State, aindi General, order
appropriations annually.  They belong to you, the people,
andl were intended for you; and if you would turnl your
force towards obtaining them  you could all have constant
employ)ient oiX your o0n  premises without fear of being
127 
A LABORP  CATECI-iISM
discharged. As it is, you neglect to obey one incentive
of good citizenship. You are hired to execute the work.
at poor wages  and long hours, and caused to slight the
duty.  Thus you are given bad inculcations against the
government you are under obligations to protect.   Still
you refuse to take political action.
PROTECTIVIST.    Will you mention some of these industries for which governments are making appropriations?
REMAmK.    They are too numerous to mention.  There
are eight Navy  Yards in the United States. One at Broolklyn has accommodations for 18,000 or 20,000 workmen
when in full activity.    The greatest part of thle enormous manufacturing and distributing business of the Post
Office is let out on contract.   The printing of Postal
Cards, Stamps, Envelopes, Official Papers &c. should all be
paid for by days' work. Instead of this, the contract is
given to others; and you are required to make them, not
for government at all; but for parties indirectly, who, in
your ignorance of resistance make slaves of the workers.
The government pays a contractor about the same amount
it would cost to make ships, in the regular way on the ennobling live and lelive system it once adopted;-that of
good pay and eight hours. The contractor profits not so
much on the government as on you; which is in proportion as he can obtain more of you, in uryging youir labor,
reducing your wages and lengtheniny your hours.
Every city has its enormous public industries, such as
street cleaning.  Sewer making &c.  The necessary business under the management of the different Boards of Education, Public works, and the Departments of Docks, Parks
and other public improvements is very great. Still with
l8 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
some few exceptions such as the schools, this vast business
is done by contract, or by an irregularity. The building of
Edifices for the General Government is accomplished, to a
large extent, by petted contractors. In fact, when Trade
Unions see the true magnitude of their loss  and humiliation, caused by their own prejudice against political action,
they will certainly arouse with the farmers, and force the
application of more regular methods of work.
PROTECTIVIST.    What plan would you advise for a
Social Union wishing to keep its members employed in any
of these government works?
ANSWER.       A plan that will demonstrate to the politician who now hires you and gives positions to those in
the collusion in payment for their services at the poles,
that they are no longer required.'Ihe workmen themselves should be so thoroughly organized that they can
make the execution of this work  a study.   Individuals
who now control public works make it a study.   Being
very few in numbers and having absolute control they often make a bad study of it. This is the way the public
work is now done. Of course they study to make money
for themselves; and it often happens that it is not the contractor who proves the lowest bidder, but the contractor
who offers the politician the highest commission for the
work, who gets it! It becomes, therefore, necessary that
the laboring citizens who are to perform this work,
should make a thorough study of what they are paid for;
both for their own and the general good, for no other
method can ever eliminate these irregularities from the
public works. The honest masses of workmen can be relied upon.   The general public must take charge of the
work which belongs to the general public. The working
129 
A LABOR CATECHIISM
masses who execute this work, are the general  public.
They do the work and ought to have charge of it for their
own and the general good.  If the work is contracted out
to an individual, interest in the management of it dies; because interest ceases when control is gone.   The public
interest is arrested and stifled and irregularity is certain,
in proportion as public control is diminished numerically;
that is, in proportion as public control is irregularly taken
from the people and surrendered to individuals.
PROTECTLVIST.      Would you have us use our comnbination as a school of deliberation wherein the subject of
study shall be our own means of support?
ANSWER.       Exactly so.
PROTECTIVIST.      What guarantee then, have the great
public, that we shall not be as selfish and dishonest as any
of those who have plundered the public treasuries and deprived the workmen of their pay?
R,EsPONrsR.     Your question, you will see, answers itself if you will allow yourselves to reflect and study. Eveiy important subject of political economy must be studied through practical - lessons.   Supposing your org,anization of laborers is composed of the residents of a Ward in
one of our great cities, One main object of the organization, like that of any Trade Union, is to procure work for
its members and look to the general welfare of their famflies. Upon this object exclusively, they are combined.
Upon this object they deliberate and vote.  Upon this object they are so anxious of success that they dare not trust
to their own judgment on matters of general importance; but find it most sure to refer all important projects and decrees  back to the members of the different
Unions in the country for ratification or rejection.
130 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Are there any opportunities for dishonesty in this? On
the contrary so free from secrecy is it, that if all the laborers of the Ward are in the Union  they are all required
to join in the deliberations. Nothing can be done which
the people do not know of and have not inteligently deliberated beforehand.
PIROTECTIVIST.    But in what light have we deliberated
upon it? IHave we considered any proposition with reference to the good of the city or of people outside the Un —
ion?
REsPONsE.    It is upon this that we are coming slowly
to an understanding  which will set us right, with reference to the motive of your visit.  The jit(yment of masses is surer and more to be trusted than the judgment
of individuals, when they can agree in comucil.  This
is an axiom your Unions have proved.  The votive fr.anchise of the Federal Government of America has also proved it by a hundred years of experience. The Referendum
Government of the best and solidest Tirade IJnions particularly proves it.  In the business of contracting a job of
street cleaning, of the Ward in question, there are not
mnore than ten persons. These ten persons can generally
control the entire street-cleaning I)epartment of the city.
But even allowing that there are ten to this Ward, they are
few enough to conspire against the putblic at large. Now,
how many laborers would be most apt to constitute a
Trade Union in that WVard?
PPOTECTIVIST.    From twenty to five hundred or more
according to the population and the necessity or incentive
to organization.
PREsPONsE.     Well, for fairness, we will put it at one
hundred and fifty inember-.  There are in thiis War(l, then
131 
A LABOR CATECHISM
fifteen times as many persons interested as citizens in the
healthiness, cleanliness and decent appearance of its
streets, as there are street commissioners and jobbers who
now have control. Is it as likely that one hundred and
fifty citizens of these streets, subject to diseases from their
foul effluvia of filth, would cast their vote against a renovation of them, as that ten who having wealth, live in
splendor, in better places and are not subject to their malaria, would do it?  Is this trade unionist a mere animal
without any appreciation of health, or decency and utterly devoid of capability to judge in matters of his honme
comnforts? The question needs no answer. He has proved
himself an able judge wherever he has found combination
possible. Rest assured that such union of laborers would
keep their own streets in good order, as the result of
unanimous vote of their council. They have two honest,
virtuous incentives, distinct from each other, but necessary to good citizenship;-first, to ear-n a living by their
labor, and secondly, to do good work for the health, the
convenience and the prosperity of community.
PRo~'ECT1VIST.    We can admit that they would do it,
and that they ought to do it. Unionists are close reckoners on points of health and home interests.
REMARK.     Well, when they attend strictly to all such
points of home interest, we have political action. It begins by an organized protest against all remissness and
collusion of political labor-jobbers, who secretly conspire
to keep us out of employment and make the innocent
people pay contractors for what is left undone. We have
poor street cleaning and idle workmen as a result.
PROTECTIVIsT.    Granting all this (and it is political
action), how could the trade union administration be
132
0 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
made to supersede the present administration of the
street commissioners?
ANSWER.    It is not pretended they would.  Perhaps
it may never become a duty of the labor unions to commence political action by tearing down established forms
of government. In some cases such extreme measures
may become necessary, on the peace basis; but what is at
this moment wanted, is a better guardianship, by the community themselves, over the practical things of home life.
Wrong in public circles will always exist, unless the
masses of the neighbors most deeply interested take not
only the labor itself, but also the supervision of the labor
into direct control; and become detectives, censors and
judges of every public action of their representatives. To
do this, requires study and its means-organization and
discussion, on these politico-economic incentives.
PROTECTIVIST.    Can this line of action be applied with
advantage by all the unions?
ANSWER.    Just the same.  If the ship carpenters or
the machinists and blacksmiths do not apply themselves
urgently to the task of employing their own members at the
navy yards, where there are large government establishments waiting to employ them, the necessary work of government will be leased, or jobbed out to contractors and
done on the old wage-slavery system. So long as the contract system thrives, the achievement of eight hours as a
day's work, will be impossible; because this system dominates upon the discomfiture of the workingmen, caused
by the profit to the individualist which accrues from the
true producer's toil. It must become clear to the student
that the cure for this lies in direct employment by the
workman's own government in which he has a common
133 
A LABOR CATECHISM
interest -the workman's own Government  that needs the
work and is able to pay for it, directly into the workman's hand. It is this same boon of increased wages and
short hours which a workman has a right to demand, that
makes the contractor rich, by being exacted from the poor,
in sweat drenched driblets of slave labor product.
PROTECTIVIST.    IS it possible to apply this theory to
the advantage of all Trade Unions?
ANswER.      It is as applicable to one branch of supply
of human wants, as to another. You own your government.
It will do for you anything you bid.  But you must cast
off pr(judices and learn to stuf]y, deliberate and vote for
yourselves and your wives and children. The great world's
contract jobbers are on the alert.  They are tasting with a
jealous relish, the sweet meats of government einlloyment;
and in order to perpetuate their monopoly over it andl enrich themselves by its appropriations, which they instigate
by bribed legislation, they deceive and decoy you from
your duty to yourselves  and to humanity, by frowns of
assumed superiority and reproaches of heresy.
PROTECTIVIST.    There is a desire to work on our religious prejudices.
RESPONSE.      Yes, but it is only,a subterfuge.  Outrs is
a question of severe political economy. Religion has little
to do with it. What we want is more practical business in
this question, to demonstrate it by solid physics. It can be
solved only by a better adjustment of purely physical rel,tions. The people must be made to understand that this
labor movement is intrinsically free both of questions Ca
morality and of religion. Political economy is its province
To attribute to it the province of ethics or religion is to
give to it functions that are entirely forieign and will onlvY
134 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMVIY,
retard its action. It rests solely upon the application of
the means, mechanical and otherwise of producing the
most in quantity, of life's necessaries, with the least labor;
and the equitable distribution of the same, on thie same
principle.  If the horticulturist neglect his plants they
become rigid- the earth bakes around their stalks and
they choke with weeds or die of drought; but if he waters and weeds them with care and supplies them with
such fertilizers as furnish the proper chemical constituents of thleir growl,, there is no further question as to
their success.  Thiey will produce flowers and fruits in
almost nDathematical proportion to the labor and science,
but particularly the science bestowed upon them. The
horticulturist thrives and is haippn with his green plante,
flowers and fruits. WVhat has this to do with any question
of morality or religion? There is a strong question of
economy involved, as far as the gardener's happiness and
material interests are concerned; but nature never stops
to consider whether these plants were reared in the midst
of blasphemies or of songs of praise. Nature never stops
to consider consequences only in the physical or scientific
mechanical point of view. Wisdom dictates that the result should be fully known before the cause that produces
that result is applied.  The solution of the labor problem involves the -tern study of causes and effects. Nature
deals in no bahn-lazards or speculations.  Her laws are
as rigid and uncompromising as they are immutable; and
she punishes every physical error because it is an error,
and without regard to the innocence of the tears that fall.
The fact is, the laws of nature are not the laws of ethics,
but rather of mechanics; since it is only through instruments that our productive labors can be accomplished.
135 
A LABOR CATECHISM
Nature's work is severe and exact in all its details. II
we invent a labor-saving machine capable, with one man's
direction, of performing the work of one hundred me]
and these hundred persons who formerly earned theii
living doing this work by hand, are wise enough to manage the labor-saving instrument themnselves, they will get
a living for ninety-nine times less trouble than before,
minus the wear and tear of machine. But if we allow a
monopolist to usurp to himself the usufruct of this laborsting machine, he will, with its labor, turn out upon the
streets to starve, ninety-nine of the hundred workmen,
keeping one to operate it; and after paying the one his
wages, defraying the expenses of wear and tear, rent &c.,
he remains master of all the profits which were formerly
paid the ninety-nine men now idle, in form of wages or
means of life. The machine, therefore, actually becomes
a curse to the ninety-nine men, by intercepting their
means of life; and all the prayers and tears of ninlety-nine
starving families will avail nothing. Whereas had the one
hundred men a proper knowledge of material economies,
they would co-operate with each other in the management of the labor-saving machine, and use it for the common benefit of all This being clear, it becomes equally
clear that any community or state, composed of persons
who have established a government for the general good
which allows one person to monopolize its instruments of
production, and thus distress its members, is itself the
victim of the grossest ignorance of the law of demand and
supply. Nature punishes this state with inevitable results
of its own ignorance which are poverty and crime on the
one hand and individual fortunes on the other.
136 
CRnAPE- VI
AN ENGROSSINXG Q'UESTION
FP GON-ERNIMENT COAL-MTNES, PUBLIC
rIGtVWAYS, AND OTHEL MlEANS OF DISTRIB
UTING CHEAP FUTEL AMONG TIlFE PEOPLE,
DtSCUtss10io  WTt  A MPM,3,Bn  O  THE PRF SQ
ON THEi DuS  oF THEP N.]EWSPAPERn
EDITO.    THE SC TEMF OF Wo,. to subordi
hate the Individual to the State by making government
assume an economic guardianship over masses  abrogating
the competitive system entirely, is an innovation upon society to which Editors can scarcely lend their sanction   It
can only be realized by slow absorption  at best, and thb
independent newspaper is certainly the last thing one could
think of confiscating.
REMARK.    People want an honest and able paper; but
can such a thing exist under the competitive system? Couldl
a Commonwealth operate a newspaper:better than an individual?  These are out questions.  In a competitive state
of society, if we look at it logically, so long as people allow others, not committed  to their welfare to do their
work, thley can scarcely expect it will be done in their in
.....             1,   *** 
A LABOR CATECHISMI
terests. So long as the Editor is the individual proprietors
his paper must work for one man; not for many, only so
far as by pleasing many it advances the interests of one.
This is an axiom with exceptions; but it involves a principle that bears its fruits of poverty and wealth. It is well
known that the most flagrant corruptions are those which
have been upheld by newspapers, subsidized in their inter,ests by money,  In other words, Editorial Administrations
awhen tempted by money, have been known to take contracts of suppressing evidence against parties who entertain
a scheme to get money without paying an honest equivolent for it.  Buzzards of the law making process perch in
our Congress Lobbies. In the contract, and for a given sum,
newspapers can, unbeknown to the public, sell their honor,
and become mere, mercenary auxiliaries of any scheme.
Sometimes it is within their power to so far lose dignity
as to guffle and rave at all honest resistance, improvising,
or suppressing arguments. Individuals are apt to decoy
public opinion, (while we possess no Social Press in the interests of the majorities,)or succeed by browbeating and intimidating all honest endeavors of justice to secure fair
play. We believe that the only true theory for just and
democratic Government  is on the basis of Party;-Party
strife; Party differences; friction of principles against each
,other as set forth by Party. Both Parties are common
property of humanity. A proposition is launched by the
people. It meets with favor from a certain class, say the
Workingmen; who upon that principle, or Platform of
principles involving new and progressive issues, organize
a Party. Another class embracing the older, competitive
methods of State hold to old or non-progressive principles,
and becomes a Party in antagonism to that of the work
0 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
ingmen. Justice would say:-" Discuss these arguments;
weigh them; prove themi; apply them; and I will award
my verdict according to the result." How can each Party
get at discussion without having an Organ in its interest?
This principle of Party issues has been successfully tried by
the American Republic; and its natural result has been to
advance civilization, by hastening the adoption of methods
of political economy. Ihaving arrived where they are, the
industrious class of people begin to look at each other for
mutual assistance ill gaining a better livelihood by their labor; and as the State is the strongest, oldest, richest and
most natural Organization, they naturally look hopefully to
its Government, as the solidest medium for carrying out
their aims. No idea is entertained of accomplishing much
of this, immediately; but if a Government Press cannot be
had, which is completely in their flavor, they ca-, and do,
organize a Social Palty among themselves and throughi that
organization, build up a Social Press. An  arrangement of
this sort will answer the purpose, until the Government
Press can be created by their power.
Government ought to own and operate a Newspaper iii
their interest. It is demanded as an Organ of their own.
Workiing p)eople want it to adIvocate their cause boldly and
,pcenly. VWec expect the Party of the capitalists, or the Party that has so long held us in bondage, will continue its
own organization and its own papers. We are willing to
iuatch arguments, statistics, wit, tact, genius, and relative
claims, against theirs.  B3ut we are not willing to allow
their papers or those engaged in their interests, to suppress
our arguments with impunity as they have been doing in
our helplessness, without having a chance to show our share
of fact, and force of virtue in our own- behalf~ W   e l-W~ve
I llq 9 
A LABOR CATECHISM
been treated with intolerance, silenced, kept uneducated
uninformed and but half employed, until driven by the
degrading results into the study of social industries,
social government, social papers, as sheer necessities, We
think we have adopted the only means by which ultimately
to establish an organ, able and powerful enough to buffet
successfully with the great public press
EDITOR.    You can never in our day effect the establishment of a government paper.  Therefore we have but
little fear that a labor party will injure the business of the
great science of journalism.  We may rest quite at ease.
Journalism may rest passive also with regard to the workingmen's party. It appears doubtful whether it succeeds
in obtaining government aid in co-operation, upon its
utopian idea; because the workingmen have not reared
political economists and statesmen to take the positions
of those they would displace.
REMARK.    Does not this show the need among laboring people, of an honest and powerful journal that endorses and advocates labor principles from their depths?
Workingmen want an energetic and able organ.  They
have discovered principles for the ground-work of a democracy which might break up class. It is clear that the
industries of a great people are being peddled out secondhand to individuals. Working people want equality, even
if it assume a form of the communism of More's Utopia.
EDrrOR.    By what line of argument do you arrive at
the conclusion that collective management can ever be
made to succeed in the place of individual management?
ANswER.    Many specimens of labor associations are
of themselves vital arguments. Many of the best and most
efficient and powerful mutual aid and friendly organiza
-t4O 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
tions, are those having the means of supplying their members practically, and to the letter, with everything they
promise.  Many self-help societies exist which are able
to, and do, guarantee the promise set forth in their rules;
that is, provided for and enforced, in their governminent,
To be a member, therefore, of such a mutual aid society
is to enjoy a guaranteed citizenship under a, government
in which every citizen is allowed to deliberate and vote
upon the management of his own business industries on
which himself and his family are dependent for support.
A society like that of the amalgamated carpenters, or the
amalgamated engineers, and many others, is a bona fide
government, based upon the principles of the Referendum Democracy wherein all new laws, alterations and
additions must be submitted to the entire membership,
for approval or rejection.  These societies are not only
doing this, but they are practically, and in this mutual
way, taking upon themselves the ownership, so to speak,
of each other. They are both the government and the
supply-sources of their citizens, that is, members.  Suceess of their government, therefore, like that of any other
government, depends upon the education of the voters
-their intelligence.  As soon as they shall determine to
launch out upon an enterprise of their own, this business
becomes a co-operation of every individual member of the
whole society.  This is the natural result of any Referendum Democracy. Citizens themselves assume and execute the right to ratify or veto any law or project before
it goes into force. Citizens take to themselves the functions of presidents, dictators and kings.
Eo)llo.     Can you state an instan, e, showing how
thie  n xbe applied?
141 
A LABOR CATECHISM
ANswEp        Supposing the Coal Miners' Association,
after passing through all the vicissitudes of that species of
warfare their union entails, should at length become so
thoroughly combined as to open a Mine of their own. The
question immediately arises as to the method of effecting
this.  The idea of the Miners operating a concern as large
as a Mille, involves many difficulties.   It requires mining
science, strict business management, a high discipline over
the work of every department and a submission on the
part of all, to the authority of those they have vested in
control. Substitution, in fact, of collective for individual
control in the business of Mining Coal. In it lies a difference
kindred to that which exists between monarchy and demnocracy; for the individual control of the present system,
is a near approach to absolute despotism.   Co-operation of
the Miners to work for themselves and enjoy, in common
with themselves, the product of their labor, is as democratical as communism. Now mere theory is very beautiful and
plausible so long as it remains a theory; but when one
comes to apply it practically, it generally fails and continues to fail until we become old in experience; until new officers have learned to take the places of the old and the
new  enterprise becomes  an  Institution, assumes forms,
habits, systems, by which all its details may act harmoniously in order that the whole scheme may produce the
largest dividend.  It is not, therefore, to be supposed that
these Miners can ever succeed in obtaining a Mine and operating it in their own interests by mere social combination.
Miners have only one way by which this co-operation
can be effected;-the ballot.  When these Miners become
so numerous and so well organized as to wield a strong
142 
'O  POLI'TICAL ECONOMY.
political power, they can demand of the Legislature or of
Congress, that this mining property now used as an instrument of opplression of onIe and of profit to another, and
these Miners' labor, now used to accumulate wealth  and
aggregate it into focuses of monopoly, carrying with and
for it, their vote by piroxy, shall be condutedl at once in
the interest of the people in general, and of the Mlining
Fraternity in particular.  The only way then, by which
this change can be effected  is by political action.  The
mining property Ynust belong to the State; and the State
must employ the Miners.  The Miners will possess a powerful Trade Organization  the same as now, and this society mrist jealously watch and work, giving its votes to
,,one but those who are both qualified and disposed to control these 5Iinies honestly, and in the interests of tihe Miners who aile the people.  This is the only means by whichl
the hard working Miner can even expect, ever to enjoy an
equal standing, or a generous appreciation of his toil.
EDITOR.     Your argument  digresses frownm the subject.
What has the Editor to do with the affairs of Miners liv.
ing hundreds of miles away in the wilderness?
RESPONSE.      Everythling.  Fromn the moment the Miners' Organization assumes power and declares for this principle, it becones a cogent advocate of a new Political Economy.  It begins to look about for a Press commited to its
interest.  Its action becomes the subject matter of Newspaper talk. The proposition that the State shall assume
the control of Mines, involves the great Coal Supply; whiclh
is a question of lmore than ordinary magnitude.
EDtTOP.     But it is communism; arrant, cantankerous
communism.
REMAriK.      Call it that, or co-operation, or political
1 4',I 
A LABOR CATECHISH
economy, or statesmanship. There is no more communism
in it than in throwing up a redoubt, by a national army for
the defence of citizens. There is not a whit more communism about it than you will find in the Supreme Court of
Jurisprldence. When a holocaust like the Chicago fire
takes place, the people become panic-stricken, and there
being no dicipline, fall upon one another, or become thr
prey of thieves. It is then that their government steps to
the rescue, and order comes out of confusion; the hungr}
are fed, the injured cared for. This is the work of government.  What is wiser? What more effective? Yet it
is the very communism that horrifies the editor. When
thievish coasters made a piracy of wrecking, our vessels
felt a double dread of shipwreck-dread of the accident
of shipwreck itself, and dread of pillage by maraudersbut now, the people are wiser, better organized, better
statesmen, better business managers.  They are better
communists if you insist upon the term. Statesmanship
and communism then become synonymous terms. Why?
Because government has stopped all this scoundrelism by
establishing light-houses, posts of succor, and vigilance
officers, who patrol the shores night and day; and with fog
horns, life boats and daring experts, are already regarded
by honest people as guardians of their lives and fortunes.
Why do you not cry out against this procedure, and
stamp it as communism? Yet government mines coming
to the rescue of the people are no worse.
EDITOR.    Because it bears no adequate comparison
with this great proposition to drive out individual companies who now own the mines. Companies have started the
coal business at great risk and cost. It would force govern ment, already burdened witth duties, to assume the cares,
144 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
and responsibilities of the whole coal supply. Besides, in
most of the cases you have cited, the villainy was aggressive and predatory. The law makes no provisions for thieves
and wreckers. One object of the law establishing safety for
ships was to rid the country of thieves.
R,FMARK.    It was to destroy the traffic of individualist freebooters and to establish safety for the general comtnmunity. So far as this branch of the principle is concerned,
it is the triumph of con-fraternal, over individual rule.
EDrTOP.      But how  does the principle apply to the
Mines?
-REisroNsE.   Is not the mining of fuel for the people as
necessary a business as the coast commerce? Is it not far
more so? A large majority of the citizens engaged in this
business are the working people. A small minority arc those
who employ them. They are indeed very few proportionately.  Yet this insignificantly small minority are actually
allowed to wreck the masses in a traffic that is as rapacious,
as cold blooded and far more deadly.  They are allowed
to set their own prices and force the poor Miners to workl
under ground amid dangers, the recital of which shocks the
ears of the courageous   They are allowed to reduce their
condition to a state worse than slavery. When a slave
grew old he was maintained by his owner.  When wound
ed or sick, likewise. The true slave, therefore, was spared
the responsibility of self support.  But when the Miner or
his helper is thus disabled  he is discharged as worthless
and left to die.  Sick women, the wives of these poor men,
are known to have been driven out of their masters' huits in
default of payment of rent and forced to plod homelessly
and barefoot with hungry, tattered children, to perish in
the snows of winter.  Pates of wages have been allowed to
145 
A LABOR CATECHISM
be systematically reduced until the men, frantic with approaching wreck, sought relief in strikes which served this
minority with an excuse to have them arrested or shot
down as rioters.   The very brutality of this class law,
known as the riot act of Pennsylvania made the men reckless and in their ignorance of wiser expedients, doubtless
caused the predatory career of the Molly Maguires and
other ruffianism   Then came the wholesale hanging of
these men, whlich was almost immediately followed by the
gigantic railroad strike in July 1877.   This will be followed by deeper  organization, tenderer co-sympathies, and
more powerful Amalgamation.   Meantime  the capitalists
who have grown mighty by thus exacting wealth from
the over toil of their poor imbruted men, are busy fortifying themselves with class laws.   It is thus that the christian spirit of love is being falsified ill a christian land. It
is a continuous rumble of struggling, incongruous, negative
forces that know not each  others' welfare because the
slaves of self-protection and individualism.   Unless the
Public Press opens its columns in the advocacy of a remedy, this state of bad management and misunderstanding,
must lead to still more fearful rioting if not to all the horrors of a civil wasr.
EDITOPr.    What step is the safest for a paper to take
in order to most effectually reconcile both parties?
ANSWEP..      An Editor is supposed to understand his
own business situation best.  W'e can only say that the
Coal Mines and the Rail Roads and Canals leading from
them to the people must becom2e common property.  This
is sufficient. It has been resolved upon by all the important Labor Congresses of the world; and rest assured the
struggle will go on until the Socialisms of all countries
14i 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
become numerous enough to take this strong hold by treaty or by storm.
EDiTOR.    For us to take the part of such a radical and
revolutionary movement would of course destroy our business speedily.
RESPONSE.      By no means.  The most widely known
Daily of New York is in the habit of showing the feasibility of this plan of the workers.   But the laboring classes
will not wait for tardy appeals from the capitalist Press.
They are now busy creating papers of their own.   The
great conflict has actually begun and it is too interesting
and important to become weary in good works.
EDITOR.     If the Miners and Farmers want to have
the Coal Mines and Railroads worked by government instead of individuals or operators as at present they evidently will require the help of the Press. They will have
to organize themselves into a political power  and create
centres, or posts, for stumping the country; and by harangue and newspaper labors,  show the light and dark
spots of their subject.    Now if they had the tact  and
steady determination  to really organize this thing, there
is something in it; anid it is quite possible that newspapers might at length see a clue which they could follow
without losing their subscribers.  Before this can be done
however, the Miners and all those interested in govern menit Minies and Thoroughfares,  must do much  pioneer
work.  They must outgrow their habit of wrangling.
REMARK.        here then we have the Editor  convin ced; but without the energy to venture an idea or a pen ny in advocacy of a great proposition involving a qutes
tion not,only of fiuel for his fiue and of reasonable freight
tariffs and passenger fares, but of slavery of the hunan
147 
A LABOR CATECHISM
race!   What can be expected of these work people while
their issues stand friendless?  They feel sometimes forlorn
and often firenzied, reflecting upon the apathy of those who
ought to be their friends. It is this that cultivates a spirit
of alternate despondency and malignity which manifests it self periodically in those dreaded spasms that sometimes
take the shape of industrial catalepsies and swoons, and
sometimes of emotional whirlwinds and tornadoes.  Every
one of these paroxysmal pangs of the laboring classes,
which are growing more numerous year by year, serves as
afulcrum whereby to get new leverage under this commnunism you abhor, and hoist it into view. Seeing the Editor in an attitude of mercenary indecision and recreant to
everything: but self interest makes them morbid and radical and they rush to extremes;-even to the borders of social cataclysm. This is why they begin to demand a Government Paper. This is why they may soon determine to
have the Mines and Railroads themselves. It is one of the
keys of the phenomena of labor agitation. The apathy and
indicision of the Public Press has perhaps done more than
the open action of masters to aggravate and exasperate the
men; for they very naturally mistrust a collusion between
the masters and the Press.
EDrrOR.    Journalists are like other folks; and they
sometimes stand in need of the joys of conversion befbre
they are themselves fitted to take up their cross and follow.
Give us an explanation of the workings of government Coal
Mines and Railroads.
RESPONSE.    It will probably be a long time before the
people are blessed with a thing so unselfish as government
Coal Mines and Railroads: but when that boon is realized,
the effects will show as follows:- A Government is a co
748 
OF POLITICAL ECOQNOMY.
operative society. It has functions strictly industrial, which
can be classed with no other style of industrial functions.
Now, a discrepancy prevails among Editors. They are almost universally in favor of any industrial co-operative society and equally averse to a government enterprise; while
funzdamentally, these are one and the same thin.g. This discrepancy is not seen in the princi)le but in the numbers involved. If a score of Miners could buy a Coal Field and
work it themselves on a small scale, no one would object;
but if all the Miners propose to owvn all the Mines, there is
a noise about it. Yet it would be better for both Miners and
people. The same is true of Canals and Railroads for carrying the coal.  A co-operative society is a government  as
much as Government itself. A great advantage then, certainly would be felt, first by the people at large. We all
have an interest in the Post Office and the Public Schools;
because they take charge of certain departments of their necessary business and are paid without favoritism from the
Commonwealth of the land. Exactly the same interest will
be felt if they own and operate the Coal Mines themselves;
likewise the Railroads, in common.  They would not toler ate a monopoly.  They would watch with eager interest,
over their own Works. Year after year they would send
picked men to the Legislatures and to Congress charged to
look after their household interest of fuel and fares. They
would gradually grow by this practical urgent of study
and become peaceful citizens.  Under the present company
rule, what has a Congressman to say?  Influences are of ten strongest on the side of wrong. lie can sell his vote
against the people oftentimes in favor of the Coal and PRail road Companies' lobby Legislation, for which millions are
often accumulated in pools. But the interest is so second.
149 
A LABOR CATECHISM
hand, so distant, so vague, that the poor people are hood
winked and bewildered.  Could it go so any longer if the
government owned these Mines and the avenues leading to
and from them? On the contrary; you would see protective organizations among the people which you do not see
now. They would study and inquire into the causes of every variation of the price of coal. The housewife would
be the one to demand an inquiry. The political club would
pass and publish resolutions, and appoint investigating
committees.  If things still went wrong, the members of
Congress from its district would be required to bring the
matter before Congress and itf the mischief were not speedily rectified, persons more faihful and efficient would find
a seat the ensuing sessions. But the healthiest assurance of
it all is, that when the business is based upon the Principle
of collective instead of individual ownership and control, it
will be the Priiciple itself, not its details, that will formt
the basis of study and organization. At present there exists but one incentive of citizenship.  This adds another;
that of being employed by them,iselves.  Mere details are
amendable at will; but a great Principle stands eternal.
Not a year rolls round that does not intensify the popular
love of this great and successful Principle as exemplified
in the Public School system, the Parks, Fire Departments,
the Belgian Highways. Yet a public Coal Mine is but another application of the samne principle.  Under the present
system, as has already been seen, neither the Miner nor the
consumer of fuel has an accorded right to ask why wages
should not be reduced so low as to tbrce men to a stage of
starvation, or why the coal should not be raised to ten dollars per ton.  The stagnant apathy of the people in such
cases of outrage is something sickening. They will not
150 
OFPOLITICAL ECONOAMY.
only submit to have the price of coal exorbitantly raised
but they will even take the part of their systematic exactors and iail against the poor Miners if they chafe and fret
under their hard lot. But this is a mark of popular submission to usage where no great principle is involved. On the
whole, it is a good token rather than a bad one. Bring this
Principle into view, and they will cleave to it with the same
dogged tenacity; and the propensity once wheeled and reversed becomes an argument of great power in favor of the
reform
In the second place, the advantage would be felt by the
Minlers tlhe-nselves. They already possess a Trade Society
numbering many thousands.  These are all voters.  They
are, we will suppose, so organized that they submit, almost
to a man, to vote for alny list of candidates of their owin
<hoosing.  They are powerftil enough to carry an election
in certain localities.  Add to this the fact that all other
Trade TUnions and Co-operative Associations in the country
are with theni in principle, that the Farmers are not without sympathy, and that they leave a complete party Oigan
ization, and you see no inconsiderable force aililayed and
concettrated on the principle.  Such forces wvill work to
cheapen coal, to raise the wages of Miners and Laborers, to
shorten the day's work and to destrov thile profit or speculative incentive.  M'en claimi that the profit incentive and
the money wasted in bad manag ement which a Government
Mline Ad'ouild avoid by more permatlent and scientific appliances, would more than fake up for the diffelence in their
wages and shorter timne  which they need to secure them
health and long life.  Achieving this diffeirence in wages
and time, is raising t!iem  from  bondage to freedom.  So
mucl  for the Miners and RailroLad emiploy(s themselves.
'161 
A LABOR CATECHISM
But people at large have an additional interest in the cheap
ening of coal.'Ihe Workingmen do not expect to live by
any other system than that of wages; at least for the present. Honorable recompense for a fair day's work is thought
by most Workingmen to be productive of about as much
liberty and happiness as they can require, so long as the+
do not cringe under a fear of being dismissed.  The Mines
being the property of Government and they being voting
citizens, each feels himself a stockholder, which intensifies
his interest in the work of producing coal for others who
are also citizens. There is a feeling always between citizen and citizen, something akin to mutual care.  The spece
ulative propensity destroys this.  Never till we destroy the
speculative incentive or propensity can we enjoy neighbor
for neighbor, this feeling of mutual care. Mutual ownership
of large works tends inevitably toward it.
EDITOR.     Here you strike a subject of acknowledged
importance. Journalists who are the closest observers of
all forms of social combination, mark that at Labor Congresses, resolutions are always passed  which seem, so far
as the realization of their import is concerned, utterly absurd. Perhaps there is not one of the many phenomena of
this labor imbroglio so obscure as your sweeping proposition regarding State Control over what is now Individual
wealth and of subordination of the individual to the State,
body and intellect. Workingmen seem bent on forcing out
the obvious misnomer which resides in the much mooted
term "Commonwealth."  But in what manner they ever ecxpect to realize, each his individual competency, by submitting to surrender themselves, or by a complete subversion
of individual proprietorship, is a vexed problem. They
seem to think that by giving nobody anything they are all
152 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
going to realize everything; that while all have eveivythling,
nobody can have anything!
REsPONsE.  We will illustrate this in sweeping prospect ive views of it. There are forty million inhabitants under the
government of the United States. One business of this in stitution called government, is to Match over and provide
laws and regulations for the well being of this government
property which is valued at thirty or forty billions of dol lars.  This entire property, now mostly in the hands of i dividuals, is supposed to keep us all employed; or at least,
to furnish us all some means of support  In fact this prop
erty is all the people possess by which to get a livelihood.
But under the existing arrangement of this means of living.
people depenidenrt upon, and eking out a precarious, too of'
ten dishonest living from this vast property or Coinmo wealtlh, care very little about each other, or each others'
happiness. Bickering jealousies and short sighted interests
prevent it.  But supposing the Coal Mines, in all, wortl)
100,000,000 were State or Governnment property; or, what
is the same thing, supposing all these Mines were ours  iii
common, instead of being the property of individuals; thlei
each one of thle 40,000,000 inhabitants of the nation would
actually own, as his, or her share in citizenship or as a vest ed right, one dollar of value in this Government Property.
He would have, not a merely nominal, but a bona fide stock
in public property, to that amount. It would not make
that citizen rich, to be sure; but it would make him an act ual stockholder in that property in common  and insepal —
ble with the rest, clothed in the true dignity of guaranteed
rights.  He can agitate and protest against any infringe inenrt of that right.  His State becomes a business Co-oper ation or Society bringing- all the mutual interests of neigh
15.!l 
A LABOR: CATECHISM
bors together, which present private ownership in exclusive property fails to do.   Now  let the government own
also the Railroads of the country.   They  are worth, say
$100,000,000 Each citizen then, owns $ 2,50, in Railroads
as common property.  The Cotton, Woolen, and Flouring
Mills are worth as much as the Railroads.   So continue
adding industry after industry to the government and you
continue to augment the value of every citizen's actual,
guaranteed claim to this property; the management of
which they then have in their own hands  collectively; or
may have, if they will organize.   When all the various
properties have been absorbed, each citizen will be worth
as many dollars as, 40,000,000, (inhabitants) are contained
in the $40,000,000,000, the value of the property of the
country; or about 1,000 dollars. This if well managed, will
support him for life at six or eight hours of labor per day.
which this business is sure to supply. The result will be
not only to prompt citizens to augment the value of their
property, but also a growing demand for mutual care and
a steady falling off of the selfish spirit of speculation. These
ideas are, during the present century, applying very forci
bly to the question of Mines. If the Coal Mines were owned and worked by government, it would behoove all citizens to watch the methods of their management closely.
The Miners would sympathize with the citizens and every
person must feel it his duty to procure the largest amount
of coal with the least labor and cost, and distribute the
same most economically, to every household; while the
Miners would receive all they claim through the superior
economy of govermnent control and the absorption of
the speculative spirit of profit.
1,54., 
CHAPTER VIL
REASONS WHY RAILROADS, CANALS, RAPID
TRANSIT ROUTES AND TELEGRAPh LINES
SIHOUILD 13ELONG TO THE PUBLIC
INSTEAD OF INDIVIDUIALS.
OPIN1ONS lTERWHANGED BETWEEN MEMBERS OF THE
IN1)USTIIAL PARrY AND OF AN ASSOCIAT1ON OF
THE lIP()N AND METAL TRADES.
BROTHERHOOD.        THERE IS A ScBJrECT, too little discussed and too generally suppressed, which touches upon
the liberty of the people.  As a Brotherhood or fraterna
association of the trade or profession of Steam Engineers,
a certain society represents not only the family and individual interests of its own members enrolled, but also the
interests of many thousands dlirectly and indirectly coniected with them.  Though it is difficult to auite them all
under one administration they nevertheless, interlink their
sympathies with the principal organizatlon, becatise material interests connect, and force them to it. As an instance,
the Locomotive  Engineers control the destiny of many
outside their profession.  When a strike is decided u}pon,
it involves the means of life, not only of these expe:ts, but
also of all the finemen, conductors baggage ii-ien, brakemen,
-.0 
A LABOR CATECH!...5
clerks, porters even the restaurant people and the newspaper
boys, those collnlected with the fuel supply and the way la borers on the route, as well as ticket and telegraph agents,
and numbers indirectly connected with this great business
along the line of the road.
QUESTION.    Hlow does it happen that so small a nu-in )er as the practical Engineers can command  such unlimit ed, not to say despotic influence over large numbers and
varieties of business? And when this question is disposed
otf, we would like to hear how they defend themselves, if
accused, of an outrage upon society, by such an arbitrary
action as that of ordering a suspension of the people's important business of transportation and travel.
BROTHERHOOD.        Your first interrogative is answered
if you recognize that a trade is worth more in practical
business, than a knowledge of accounts. To command a
complete control of these auxiliaries of the Railroad business, the Engineers have only to organize a smnall number
of these mecanicians themselves. Into this brotherhood they
do not admit any whose reputation is bad or who have
,ot received a certificate of qualification through a regular
Board of Examination.   Suc) qualification requires the
practical knowledge of the machinist trade and considerable knowledge of blacksmithing.  Sobriety is required, or
the man might wreck his train. Long practice in the art,
and close study of the philosophy and construction of the
locomotive are required, to make him a perfect master of
}ii, d:ngerous but valuable machine.   Good nature is required, or in some unguarded passion he might cause the
,destruction of the life and property of many innocent people who are often entirely at his mercy.  All these requisites of a good Engineer considered, there are feow, compar.
156 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
atively, who are competent to pass their examination. Quite
different is the estimate regarding a Conductor or almost
any other employ6 of a Railroad. Any trust worthy business man may soon quality himself for his work. He belongs to a class of accountants; Engineers to a class of
practical scientists. It is true their work besmears them
and they compare badly in outside appearance with the
neatly attired Conductor of the train; but that does not
diminish their real faculty. In fact, the Engineers are the
true and responsible masters of trains in motion. Consequently a closely organized Brotherhood of all the Engineers of the country can influence the destiny of every individual employed.
Your next interirogative regarding the right of Engineers to suspend an immense public business, requires more
elucidation.
LABOR PARTY.       Society is like the human body --
formed of great numbers of attributes.  It has its vital, itsf
circulating, its repairing, its nervous systems.   If ycali cut
off an artery or vein of the strong man even at the extremity of the limbs, you arrest simultaneously the life actionat the other extremity.  If you destroy a nelve, the death
of that delicate organ of vitality may cause also muscle
and bone to palsy and die.  If you kill the sense of sight
the entire organism also gropes in darkness, and intellh
,gelice withers because it has lost its means of brilliancy
and glory.  Any injury to the least as well as the greatest
(f the innumerable composite parts of this exquisite struckture is an outrage to the whole.
So also of society.  It is a delicate structure composed
,)t innumerable sympathetic tissues.   If you arrest the,
healthy action of the circllatig system, you outrage the
15 i' 
A LABOR CATECHISM
whole organism. If you, whose peculiar profession renders you competent to control the interests of greater
numbers than yourselves, take advantage of a fortuitous
power and order a strike or a suspension of one of the
great vital industries of society you instantly cause panic,
passion, suffering, to thousands of innocent people a great
distance away from the scene. Stop the freight lines and
you instantly threaten great numbers of worthy people
with starvation in the cities and towns. Yon give advantage to organized speculators on market provisions, who
immediately run up the prices of articles which your
freight lines convey to market and thus aggravate monoply.  Indeed, what else but monopoly in one of its forms
is snch action of a handful of organized men whose  arb-r
trary, perhaps impassioned decision thus dictates the destiny of ten fold their number?
BROTIHEnHOOD.      Does the Industrial Party condemn
the action of this fiaternity, in seeking an innocent combination of its members?  You speak of society as though
it were all harmony; as though its relations were all perfect, and no internal discords existed!  But men organize
for self protection.  A systematic pressure is brought against the fraternity which is a mutual benefit society. Its
object is to help the member in times of need by obtaining
for him p)ositions, or pecuniary and other friendly assistance. A strike is always a last resort. They have recource to it only when all other means of self-help are cut
off and they find themselves face to face before an adversary with bloodshot eyes glaring with greed.  This insatiate creature exists in form of a trio of Monopolies;-the
owners of all the Railroads, Telegraphs, and PRapid Transit
lines, who are inter-combined and bent on reducinig wages
158 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
of all their employes so far as to completely disarm them,
while they refuse to reduce fares and freight tariffs in proportion, for the benefit of the people..
LABOR PAPTY.        Monopoly!   Ahl; here you touch
the true fountain of difficulty. It is one monopoly arrayed against another, with the odds for youL in the name of
justice,  But the difficulty in our comparison just now
was that it was intended for society as it 8hould be; not
for society as it is;-disrupted andl contorted by competism. In the body there are no elements at war. It is peace.
Not a fibre moves that does not thrill in harmony with
its neighbor fibres. When this body is in health, all its
members co-operate. Nerves, muscles, tendons, veins, arteries and the organs of mind and sense co.work in practical, genial association. No tissue lies idle, but all work.
The force and zest of each bears an exact proportionl to
the task of the whole.  The body has its canals, telegraphs
railroads, and rapid transit routes for transmitting intelligence, aliment, and exhausted  material, to and from all
parts, where required.   It has engineers, farmers, fuelers,
designers, telegraph operators who stand fiithfully on duty
and never quarrel.  Its operatives, humble and pretentious, number millions.   No single set of them is in the
habit of concocting a strike for higher pay and of suspending wsork, throwing others out of employment and cutting
off til,s means of support.  Th-e body is a sensitive commonwealth which is unaccustomed to brook such spasms.
They are death. Every member stands at his post, working, reciprocating composite essentials of a beautiful unity
whose glory is mutual love, protection, enjoyment in common, of all the good things of the general whole.
BROTHERaOOD.    Yout overlook a serious decrepancy
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A LABOR CATECHISM
in your comparison.   We  are associated in self defense,
friom evils of society as it is; not in harmony with an im agined society as it should be.  We  find little  if any, of
the harmonious co-operation you depict in your illustration.
Hard experien,e teaches to our chagrin, that the actual
condition of industrial government is the reverse of your
glowing example.   Instead of common  sympathy  that
thrills life in a living body, there is distracting rivality. In stead of mutual co-operation, or sharing in common, of the
labors and products of a railroad, or telegraph, or shipping business, there is one individual or one set of them,
to whom is given an unlimited, legalized power to dominate the actual workers, perform no work himself, and arbitrarily, and too often without the least sympathy, dictate
to them drudgery and poor compensation. Instead of mnutual ownership or life interest in a common whole, the interest is wholly lavished upon this central object of favor,
who becomes a despot  and all his Engineers, Telegraphers,
Captains and other assistants become his slaves.   Where
mutual co-work and inter-profit resides in the body, nothing but jealousy and distrust resides in the greater worldly body against which this Brotherhood is arrayed in selfdefense. Your comparison is poor; for in the place of love,
self-support and care, there is little but short-sighted s lfinterest which engenders a long train of misallotments and
their entailments of suffering and petty warfare.
INDUSTRIAL PARTY.       We understand  then, that the
cause of your dilemma is the fact that this associated
Brotherhood has no common possession of the things to
which they contribute their labor. The living body is an
industry,cting in obedience to the inflexible laws of nature.  Nature gives each worker a share of the product of
'I 60 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
his labor which is amply sufficient for his wants. Nature
therefore, or law takes the form of govelrnment; and all
her employes know the law and conform to it. They, fromnt
self-interest obey aprinciple; you, crucifying the principle
must obey a master. Obedience to a natural principle of
which he is a part, makes the worker a co-partner in its
business Obedience to a master whom he knows to be
prompted only by selfish thoughts for selfish ends, miakes
the same worker a slave; because in the one case he is
himself, a part and parcel of the priiciple he obey.. In
the other he is under abject control of foreign interests.
Nothing then, can remove the difficulty but the assumptioi
by government of the ownership and management of these
thoroughfares and their operation upon a principle, instead
of selfish individual interest. As soon as this is done,
your brotherhood will cease to order strikes or otherwise
cause a disruption of the business they are entrusted to
execute. An instance of the intense, natural interest arising from obedience to a principle, rather than an individual, you will observe in these railroad strikes wherever
they threaten to disrupt the business of the Post Of.fee.
The brotherhood own this letter-darrying business in com mon with other citizens; just as one member of the body
owns an interest in another; "each for all and all for each."
When a strike occurs, this sympathetic feelin g shows itself.
In the extensive strike of 1877, orders from the leading
councils of strikers were issued, forbidding the stoppage
of trains carrying the mails.  There waea strong feeling
on the part of the men in favor of the mail trains. This
was greatly wondered at by many  and was generally
observed.  It was regarded by some as strange that the
mail trains were systematically continued and protected by
161 
A LABOR CATECITlSM
the strikers 1hemselves. Inspection of the principle in rolved however, shows that it was no marvel whatever
These men owned a certain co-operative share of the contents of the mail train which carried the letters through
s'overe'aent.
It would lavee been greatly against their interest to have
waged war against the vehicles of the government Post Office,  Of all the numnerous articles of commercial interchange conveyed by tl)ose trains, nothing was theirs in
common but the Postal Service of government.   This belonged to the Body proper of Society; and was in part,
their owN-n. Feeling towards it was harmonious. They felt
toward it a protective impulse.  To injure it, would have
been inconsistent with their possessorship in it as fellow
citizens, and would have been a violation of an instinct of
self defense. So, if the Railroads themselves, the business
of which they ordered a suspension, had been likewise,,
property of government, a sim;ilar interest would have articulated between them, and they would have taken far
different measures from a strike to redress their grievances.
They would have sought the helm of political power.
BROTHERHOOD.       It would be disastrous to attempt a
sudden change to political action; for while the change
were taking place the organization would lose its cohesiveness and perish of discouragement.
RESPONSE.      It is not at all advisable to attempt any
sudden change.  Let them slowly but earnestly introduce
a certain plank of political tactics and be satisfied to realize trophy after trophy by it, and your members will all
feel an increasing incentive or impulse to organization such
as they never before experienced.
BROTHERHooDe    State the character of the plank you
162 
OF POLYIRICAL ECONOMIY.
refer to.  Persons who have been badly treated, by every political party are not accustomed to venture upon
politics.
RESPONsE.   That relating to the owneihip of Thoroughfares by  government.   Throughout the AMunicipal,
State and General governments there occur many enormous
industries such as the Canals, Public Highways, Telegraphs
and so-called Rapid Transit Routes in our cities and towns
This work should come within the power of labor organizations.
BROTHEPIIHOOQ.    What advanta,ge to us has this labor
over any other? It is all of it labor under masters; and
men are worse used when so employed than in any other
way.   There is no  advantage in workling for government.
REPLY.    There is seen an immense  advantage in it,
when understood; which we want to carefully consider.
In the first place GOVERNMET nAILROADS, TELEGIAPHS and
RAPID TRANSIT ROUTES are not individual property The labor done with them is ordered by the general Community,
when they are the property of the public instead of individuals. Votes which created the Heads of all the great
public Departments were votes of workingmen.  These
men are emnployes of the people.   Being yourselves the
Community, and these public works in the interest of the
Community, they are yours. It is no longer arn individual
industry for one man or company but a Community of interests.  Hlence the workingmen havp a right to demand
to be employed upon them; and it is a right of the engineers to turn the force of their organization toward securing better positions than they now hold.  A co-possessorship in a government Railroad wotud bring bhak honme
163, 
A LABOR CATECHIS1I
feelings. This is their first and only incentive to organization; and when they wheel their force int line and comibat
for this guaranty of labor as a political principle they wil:
see opened before them a mightier love of organiz7ati)n
than they now realize. It will perhaps, be strong enough
to sweep all into organi7ation instead of a part.  The procurement of daily food and shelter is the first incentive
that actuates all creatures.  Lions, tigers, bears, dogs,
birds, reptiles fight for it. Men kill each other for it. The
means of perpetuating existence is worth thinking, organizing or even fighting for. By the nature of things it is
the first incentive for community among men. Had we
all we could eat, drink, wear and require for shelter freely
furnished us and were not in needof protection, we shoutd
not need government. Wanting these, we depend more
or less upon a government to furnish them. This is natural; and a government that supplies but a part is defective
Men want something more than protection.  Food, clothes,
homes, labor are necessary; and governmients are learnling
to supply them as well as protection, which has hitherto
been supposed the exclusive function of govern ment and is
yet the chief theme of political economists. Government
in fact, is a combination for mutual protection and support;
and its legitimate duty is to supply citizens a sufficiency of
both. All functions of government then, fare greater than
the functions of trade combinations; because the government is for the mutual protection and support of all citizens. Yet while individuals and companies are wrongfully
getting political control of it and working it in their interests, thereby excluding the true workers from its protection and support, these workers are organizing to secure
slavery for themselves instead of independence. Were they
164 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
to work directly for government as they would  if at work
directly for such Public Highways, they would  work for
themselves; and would then work for a true Commonwealth.  Continuing to work for outside coriip:I.llis ald individual managers who have no common interest in their,
their labor continues to be what is called wage slavery, and
youter oryanization is odly a means of enforcigy the ps ivileye of rernaining in this bondage.  If they disclh)age people from their service, it is because their mastery over
them is absolute; and they repudiate their claim to enslavement by disowning them.  No wonder that more than one
half of those who work at the various trades are unable to
see a sufficient incentive to combination to keep them organized.  All that which in the government,  or co-operative industry is paid extra, to make men comfortable, or
is abated from their hours to inake them manly'Lnd independent, in other words, all that which government enmployment offers them in form of increased wages and short
hours, goes to the individual or company in form of profit
or dividend.  With the toiler is left nothing but reduced
wages and social inequality.
BROTHERHOOD.        Among other points of interest appears a hint that there are two separate and distinct iineentives of citizenship both attributes of a good state of society; that in ordinary citizenship, or where  government
does not furnish labor as well as protection, only one is
used; and that to organize upon these two incentives is to
quicken the hopes of humanity.
LABOR PARTY.        Our first incentive is the very natural one of self protection, and causes us to be constantly
w-;tchbing for means of obtaining food al-d sheltei.   The
secondl incentivc is that which we all, as citizens, feel, in
165;
0 
A LABOR CATECHISM
favor of good government. Every citizen feels it. Even
the individual managers of public industries, however much
they may be actuated by personal interest, naturally feel
actuated to some extent by this incentive. But it is not
powerful enough to combine all. The best part of the people are uncombined. Disgusted with the dishonesty of public rulers and regarding them with a feeling, that to meddle
with such corruption is disgrace, they remain away frow
the polls and thus permit the country's corrupters to carry
out their designs unmolested. Some of our good Labor
Organizations may be said to rank among these. They
have voted to abstain firom politics. Doing this is virtually
voting not to interfere or in any way stop the career of such
demagogues associated to sap the foundations of republicaniism and who are leading workl-people into captivity,
The second incentive with vague abstractions and thleories, has never been strong enough to keep government
pure. Exclusively protective governments have resulted in
little more than guarding frontier lines, nationalism, jealousies and war. Under its rule, republican governments
mnay seem solid, and may excel abject monarchies in point
of enterprise, but there is lacking the first and stronger incentive to pure government.  WVe find lackiong the incentive
to a citizenship which provides the peaceful business element
of s?,pply.  We find lacking another incentive to combination strong enough to force all chosen Officers of State, to
farm productive industries and to distribute their proceeds
at cost among the people. There is lacking a determination
t.) kill the commissioning system of executing work; to supplant it with one that works without proxy, froia governiient, direct to people;-the first incentive to citizenship,
which will make governments integral, and eternal.
166 
CHAPTER VIl.
GENERAL'VIEWS, FEELINGS
AND EXPRESSIONS OF THE WEALTHY AND
HICGH IN POW'ER, CONCERNING POLITICO        INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIOXN.
COLLOQUY BETWEEN AN
ADVOCATE OF A POLITICAL PARTY AND A
CONsER,vATIVE DOCTOR OF LAWS.
POLITICAL ECONOMIIST.      PROFESSIONAL MEN It  LAW
and jurisprudence have -been giving attention to the move,
ment of the Working People and observe some very startling points and propositions in certain Circulars issued by
those of the Atlantic Seaboard Cities, but nothing remarkably radical or advanced in any of those of the West.
What is the cause of this striking difference?
INDUSTRIAL PARTY.    The radical nature of the Labor
propositions is always in proportion with the age of the the
atre of congregated Labor.  But your discovery is a little
late; for the West has already taken up the subject from its
depths. The Labor Pg-inciple — that is to say, the Points
at issue of the Labor Movement assume a stronger tone as
the Working people study their Question, and as their Organizations grow The movement is natural to all races and
........
I............... *  *  
A LABOR CATECHISI.
all lands. It belongs alike in the east and in the west;
and as it develops, will not confine itself to localities.
QUESTION.    What is meant by the term workingmen,
or work people?
LABOR PARTY.    They are used in a generic sense applying to both sexes and to all grades of useful labor, including teachers and operators of telegraphs, or of musical
instruments as well as of hammers, lathes and plows.
The term "working classes" or "working people," in
labor phrase, sounds awkward; and the term "workingmen" has obtained a recognition as a plain, homely, and
expressive word which includes both sexes. Our English
language is not as clear in regard to this expression as the
German, French or Spanish. We have no simple word
that translates Arbeiter, or Ouvrier, or Trabajador.  In
Latin, the word Vir, man, and Jlulier, woman, and their
plurals were rendered in collective expression by Homo,
Homines. Our language lacks these significant and conc,iliatory terms. We therefore trust you will not find fault
with homely generalities.
POLITICAL ECONOMIST.      Why is this movement called
essentially the labor problem?
LABOR PARTY.      Because established fact, or sci;ence
comes from mechanics.  Voluntary effort, or effort toward
the accomplishment of an object, is labor. Theory is unelaborat;ed effort and is not and cannot be science until it
is made palpable to our senses. To do this, instruments
arc required. The moment a wish, ideal, or theory uses an
instrument however rudimental with which to build for
itself a plp-able shape, it borrows from mechanics.  Mechlianical instrumentalities are, therefore, the means of science.  iIuman hands alone can shape and direct these
163 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
instruments. Such is Labor; and as the doing of this labor involves the means of existence, it becomes the most
important of all questions how labor and its product shall
be economized and allotted.
POLITICAL ECONOMIST.        The position that science derives from mechanics, needs explanation.
ANSWER.       It can be proved, even admitting that all
knowledge originates in intuition and genius; though this
is by no means the case; for many valuable things are
found out by mere fortuity.  Discovery  of principles whiclh
combine and form a sewing machine, a history, or a telegraph, is done by an instrument. The brain is that instrument.  It is a species of mechanical instrument.   It
is a mechanism. It is therefore, not the least point in the
Lablor Problem to prescribe that the brain be rightly cared
for. Bringing these mechanical devices into palpable form
and running condition requires a great variety of mnechanical skill.  Agassiz and Humbolt were scientists; but thev
were also mechanics. They wrought science; that is, they
brought knowledge into the world,  and shaped  and accommodated it to the perception of others. They could
not have done this without the aid of mechanical instrnments.  Humboldt in measuring the volume of water in
river beds and the altitude of mountains, used instruments.
Agassiz used instruments in his deep sea soundings.  Professor Silliman's Laboratory is a marvel of mechanical art.
No scientist could develop a theory without great mechanical skill either in himself or in others. All sciences depend
directly upon mechanics.
POLITICAL ECONOMTIST.      But the greater part of those
engaged in this so called Labor movement view the Question in a narrower light.
1619 
A LABOR CATECHISM
ANswER.  If they do, ignorance must excuse their error.
The truth is, this is not so mnuch a social question as one of
Political Economy; and its agitation may be stated as proportionate to the general enlightenment of the human race.
A  story of the grades of human development makes this
fact clear.
POLITICAL ECONOMIST.        Working people are jealous
of every new invention that capitalists apply to save labor,
as well as to lengthen life.  It is well known that in many
cases where life-saving apparatus have been applied to prevent the cutting out of the lungs as in the case of the steel
grinders of Sheffield and in other ways, the men have revolt
ed and combined against it as an intolerable innovation.
It is difficult to see any economy in this, political or person
al.
LABor PAnZTY.    There is much meant, which a casual
observer does not see. Industries necessarily assume forms
and customs. The usages of the workmen are gradually
conformed to these; and they have learned, by grim experience to keep on the alert; since oftentimes the least innovation however valuable, is sufficient to change the custom
or usage of a particular class of work and displace the
workmen.  Now, in the case of the Steel grinders, we do
not attempt to defend them either from a philosophic, or
hygienic point of view; but only excuse their action as the
necessary efect of a current circumstance. It is true that
the dust of steel when constantly inhaled, is almost certain
to produce pulmonary disease. The average length of life
of those engaged in this trade is only thirty years; and it
must be regarded as something very desirable to invent
any attachment, which, without lessening the amount of
work performed, would lengthen a lifetime from thirty
170 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
years, the present average, to sixty years, the average of
the farmers who breathe pule air.
But the poorest toiler has neither time nor disposition to
consider this question of health.  He has a iamily to support.  For his labor he receives barely enough to exist from
week to week. Deprive him of a place to which he is accustomed and before he can accustom himself to another
his family must starve. Now the simple alteration proposed, may so affect the steel grinder's vocation that it will require a more expert, or even a less ingenious hand to perform the labor, and this may involve his displacement. A
dread of these constantly recurring innovations is what actuates him to organized resistance.  Workingmen  have
been called stupid on account of this resistance; but their
interest is to handle only such matters as have a practical
bearing upon their daily means of support.
POLtTICAL ECONOMIST.         You say this whole so-called
Labor Problem is one of Political Economy exclusively.
It sounds vague. All the world is in the habit of treating
it as an entirely social affair.  Books of tll the Socialist Authors make little mention of political elements in it and
treat it as an exclusively Social Question.
LABOR PARTY.        Our Labor Movement is in its infancy.  As it comes out into the broad light of public discussion it takes a political form, ind strikes for Economic Emnancipation,
LAwGIVER.       It looks like a questionable venture, to
treat a subject which involves the social happiness of millions of families, under the head of Politico-Economics. Do
you not agree that it is the social status of the Working
class which the movement is trying to elevate?
REsPONsE.    WIe might question the good taste of wri
171 
A LABOR CATECHITSM
ters and thinkers, who give things inappropriate names
It is politico-economic in its true character.  Why it is a
political problem is because it can only be solved by polit ical means, through the operation of Economical method-.
Social conditions indicate society at rest;-the avenues by
which we may enjoy, establishee.  Economical conditions
indicate soCity in evolution, or agitation.  The producing
of these means of social enjoyment is, and usually has been
the work of giadual legislation. The claim of the Work ingmen is that these means are not yet established.  The
condition of thie bondsmen, in chattel slavery, was termed
:t social onie. Bitt that supine condi(ltion, apart from de grading, and di,fi'anchising 4,000,000 of the people,  and
shocking every lover of humnanity to revolt, was found by
experiment, when taken in fill consideration by the great
nation, to be p)oliticatlly, a failure.  It became  a subject of
national discussion;   Then it was political.   Despotisms
of other countries looked upon its overthrow as the beginning of a political revulsion that would not end uintil it
reached the wage slavery system  upon which their own
thrones stood.  It was, aftec forty years of investigation by
the nation, as a committee of the whole, found to be a vast
political evil that entered largely into Legislatures, Municipal Councils, and Congress. Its power made and upheld
great numbers of public officees and furnished legislative
work for unnumbered law-givers from the constable to the
Senator, even to Presidents of the United States.   Who
then, will contend that the Slave Problem was not a Political one? Was the war of the Rel)ellion a political or a social affair? Yet what are the general points of difference
between chattel slavery and wage slavery?  This Labor
Question is clearly a political one demanding attention from
1'1'2 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
the nation's political economists. It demands the entire
people's active attention. If chattel bondage was an economic failure, this is an economic waste. If chattel slavery
exhausted the soil and made the country poor, wage slavery makes the intellect poor. If the nation repudiated
chattel slavery as a luxury, so must it repudiate wage slavexy. Both conditions demand equally the study and wise
executive ability of mankind in order to further true politcal interests.  Onethingiscertain:-the mere agitations
of working people are unproductive of anything realizable
except through legislative channels. No proposition comes
up that can be solved by mere social talk.  It requires intense and assiduous activity or motion in a political direction.  The social condition proper, is a condition of rest
-a situation that regards things calmly, as finished. In
other words, the true social question belongs to the intimate affairs of private life; and even then, the body politic
watches it, for stagnation and decomposition follow rest.
Incorrect allotment must then be the natural result. Not
a proposition can the workingman make, looking toward
his advancement, that does not involve fierce discussion of
a political nature, and generally the creation of some statute.  A political condition is one of activity.  A social condition, one of quiet. The labor question is intensely political for these reasons; and involves for its solution the
study and statesmanship of workingmen and women; and
though they may look toward a future social condition for
the human race, it now belongs to Jurisprudence; since
its solution involves the democracy of co-operation. It is
1o erotic affair, but a strife for law, liberty and bread.
POLITICAL ECONOMIST.       Your labor co operations are
not generally considered successful.  Workingmen  are
173 
A LABOR CATECHISM
struggling despondently over the practical application of
what is called the co-operative principle. The character of
American institutions seems to be adverse to it. Conflicting elements manage to break up many efforts at co-opera
tion and there is scarcely a co-operative store, land society,
or industry left. Some thief is sure to succeed in getting
appointed as custodian of the funds and the poor workingmen are swindled. The fickleness of American people,
is something remarkable. The workman of to-day is the
proprietor of to-morrow; and this ambition which is both
popular and laudable throws life into a constant succession
of changes, which involves petty emulations, defeats, and
triumphs over each other. W(e see too much antagonism in
American people for co-operation; they are too restless to
co-operate; too busy with their own thoughts and hopes;
too adventurous, The average American workingman at
fifty has had at least one house of his own, been a foreman
two or three times, a boss once, been West and settled on
a farm, been a property owner, and has had a more chequered life than he will acknowledge; and after all these vicissitudes to which the Tians-Atlantic Worklingman is a total
stranger, his mind is in no condition to settle down to the
paltry idea of co-operatingo with his neighbor for cheapening the means of life. Now under such circumnstances and
in the face of the fact that nearly all attempts of workingmen to co-operate for mutual support are failing around
us, what hope can you entertain of ever solving the industrial problem in this way?
ANswER.      Simply by allowing co-operation its natural political course.
POLITICAL JURIST.      We are not clear about the possibility of business enterprise connecting with political action.
114 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
AwsWE.    Working people alone are forced by grim
circumstances to see this clearly; and are beginning to agitate upon a basis of politico-co-operation.
POLITICAL  ECONOMIST.        Can you cite one instance
where your idea has ever been carried out?
REspONsE.      Most certainly.   All operations in the
Tinited States of which the carrying out is indispensable to
community, are the result of the people's co-operation. It
is a truism that "the judgment of the masses is purer,
surer, and more reliable than the judgment of individuals, when that judgment can be rendered in council."
This is as true as the statistical fact, that nine elevenths of
all individual enterprises are failures. The great war of the
rebellion was a clear case of hearty, popular co-operation
through the government. The people had discussed the
evils of slavery for many years; and under that school of
discussion generations had been born and educated   The
majority finally agreed in the opinion that slavery must be
put away; and it was done. Their decision was carried
out. It was the spirit of co-operation which accomplished
it.  But the country teemns with other specimens.   The
Steam Fire Departments of our cities are splendid exampies and a living proof that the Municipal government is
more capable of performing vast and complicated business
than any individual, or company of them. Would the peopie feel secure if their preservation from the great destroyer, fire, were left to the desultory action of an individual?
The Fire Del)partment belongs to the people; is co-operatecd
in, by the people; watched over by the people. Its defects are felt, investigated, censured, corrected, by the people.  So far as it goes, it is the community taking charge
of the people and is a co-operative enterprise, whereby
175 
A LABOR CATECHIISM
each and all have an intense individual interest in the
collective management of an applianc of protection. Is
that not co-operation?
LAWGRVER.    It must be admitted; but what has this
to do with the labor question? Workingmen are not as
intimately interested in the fire department as the own ers of property. Indeed from the character of their strikes
and the fierceness with which they conduct their evolutions, they seem to have more sympathy with the destroyer than with the preserver. They often boast that
the more destroyed, the greater will be the amount of
labor in the market for them.
LABOR PARTY.    The labor problem as the termn implies, is too homely and practical to consort in any grace,
with mere theory. The world is now rapidly coming out
upon a broader field of practical economies. The fact
that nearly nine tenths of our best citizens fail in their
efforts to succeed in independent business is the bar over
which individualists cannot climb; and it is the corner
stone of the new faith in collectivism.
LAWGIVER.    DO the masses expect to become a unity?
Do they sincerely expect that this collective judgment
of all, or of a numerical majority, can wisely dictate the
course of industries?
RESPONSE.    It is safe thus to reason.  First from the
success of the postal department in which the general
government has almost mastered the company system and
nearly caused it to disappear. This bureau is now conducted by the people who, profiting by each year,s experience legislate, improve and extend it yearly. Such is
thigreat National Bureau, wherein community have daily,
aimost hourly inLterest. It is an intensely political, as well
176 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY,
as co-perative industry.  When  all officers of this Bureau
'are elected by the people  instead of being appointed, it
will niake it still more political thus quickening the spirit
of co-operation in the people who are to be served or annoyed by the delivery or non-delivery of their goods.   lii
either case, the Bureau for distributing the country's literature is a national co-operative enterprise, working with a
marvelous rapidity and precision, extending its almost traceless ramifications throughout the whole nation. It extends
to the homes of an immense population whether far or near,
and if they wander beyond boundarv lines, seeks them out
as unerringly, through international articulation, and is thus
made universal. Supposing now, all this wonderful net-woirk
were the property of -one man.  It is doubtful  -lwhether any
business man exists who has the ability to dispense it. But
we will, for the sake of argnment, allow that there is an indlividual possessing great business ability, who, by the monopoly of instrumentalities for moving and distributing the
mails might arrive at that result.  VWould not the Postal
Bureau become an intolerable monopoly?   What good
would legislation do? What redress shall people obtain
of abuses in any outside industry? We should be left no
appeal.  Would it not arrest one of the inmportant business
affairs which voters send men to Congress to look after?
Allowing imagination a wider range, suppose that we
give other branches of present legislative business to similar monopolies until there remains nothing to send representatives to Congress for; and we find the land a despotIsm!  It is just these few advantages poor people possess,
of legislating business affairs, which distinguishes us from
arbitrary governments. In the example of the Bureau referred to, if the people are not satisfied they must blame
,i 7 7 
A LABOP CATECHISM
themselves.   Let it be explained, that it answers as a
prompter to the workingmen to demand that the same
forim of collective business go farther and supersede present individualist forms in other necessary enterprises which
now fail twice out of eleven attempts.
LAWGIVER.       The assertion that nine industries in elev
en are failures would fortify your argunment better, if it
had foundation in probability. Workingmen are notorious
for random averments; and are continually coining guesswork for positive fact Is it not more probable that no
such a percentage actually fails?
LABOR PARTY,    Not only do nine elevenths of all i,.dividual enterprises fail inside the first seven years, but it
is equally true that four fifths of the different Government
enterprises are successful if we except those of war, where
one or the other of the contestants only, succeeds, and
where both lose largely.
POLITICAL ECONOMIST.    What essential difference do
you draw between this founder of a great company busihess and a collective body or Commonwealth that possesses similar faculties?
LABOR PARTY,    Supposing this imagined manager of
the business in question, after getting his vast industry sat
isfactorily arranged, dies. As a consequence, the animus
of the enterprise which this man has studied and brought
to a successful issue, dies with him; because he has failed
to instruct others to his own standard of capability.   This
is the' inevitable fate of individual enterprises, and is one
reason why so large a percentage fails. But in a govern.
ment enterprise the r6gime is reversed. A government
enterprise is collectively controlled from the first.   The
monopolist referred to who operates this business systenm
178 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
through his personal genius, is proud of his secret. Such
men generally die without leaving even to their own children, their business secret. Their death is a calamity; because the world needs business ability, though it were selfishly applied. It should be the duty of a people, in a collective sense, to make a study of this business secret of the
individual and to carefully teach the collectivity -that is,
the body politic,-the same principles of management, for
collective use, which the individual has worked out, for individual use. To perpetuate the knowledge of business
management wrought bv the sagacity and tact of individuals and to inculcate this tact upon the public mind, is to
make the spirit of co-operative business through goerninent, take the place of individual business through monopoly. Masses cannot afford to lose a great business. These
successive losses are a cause of the large percentage of failures.  Let people get this business secret and it will ever
die; for although individuals may come and go, and be
subject to the vicissitudes of event and change, yet legislative knowledge and tact is ever gradually upward, keeping:
pace with the progress of human enlightenment, and is absolutely imperishable. It is always improved by practical
experience through youth and age as it passes from generation to generation.
POLITICAL ECO-OoisT.    No method in business can
exist without some basis or theory, and the details of such
business are predicated of this theory. Upon what theory
do you found this new democracy or ballot co-operation?
LABOR PARTY.    UponII the ballot as the only natural
share of citizenship. What proves fatal to our small association, is the inequality and changeableness of shares  FiTx
them upon the one share, and one priced share basis, and
179 
A LABOR CATiI'CHI-IS[
they are likely to succeed. Otherwise they become a prey~
to monopoly  or are ripped and routed by competitions
Neither one of these evils — competition or monopoly -
can enter into Ballot Co-operation.  Whv?   )ecause the
ballot is the exponent, or practical expression of a want,
which is felt within the individual. The ballot is a legalized edict. It is indivisible and cannot be multiplied; and
if the caster be wise, it is unmonopolizable.  Every oiie feels
deep in his nature that if he has a right to exist, he his a,
right to the means of existence. In the ballot only can this
feeling find expression with majorities.  In the collective
industry each citizen fee]s this intense personal interest.
He has one share in ballot co-operation, and no less; —the
ballot share. The government ought to multiply its functions by making them assume many distributive and manufacturing enterprises. It is only in augmenting the number
and volume of these public industries that the public can
realize the dignity and profit of their inheritance of the citizenship which is expressed in the ballot. What is a share
in citizenship? It is nothing unless accompanied by some
useful materiai.  Thie biggest infatuationI the ptublic can fall
into is to suppose  that a commonwealth, every acre of
whose land and every manufacturing and distributive industry of which may be taken away firom them Icy the
aptest and luckiest of their numbers'   The true filture
value and glory of the citizen's ballot rests in the clue it
furnishes him  to get these industries and lands inito enjoyable fractions, by means of the iight ol share of citizenship.
This can only be realized in collective owership.- and if each
citizen owns a single untransmiissible life share of one such
property in common with the rest, it follows that a larg(-e
number of suchi properties would be equivalent to a fortune
180 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
for him.  The management of these source-tributaries of
their wealth would then make it a Commonwealth indeed.
POLITICAL ECnONOMIST.      Is not every manifestation of
business growth after all, contrary to the very principle involved in this plan of letting government absorb the control
of our industries? We( see on every hand that the freedom we enjoy only gives license to individuals who possess
superior tact or business capacity. The greater number of
the people do not possess these talents and fall the prey of
a few who do.  Mechanics apply themselves in the same
manner.  Our gifted business man buys a machine  which
performs the work of a dozen menii with their empty nands.
It used to -equire all their time.  Now  one man, with a
machine can do it. What becomes of the eleven? The
world is getting full of these business facilities.  A  little
while ago all the small shops in the streets were occupied.
Noxv they are vacant. In place of them, we see some colossal establishment systematically dispensing the needs of
the people at a cheaper and more satisfactory rate than has
hitherto been done by these numerous, smaller concerns.
How many small dry goods stores have been annihilated
by the superior method of A. T. Stewart& Co!
LABOR PARTY.       This is a most cogent reminder of the
progress of science but it is fraught with dangers. It will
not do as we are continually arguing, to permit such great
establishments which thus supersede and destroy the old
and comparatively petty methods of our fathers, to fall exclusively into the hands of individuals.  They run into monopolies. The profit incentive of the individual beggars
the less lucky masses. Great establishments must thrive
for their economical merits. The world needs them, but
they must belong to the people as a collective body.  Bu
181 
A LABOR CATECHISM
siness concerns must be operated by the State.  How long
must the people be humiliated by a diseased and chronic
system of supply? How long must their homes, food, fuel,
clothes and other necessaries be doled out to them by mnere
individuals with special legislation under their control, who
opei ate for special interests? Such persons if unchecked,
assume a very arbitrary purveyorship for the defenseless
masses, who are, in this way, chained too low to be dangerols; and bind the thongs of poverty and infatuate slavery
around them.   How  long must this last, in the dazzle of
such an enlightened age as this, when people have no better
excuse for their miseries than apathy and ignorance?  A
little political organization of the truly useful classes; a little imitation of those magnificent examples already under
State control, whose very splendor mocks them; a little
wholesome combination of independent work in the direction of Self-HIelp, would sweep away the shackles from their
limbs, the cobwebs from their vision, the lethargy from
their nerves, and launch then) out upon a field of co-operative economy redundant in manhood and gladness.
k82 
CIIAPTER IX.
PREVIEWING AND SENSING
ACHE POLITICAL PHASES OF THE RISING
QUESTION OF LAND ANI) TIMIE.
DIALOGUE BETWEEN I)WELLEiS
UPON F~RAHIS AXD IN CITIES.  FORESHADOWING
AN OMINOUS CRnSIS
AGRICULTURIST       THE jFARMERS WHO  ENTERTAIMN A
lively recognition of the general importance involved iii
the Labor Movement see much that is worthy of serious
contemplation and are preparing to admit even the possibility of a revolution, feel disposed to hold interviews with
pioneers of the Labor Party as an expedient, notwithstand
ing a general belief pervading their organizations, that the
theory embraced in the Labor Platform is impracticable.
MEMBER OF THE LABOR PARTY.    Then  we are hon,ored by an interview with persons in a passive  rather than
a combative state of mind; and must at once assure them
that these are by no means impracticable ideas, but that
they are highly practical and apply to immediate home
necessities of the whole industrial people, the occupants of
the land included.
....*...      *   *. *  
A LABOR CATECHISM
FARM LABOR.       We want to know how they can be
so twisted as to apply to that very numerous branch known
-s Agriculturists. Why should the Farmer take an interest
in the question of diminishing the hours of labor?
CITY LABOR.      Our Eighlt Hlour Movement sprang out
of the increased facilities of machinery for production. Every new mechanical contrivance saves some of the old tugging labor which our forefathers were obliged to performni
by the long process of manual toil.  Wares of commerce
are now produced by machinery fifty percent more rapidly
than at the beginning of this century, when people worked
firom twelve to sixteen hours a day; and twenty percent faster
still than in the third, fourth and fifth decade of this century
when people worked ten hours a day. The change, therefore, was scientifically correct; the diminution of time being in a mathematical ratio with the increased facilities of
production.
FARM LABOR.       Your calculations refer exclusively to
manufacture. What about Agriculture and distribution?
CITY LABOR.    In Agriculture we see a great wrong.
Nearly the same increase of the facilities of production exists on the farm that is observable in the factory, machine
shop or builder's yards; but while the employ6s of in-door
iindustries have talked, studied, agitated and partially succeeded in procurilg from time to time, a commensurate abatement of hours, Farmers have done little in any direction.
They have organized to economize Farm products for the
well-to-do proprietors, but have said too little about the
drudgery of their help. The same old non-progress humdrum exists. A poor Farmer Boy continues to rise at daylight, dto the milking, feed and harness the horses and clean
the stables.  This is his recreation before going to work.
184 
OF POLITI(CAL ECONOMY.
After this pastime he must plow, drag, harvest or make hay,
for twelve long hours, during the warm weather.  In winter he is turned out of work entirely; and hunger stares
him in the face. All this in a free country where serfdom
and slavery are ignored.  compare this Farmer  Boy with
a young mechanic who enjoys the short day's labor!
FARM LABOR.        The comparison is scarcely fair; because the Farm has not yet received as much benefit from
labor saving machinery as the mechanical industry.
RI:sPO-'NSE.    This is one of the reasons for making the
comparison. The Farm has not developed the boy as has
thie In-Door Industry.  If it had, he would have applied inventions of his own.  Farm work still keeps him down.
HIe remains in a state of ignorance; while the mechanic has
had a few meagre opportunities. Besides, the mechanic
has been subject to a monopoly fastened by speculators, upon his labor saving inventions, which has gluttonously devoured most of his opportunities; while the Farm, by its
peculiar character, cannot be subject to the concentrating
work of monopoly, to any great extent, except in distribution, or the sale of produce after it is raised. True, there
is a monopoly, to some extent in the manufacture and sale
of most labor saving implements of Agriculture, such as
reapers, mowers, threshing machines, and even the bricks
and lumber of which the Farmers build. This, Farmers
find. can be abated by co-operation, but it cannot be called
a monopoly of the instruments in any way  conflicting with
the wages and hours of the Farmer Boy in question.  The
study of the age is, how to free the poor and helpless from
drudgery that makes them slaves; how to realize Economni cal Enfranchisemnent; how to best cultivate and apply me chanics as an economic means.  In the case of the young
185 
A LABOR CATECHISM
mechanic, we already find that the labor-saving instruments produced since the opening of the century have notwithstanding a terrible monopoly of their uses, by individuals and companies, actually liberated him fromnt the old
serf drudgery of bygone ages?*n proportion as they have
shortened his day's srork. The agricultural laborer continues to work from twelve to fourteen hours a day; although
an almost incalculable advantage has been realized in agriculture through the introduction of labor-saving instruments.  What result do we see?  The mechanic, though
far less educated than he ought to be, already begins to feel
himself a man.  He is shuffling off his clogs.  His fustian,
corduroy, hickory and iron drab are exchanged for the fashion cut. His wan, expressionless eye assumes the keener
flame of an unhindered development' and the painful gait,
stooping stature, and mournful effort at manliness have so
improved that among wage mechanics good appearance
need no longer be forced to have effect.  Young mechanics are indeed respectable although few are able to find
employment more than two thirds of the year. If then, the
mechanics have cause for agitating the subject of still greater improvement how much more cause have their suffering
neighbors of the Farm to complain of their still unmitigated
condition! The comparison must not be understood to refer
to the sons of well-to-do farmers who are not obliged to
toil but to that great class of hired men and women at this
moment doing the hard Farm labor; and who like the
mechanics and their wives, sisters and daughters, have no
other means but their hands for support.
FARM LABOR.       Fault must again be found with this
seeming want of fairness. We understand that the great
Labor Question touches the whole Farming Community;
18'6 
OPF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
employers, as well as our employ6s. A great political subject like this must not be confined within narrow borders,
but should engross all.
CITY LABOR.    We are weaving two extremes into an
argument which will soon engross us all in the web. The
question with all is, with regard to the unscientific use to
which the whole machinery of production and distribution
is surrendered.  Everything in farming as well as in mechanics depends upon the economic uses of prodcluctive facilities.  These subjects we are digesting  do not belong
either to morality or equity, in the light in which these
terms are accepted in society. They are matters of severe
science in the adjustment of physical forces to economics.
The effect of this adjustment is as computable as an algebraic equation. It is sure to produce more equitable relations in men and things; is toot merely supposable but positively certain. Science knows no more about conscientious equity or ethics, excepting so far as carrying natural
law into effect is concerned, than the inanimate Spinning
Jenny. The world must learn to study nature more and
accepted usage less.  Get hold of solid material and learn
to shape its uses so that it will produce and equitably distribute the greatest possible amount of good material with
the least possible effort; for in exact proportion as society
learns this, will the labor problem come to solution. Within the last hundred years the truly wonderfiul acceleration
of practical, inventive genius has abridged the mechanics'
days' work about three hours while it has had no co-equal
effect upon the large and useful class of farmers, likewise
non-property owners.  Can a nation afford this, knowing
that the progress of invention is about in proportion with
the leisure and consequent disinthraliment of body andl
187; 
A LABOR CATECHISM
mind?  Many things have been invented and set success fully at work doing that which formerly was done by hand;
but there is much  left to be discovered.   We  have the
means of accomplishing with facility, much that formerly
cost great pains and patience to produce; but we have yet
to invent and apply means by which to correctly distribute these productions. This requires the intelligence of every citizen. What sort of economy is this then, that allows the intelligence of hired men to lie perpetually inactive? Farmers themselves cannot afford it, neither can the.
nation at large. Do not the sons and daughters of the soil
lack many intellectual accomplishments which more leisure
and training afford? Comparatively few of our farmers'
children feel qualified to go in the company of the young
clerks, law, medical or art students or even mechanics of
our neighboring towns and villages. It is not because they
cannot command leisure so much perhaps, as because the
whole farming community are in the habit of drudging;
and even the grand inroads of economics which the science
of mechanics brings forth seem insufficient to turn them
friom this almost deadly habit of overdoing. The Farmers,
most certainly, are thinking people; yet they do not think enough, in proportion as they work too much. A healthy
man may work eight hours a day even at hard farm work
and think every hour of this time; but if he works longer
than this fatigue will arrest his study. If he continues
to work twelve hours, bodily fatigue is perpetual; and
thought is driven perpetually from his intellect. No wise
and really prosperous Farmer can afford more than an average of six hours manual labor per day. With this amount
of bodily exercise the easy Farmer attains his greatest average longevity; that of sixty two years! Only the repre
188 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY,.
sentatives of one class of business men attain this age -the
accountants.  Many of our most useful tradesmen such as
the machinists, glass blowers, steel grinders, brass finishers
and of several unskilled occupations die at the average age of
thirty two. Gradually an extra lease of average life may,
with safety be credited to thein, equal in proportion to the
amount of time abated from an excessive day's work. So
long a life of the thrifty farmer cannot be attributed solely
to his advantages of pure air and healthy surroundings; for
we find that the average age of the agricultural laborers of
Great Britain is only forty eight years.  It is not only a
great inhumanity to ourselves to exact more than eight
hours per day, but it is a bad financial economy leading to
disaster. You see by a careful scanning of facts, that there
scarcely exists an argument in favor of the long day's work
which is not grossly on the side of savagery and human
degradation.
FARM LABOR.    It is desirable also to obtain interchange of opinion with reference to the best manner of distributing farm products.  This subject must naturally treat
of great Railroad monopolies whose dangerous combinations threaten to intercept and drag down free interchange
between the agriculturists of the interior and the consumers of the seaboards. Plainly this evil can never be uprooted until Farmers have the means of conveyance in their
own hands.  In order to avert this growing difficulty farmers combine with each other; and begin to appreciate the
need of an extensive mutual combination with the workers
of the cities. Might not a great advantage be thus procured, especially if such railroad lines and water communications necessary for transporting the supplies of both,
could be arranged between them entirely independent of
189-, 
A LABOR CATECHISM
the transportation companies?  But there are insurmount
able difficulties attending co-operation of this kind.
Ciy LABOR.       People living in cities are acquainted
with many of the theories and projects of Farmers, and
there are many adherents to them. A favorite idea with
the Farmers is to restrict and regulate the freight tariff by
legislative enactment and in this way control monopoly.
But this will be slow to succeed. It is true these re strictions will for a time be resorted to as a means of
combating the encroachments of great companies.  It is
the first flank movement upon  the enemy.   Being the
army of resistance Farmers naturally become the army of
revolution. Monopoly is the old monarchy revived. A
monarch is one who has the power of government concentrated upon himself,   It makes little difference whether
that power have control over the destinies of men direct,
or over the means of their existence. The difficulty to be
corrected is brought on by an accapacrement, and( absolute
exploitutre of the instruments of transportation by individialists actuated by an impulse of exclusive personal gain.
All was going well and the building of railroad lines
throughout the country in times past was looked upon as a
necessary improvement to the country  so long as it was
in the hands of many companies and theree was competition.
But gradually the roads are being leased or bought up by
such individuals as are shrewdest in control  and thus the
management of these combinations is turned ovei to one,
instead of many competing companies. The inevitable tendency is toward concentration of our transportation lines,
upon one man. "Man," typically used, may represent one
company or one knot of men vulgarly called at "Ring"
But be sure of one thing, that certain as the law of natu
190 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
~ aselections, this one company, knot of men, or ring, will
always be composed of those who possess the greatest aptitude and grasping ability to manage; for it is by their superiority over other competitors that they get control.
This is mJonarchical in an intense degree; and should be repudiated with the same spirit in which an invading army
of a despotic monarch would be repudiated.  It is a despotism wlich may inflame elements of civil war; for it is an
onslaught against popular liberty. Should a monarchy undertake to concentrate around a throne the management of
the United States and Territories, the people would regard
it as an attempt to monopolize their business  and a war
would be as natural as the uprising of the Farmers against
monopoly. A people imbued with the spirit of freedom,
arouse and shake off the yoke by force. So they must
shake off the yoke of this great transportation monopoly or
they will soon find themselves and their industrial interests
subordinated to them. But the fathers of all free institutions have always resorted to many a feint and sally before
they came to the final grapple with the enemy. So we
shall hlave to resort to all the strategy of legislative restriction, prudential coaxing, and temporary commutations;
but the evil remains abroad, and will exist. It is a tumor
upon the democracy of the people. We may doctor it but
it will grow afresh. It must be cut out, deracinated. The
railroads must be delivered over to the State and become
property of the people.
FARMi LABOR.      But the people have a peculiar dislike
of this idea and cite us to the different governments of the
world that have adopted the management of railroads, telegraphs and other public works by the monarchical governments, as proof that the system is monarchical  and that
191 
A LABOR CATECHISM
rather than being diffusive and democratic, it is concentrative in tendency.
CrrY LABOR.      This is another of many mistakes.  The
power of central government over public industries of all
kinds invarial)ly tends toward popular control; while the
power of individual management, invariably leans toward
exclusivism. Napoleon Third, one of the severest despots
of modern times who was able to perpetuate his reign for
twenty years by sheer stifling and fanatacizing the intellect of a great people who rank among the intensest lovers
of freedom, found it convenient to keep the railroads out of
government control; because the people claimed everything belonging to government, as theirs. Masses never
think of claiming that which is owned and maiaged by
individuals. Great railroad companies who were the subservient instruments of monarchy, were thus enabled to
monopolize the carrying trade, raise the tariffs to a high
rate and enrich themselves by exacting from, and humiliating the people. Close on the borders of France is another
monarchy having exclusive control of more than half her
railroads. All the world is gazing and calculating upon the
results and learning an incalculably important lesson. Little Belgium under the very shadow and frown of her giant
neighbor is teaching all people a lesson in this most radical branch of political economy.  Her government possesses the railroads and works them in the interest of the people. The whole labor movement is inspired by it into the
profounridest hope. Switzerland awakes to find her republican government a monarchy, to the extent that railways
telegraphs and canals are avenues of despotism. Italy sees
the incompatibi!ity of railway monopoly with her huge
progress and is buying up her southern lines.  Germany
102 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
exacts a fourth class government conveyance to accommodate her people. England is cautiously, and successfully
applying the same principle to some of her home and colonial lines. Belgium in many respects though a kingdom,
is the fieest government in the world; and king, people,
and representatives are enacting laws and regulations which
exclude monopoly from railroad management. The price
of railway travel and of freight is astonishingly low as a
consequence; because the government has no desire to
make a profit out of it. It is conducted on the principle of
serving the people at cost. Now we have a freer government, theoretically speaking than the people of Belgium;
yet our railroads are frowning despotisms and are growing
more monarchical and defiant. The only manner in which
these threatening innovations upon our liberties cai be
treated, is to annihilate the monopoly over railroads and
substitute our own management in its place. In short, we
must follow the example of 13elgiutm.
FARM LABOR.       We apprehend it will be long before
people are practical enough in tlieir legislation to effect so
radical a change. The government has shown itself too
stupid, fraudulent and incompetent even to transact its owen
proper business of making statutes and paper regulations,
for the people, without attempting all these intricate evolutions of business management. People are scarcely wise
enough to substitute direct for proxy control either in railroads canals or telegraphs.  Legislatures and Congress aire
continually in an entanglement with the people in matters
of practical business; and now, you propose that they
plunge still deeper into untried adventures, when they are
incompetent, even to make regulations for those industries
which they already control!
193 
A LA BOR -CATECHISM
CITY LABon.    Tile only cure for it lies in co-operator
of the people themselves.  Government must learn to control them as public works   Goveernment gavNe aiway money
;and land enough to the Credit MAobilier scheme to build a
railroad across the continent, for the people, With  this
money it might have hired the work done and of the best
material, paid its own citifens well for the same  and then
had this great highway in it, own name to run for all time
'in the mutual interest of the people of both seaboards at
eosts  To say that government could neot conduct an interoceanic line in behalf of citizenS is equivalent to saying that
it cannot work the Postal Department; or that a city goverrinient cannot supply itself with a Police Force or with
Water, Fire, Sewerage Departments without intermediary
mnanagers; yet these are all known to be satiqfactory and
successful.
FArMtER.   What is your opinion regarding the managemnent of the Land; or in other words, the control of agriculture by the State or government >
A5swra.   Mere opinions are of little use in these days
of exact knowledge which is sweeping away the creeds and
usages of the human race. Some reference to what has been
done on Co-operative Farms and Government Parks may
not be amniss in affording a subject of conversation.
FARM LABOR.       Is there evidence enough to warrant
this government in undertaking the building of Parks and
Farns on an extensive plan? Might not Congress attempt
a Farm upon a sublime scale on some of the great government domains of the West?
CITY LABOR.    Appropriations of money by Congress
will be necessary, for the Yellow Stone National Park.
Nearly all the Parks of the country are successful in their
194 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMIY.
objects. They are the breathing places of the great people.
But they are all built by contractors, which is a stain upon
the principle of collectivism.  There are in the world however, a few excellent models which serve to show the perfect capability of the people to work lands witihout intermediary aid. The Societ6 Beauiegard in Fiance has a fara
worked exclusively by its members.  Many of the great
farms of the Shakers are worked by their own members..
The Community of Oneida has, until manufacturing called
the members awiy, always done its own farm work, witlhout aid fiom without.  Its success is due to a persistent
carrying out of this principle. Of late years, the principle
has been necessarily violated; as the domain grew faster
than the membership, and outside help was hired. It is,
however, the intention to return to the old plan of direct
labor, as soon as circumstances will permit.
FARM LABOR.    What is monopoly in its voted acceptation at the principal Labor Congresses of the world?
CITY LABOR.    Monopoly originally signified  tlhe one
city, or centre of negotiations. Greece had two; Athlens
and Sparta; and they were iivals and fought.  Rome was
a Monopoly. The word is consequently applied to a-ny
centre of control or power.  A modern Monopoly is generally a junto of a few of the shrewdest intellects having financial control over great numbers.
FAxRM LABOR.    What is the tendency of the modernMonopoly?
CITY LABOR.    It thrives best by obtaining and controlling labor saving appurtenances, which are the harvest
of human gen-ius and therefore, common property of eri.
ilizationi and do not naturally belong to individuals.
FARM  ILABOR.      What is the effect of this ausurpation?
195 
A LABOR CATECI-ISM
CITY LABOR.       Too frequently  it displaces from their
positions and forces into the streets, as comipulsory beg gars, plunderers, and lawbreakers, great numbers who are
affected by its iijtrodluctionll. Uindei the exclusive control
of a Monopoly, in invention capable (ef doing work which
formerly required ten persons is made to perfo(rm it with
one.  The power and self interest of this Monopoly  are
such that the thus economized product is not much lessened in price; but the nine workmen are discharged; and the
Monopolist realizes, as his net profit, that which  was formerly paid the nine men in wages, less the wear and  running expense of the instrument which now performs the
ten men's work.
FARM LABOR.       D)o you want to bridle the i,,vention
of machinery?
Crry LABOR.       No.  We  would remedy the evil by
making government encourage the inventor, assist him,
pay him, and buy his invention if a good one. The State
itself must learn to operate the Labor-saving instrument in
the impartial interest of the whole people, without profit
and at cost; and not allow any exclusivist who is urged only by the profit incentive, to use it as an instrument which
can serve the double purpose of making a millionaire of
himself and paupers of the people.
FARM LABOR.        Do artisans of the city think the introduction of labor-saving implements crea.tes paupers to
such an extent as to effect the statistical reports?
CrY LABOR.        The growth of pauperism is in proportion to the number displaced by the innovation. It is one
cause of so much suffering among mechanics. The tendency is also observable on the Farm.
FARM LABOR.       Will State interference, or control of
1.96 - 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
these implements by tile people at large instead of individualists, abate the evil on the Farm and in the Factory alike?
CITY LABOR.      Tlhe government  ntust do one of two
things:-coitrol the igventioiis which disptlace workdes   of
the land and the workshtops, from vocations supersec(e(d by
their i&trocluction, or shoulder upon itself, that is, t]he people, the maintenance of the paitpers and the cost of arrest,,
c?stod(y an( punishment of all criminals, which the consequtent idleness, hunger and desperation bril2. forth.
FARM LABOR.    lHOW can government be made to manage au industry; especially a Farm industry?
REPLY.    How can governments manage the care of
paupers?  Community at large pays their expenses!  Communities know how, and make provision for them though
they find it poor economy. Are communities ever to remain
so stupid that they cannot economize timne by putting men
at work upon the very machines whichl drove them into
pauperism under the monopolist?  This is oiie great study
of this century. Labor-savitig machines are innocent and
incalculably useful. But their exclusive management by
a small minority at the expense of the great majority is an
outrage; as our pauper statistics show.  Let Government
learn this and it will find no trouble in working the land on
a vast and scientific secale.
FARM LABOR.       Wh:at else will be the effect but abolishment of the Patent Office and the substitution therefor,
of some scheme by government, for incouraging inventors
personally so that the community, or people may have the;
direct use of the invention?
CITY LABORt.    We  propose no warfare upon the [Pat —
ent Office.  The effect must be to reward the- deserviing.,
Competism and monopoly have abused the Patent Office
197 
A LABOR CATECHISM
opprobriously; but our object is to discuss the science of
land tilling by the State. Man is so constituted that several
aptitudes seldom combine in one person. The true genius
often has the least push. The inventor is generally modest,
retiring, thoughtful; but what is worse, confiding. As a
rule he has not the constitutional characteristics of a manager of inventions. A shrewd manager is usually an employer. He employs, we suppose, among other hands, a man of
inventive genius, who almost unsconscious of the good he is
doing, invents an improvement in the labor-saving apparatus of the concern. Now the misfortune is, that the manager is too frequently the one to patent this improvement
as his ovwn i and often the poor inventor, far from securing
the profits to himself, is bought out for a trifle or intercepted anCi browbeaten or perhaps attacked and discharged at the caprice of the more powerful manager who has
money and business tact.  So the Patent Office is frequently used in the interests of tlhe shlrewd manager rather than
of the modest inventor.  By the application of money, lawyer's service and circumlocution, this Monopolist gets the
honor and emoluments, by pate,Jting the invention as his
own.  All these difficulties are avoided when the government has control of the industry in which the invention is
put to practical use.
What people want  in order to be happy, and to live in
consonance with the progressive spirit of true liberty and
enlightenment, is to adjust their affairs so as to free themselves from business responsibilities, that they may turn
their valuable time to the nobler and deeper subjects of so
cial and literary life. Humanity is bowed down with toil.
More than half the business, attempted by individuals fails.
Wreck, disappointment, social caste, self destruction follow.
198 
OF POLITICAL ECONO/iY.
Individualism is a scramble for illegitimate profit; and too
frequently the undeserving get it. Of this incoherent and
-incongruous scramble for worldly means, the Agriculturists
hleave their shares
Let then then, join the mighty Party of Politico-Social
Industry; unbind the fetters which fasten themn to an infatuating habit of selfishness and with the toilers of the cities
and thle sy)mpathies of scicnce, call upon the people to act
collectively in bringing into the world a system of soil cultivation by the State; that industrial responsibility may fall
impartially upon great numbers, not unequally upon individuals,
AGR:ICULTUSrT.   For the State or Governmenllt, to attempt the exploiture of agriculture in all its branches, is a
serious undertakLiilg. It is, indeed, a vast adventure.  Such
an extraordinary leap into the darkness of doubt and inexperience, must and will necessari1y be regarded with alarm.
What else but wreck and disaster could, by any sane mind,
be expected to result fiom such a stupendous and wholesale
departure from the customs and usages of the entire world?
Nations vary in their forms of political government. Individuals seem created with great diversity of physical and
mental adaptabilities. Even the surface configuration of the
land which the farmer tills is intersected with nooks and
eddies and boundary lines, seemingly to fit it for individual
tillage and to baffle any attempt of a greater administration
or domination over the soil, like the government, or the collective individual whose united occupancy of land forms
what is called the State.
RErsPONsE.   What is a modern government but an association for protection and mutual well-being?  It is evident,
not only from statistics, but the open and visible facts, exist
190 
A LABOR CATECHISM
ing on every hand, which accuse farm management of gross
incompetence.  Individuals undertake, with their meagre opportunities, to control the cultivation of the soil, and fail
We see the precious land under heavy mortgages and often
becoming the property of lawyers and others of the highly
pa,id and speculating people of the towns, who do not perform the hard toil of ngricultutre.  Thus the land is gradually drifting into the possession of those who do not earn
a living by cultivating it. This is a great wrong. No people slhould tolerate it. But how can Farmers prevent it, if
incombined?  Accumul:ition of the landed wealth of a people into the hands of individuals and companies, is not only
wrong but very dangerous; yet as it is a result of the competitive system, endowed with special laws and powers of
immemorial habit and usage, there certainly exists but one
sure method of obtaining an equal distribution of this landed domaini, and that method is agitation, as afundamental
principle of a new political economy, supplanting the oldi
competitive system  utpon wlich the wrong rests. The e-vil, portentous with social and political magnitude, over
sweeping the most troubled area of any subject of the
dark and difficult problem of Labor, isfailure of land culti
vation and tenure, by the individual.  Huimanity can devise
but one solution resting upon the adamant of impregnable
justice and eternal duration:-all individuals must become
one, by association and agreement;-this to be made a dee]),
penetrating Principle of the Industrial Agitations. Working
people are not slow to see in their own beloved Government
tor political Empire, an immense and powerful combination
of forces competent at their sovereign command, to turn its
richest resources of applied sciences, of willing labor, of copious funds to a vast, practical, scientific tillage of the EARTH.
200 
CHAPTER X.
WORKING PEOPLE THE TAXPAYERS.
DUTIES OF POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS
CONTROLLING PUBLIC WORKS.
DEBATE BETWEEN MEM]IBERS OF
OLD POLITICAL PARTIES AND AN ATTORNEY
FOR THE MOVEMENT OF LABOR.
POLrrICIAN.    WE  COME  DELEGATED BY  AN Organ.
ized Body, to enjoy an exchange of sentiments with reference to some new opinions you entertain on Political
Economy.
ATTORNEY FOR THE  PEOPLE.    What  Body do you
represent?
POLrrICIAN.    A  secret society organized and  mainrained in the interest of many who take upon themselves
the manipulation of important details in politics.
RESPONSE.      We have never yet been able to separate
studied secrecy from deception. We, ourselves, sometimes
see the need of privacy in unimportant details; but as for a
mere secret club being empowered with the management
of so solemn a trust as the people's destiny, human beings
must be wise and just indeed, if pure management arises
............
................ 
A LABOR CATECHISM
from the hidden depths of their nightly reunions, which the
world's sad and sickening picture of poverty and sin, proves
to h;bve come from darkness rather than light. The polititcal economy we teach depends for its success upon light;
not darkness. It is scientific and provable only in the
broadest glare of light. Can it then have sympathy with
that which is occult?
POLIT1CIAK.    If you are no better posted in details
than to begin a political career without the aid of secret
political manceuvres you are a failure to begin with.
PEOPLE's ATTORNEY.    Well then, if your organization has any idea of endorsing or of even discussing the
merits of truth, whether that discussion be in cells or on
the house tops is immaterial, except with the progress to
be achieved.
POLITICIAN.    Our organizations are as desirous as your
own of using their power honorably and with discretion.
It is a mistake, however perfidious the management of
some secret political combinations, to suppose that all politicians are wanting of human kindness.
ATioNxiNY.    Kindly permit that we address you as
one of the aggrieved public; else we may not arrive at an
understanding. You are yourself a political officer of some
kind   Your bureau is in some City Hall, Police Headquarters, Public Justice's office or Commissioner's department of Public Works. The great public at large had
little to do with your appointment to an easy and remunerative office.  Your appointment, functions, power, come
indirectly.  Not through the people with whom  you play,
but from the Mayor, Governor or President, whose election
you instigated the people, through some unseen manceuvre, to sanction. You represent then, the successful side
,to2 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
of two antagonists; and this success emanated from the
sanction of an occult, perhaps perfectly honorable plan, by
a majority of the Public. The Public were admitted into
the secret only so far as the general principles -t the base
of Party Organization required it. All details relsting to
your appointment, method of administration, salaries, in
fact all the details relating to the destinies of the people
until the next election, or until the close of said administration are kept private.  This is the same as in monarchical countries with this single improvement that this
monarch and his appointees or assistants, are obliged tok
abdicate periodically instead of remaining in power for life.
You continue to exercise over the people the same supreme
control which has marked the career of all monarchies  If
the people succeed in holding you in check or in dictating
openly what you shall do in secret, it is with the superior
mechanical instrumentalities like the steam engine, the telegraph, the press, and other appurtenances of modern
practical knowledge. Even this is strongly felt in modern
monarchies, worlking potently in democratizing or diffunsing
legislation for the welfare of all.
POLITICIAN.    Admitting that our system is radically
wrong and that the people ought to have the power of
electing all subordinate officers and that everything ouglt
to be discussed and arranged in openra, instead of secret
meetings, it is nevertheless certain that secret political scieties exist; and it is this fact which motives our inq-ai-ry.
WVe represent a political power that manages details in
government.  WVe find that business decays at each great
metropolis of the Eastern Sea Board which, if not prevented will cause the industries of those emporiuns to be
dIrawn into centres of the West.
20,3 
A LABOR CATECHISM
PEOPLE's ATTORNEY.    This is natural.  Politicians
cater to the middle classes  and fail to protect industrious
elements of society.  The government of a city is onesided, and in the interest of so-called taxpayers.  Tlesee
taxpayers are the owners of property, mostly created
within the city.  The city has been swindled by political
combinations and plunged into debt; and the taxpayers
who are obliged to pay the enormous percentage of taxes
levied on their property, raise the price of rents and other
means of life.  This rise in rents is equivalent to a diminution of the salary of every person engaged in the industries
of that city. The taxpayer finds it easy to equalize, so far
as he is concerned, the excess of his tax, by the lrise of his
rent, and other material in which he deals.  Hle is a  nanager of product.  The poor producers believe they have
no more effective means of equalizing their excess of rent,
and means of life, than a corresponding rise of their wages
through organization. This naturally leads to strikes, public turmoils, and what is called the disturbance of industry.
Immense waste and antagonisms of industry are caused in
this way. It makes industries precarious. and few business
men can stand both the increased tax and the risk caused
by the propensity of their employ6s whose wages they are
obliged to cut down, to strike or otherwise interrupt business.  The fatal consequence of this desultory condition of
Eastern Seaboard Indnstiries is to gradually eliminate the
vital staples of their business prosperity which of course,
other industrial centres obtain.
POLITICIAN.    This brings us to the point.  What can
political organization do to help the matter?
ATTORNEY.       Every thing.  It is upon the political action of such that hopes might be placed if integrity could be
204 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
relied upon.  They have power; but instead of using it in
the interest of the real taxpayer, the producing majorities,
back of whose calamities there is no appeal except in strikes
and over whose fiiture there yawns nothing but sociatl caste,
they lavish it upon the non-producing middlemen  ol pseudo-taxpayers who, to bridge over their difficulty, have but
to raise thep-ice of rent and other n-teas of living  and
cut down the workmen's wages commensurate with the taxlevy and the hazard incurred by this change.  This means
war, not peace. One result is to graduanlly drive iid:.stries
from the city.  Political Orgauizations showv their utter incompetence to legislate for the well being of their gre:at and
beautiful city, in persistently refilsing to make provision for
the safe and honorable employment of the working pieople
who are thus forced to defend themselves, and whose want
provokes crime and entails upon the city further wretchedness, shame, bankruptcy.  Meantime the Politician docs
not abate his subservience but obsequiously clings to the
middle class, recognizing them as the true taxpayers.
PoLiTrc1AN.    What then  can  be done?  Politicians
have no following from the laboring people. On the contrary they are generally repudiated by them.
ATrORNEY.      Very naturally.   These men have  the'
control of whole Departments of Public Works; but instead
of attending to this as honest duty and interest instruct,
farming the power of this supervision, they Iease them out
on contract to third parties, to speculate on. The sinking
condition of the public treasures and the spasmodic nature
of business show that the contract system is defective when
the interests of the great public rather than those of public
men are considered. Necessary work should always be
done for the SAKE OF TUE woRK, as well as for the WORK iT
205 
A LABOR CATECHISM
SELF.  The necessity of the work of building a park  is the
first incentive for that labor, which is felt by the entire com munity. The number of days work it requires to complete
the park and the manner in which it is to be done, is an im portant matter to those of the general public who would be
employed and thereby earn a living. This is the second in centive, which touches the heart and home of the entire
working classes.  It is also the vital matter these political
organizations neglect. The Politician is unable yet to see,
that on this incentive he can advance his own and his city's
interests.
OrPNtoN.    Talk this way to the world  and you will
be scouted as a communist and an enemy to the leaders of
society.
REPLY.      Nevertheless the truth shall be spoken. The
first incentive to the building of a park is felt by the general public in common as a public necessity. The second is
felt by the workmen who are to be employed thereon.  A
workman feels a double incentive, because in addition to his
desire of employment, he, being also a citizen, has a common
interest with the general public, in the beauty and health,
of the city, town, or country in which he resides. It follows
therefore, that the producer of the park takes double the
interest in it that any other person cats take. This doubled
incentive is strong enough to promote a political Party.
Your organization partakes of precisely the same character so far as it goes. You conduct the details of a government. They execute the details of a park, The general
public require a government, The same general comimunity also want a park. This want then, is identical in both
cases and is the first incentive.  Now the next incentive is
the desire of your members to execute the details of this
206 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
government. They desire it, first because each feels it a necessity in common with the rest of the general public, to
have a government; and secondly because they wish to be
employed, and earn a living, in the performance of this duty. This is honorable, if there is no dishonest speculation
in their motive. If they did not do it somebody else would,
and these two combined, form an incentive to organization,
which is intensely strong. Arguing then, from a point in
principle, no fault is found with your organization. It may
be frankly admitted that it is necessary to have rulers, for
all citizens's sake and for your own special sakes, when honor lies at the base. What objection then, can you conjure up,
to the employment of the people, by the people, for the sake
of the labor and the consequent means of support, which it
affords them?
POLITICIAN.    But we do not perform the details of
this labor on the parks and public edifices. It is let to contractors.
ATTORXNEY.      Why  then, do you not let the making of
laws and ordinances to contractors or middlemen? If you
are afraid of one communism why not of another? Why
do men no longer sub-let their laws to the despots of individualism? What is the advantage of a democratic government? Why may not a great principle apply to one
form as well as to another?  To labor as well as law?
POLi1TICIAN.    Do you call the long tried and popular
system of contracting the world's necessary work to outside parties a despotism?
PEOPLa's ATTORNEY.         Most decidedly.  Any regulation is despotic, whether political or industrial, which does
not consult majorities concerned. It is a despotism with
which the entire anti-monarchical spirit of civilization is
901 
A LABOR CATECHIIS
'nconsciously at war.  It utterly ruins the second and intensest interest of the citizen in an integral government;
because the people are not supposed to have either ownerhIip or interest in a private regulation.  When the Inited
States Government wants a good, genuine ship it is sure to
build that ship itself; but when congress makes an appjropriation of money to pay for the building of a ship, and allows a junto of appointed officials to sub-let the work, to
contractors, be sure the ship will be next to worthless. The
difference between a necessary thing made by ourselves,
under our own supervision, and the same thing made in the
interest of a contractor, may be considered paramount to
that generic difference which exists between selfish interest, and common interest.  The only incentive the former
feels toward making the thing a good one is fear of popular displeasure, the loss of reputation, and the desire to be
honest. The incentive he feels toward slighting the work,
is his craving to make money. The world knows this unfortunate craving too often prevails.  Wretched patch-work
and superficial gloze, pervading a large portion of American manufacture is sufficient proof of this. Now when we
do a thing ourselves for ourselves, we are, by the force of
circumstances, free from all negative motives.  We cannot
make it wrong. We have no incentive for making it wrong,
because the pure thing is what we want. For this reason
the government gets the best ship when it employs its own
supervisors direct, hires and pays its own workmen direct,
buys its own timber and other materials direct or independently of intermediary managers, and watches and detects
every fi,w.  HIere is seen the reverse of the contract system
which excludes this noble second incentive to do right.
Our doubled incentive then, is a new urgent of mnotives in
-2108 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
savor of democracy; because it increases the number in the
organization. It needs this two-fold incentive to keep the
whole general public organized in politics; and every tendency is despotic without it. Industrial equilibriation cannot exist without it. Competism, with its speculative incentive receives no check without it.  Human government
can never be pure until its details are carried out under the
doubled incentive which every citizen must feel, and be,
through personal motives actuated by. The fewer the number thlus actuated the more closely it verges toward despotism, until it culminates in exclusivism or monarchy itself;
as did Rome and all the empires of the past; whereas the
larger the number thus actuated, interested, and employed,
the more purely democratical and fraternal becomes the governmuent as do the self-help societies of co-operation. If your
political government furnishes no second or doubled incentive of organization and labor, except for a mere handful, eliminating and excluding it from the masses, it is monarchical. It may be in a republic.  It may produce laudable
things. But its character is monarchical. Majorities are excluded and it can only be democratical in proportion to the
numbers who feel this doubled incentive of political organization. Its democracy can become general, only in proportion as it multiplies these doubly interested members.
POLITIC1AN.    It is true that we have a Department of
Public Works, upon which working people are demanding
employment. It is further true that great numbers are in
an unorganized state, and those who are associated think
of little but Trade Unions.
PEOPLE's ATroRNEY.    It has been explained how this
demise of the work they ask for, destroys their strongest
incentive to political organization. The sub-agent gets the
'20'0 
A LABOR CATECtIISM
work; not they. He makes profit out of the contract by
exacting an over portion of labor product from them. If
you should study their wants as supervisors of the Board
of Public Works  and employ the men direct, to perform
this service in which they could take an interest as citi zens, hiring them direct and not by proxy, there could be
no violation of principle Its tendency is to elevate the
workman instead of degrading him; spurring him to pro.
duce genuine streets, parks, city buildings and other public
works.
POLrrICIAN.    You have not made it clear how this sub agency of labor acts as a tyranny  or despotism.  Mere ly the statement has been made but no satisfactory reason
and evidence have been addt.eed.
ATTOrNEY.  Proof is visible in the degradation of employe6s. In favor of the direct system of employment the proof
is in their elevation. The difference is plain and natural;
and being generic, we can attach no particular blame to any
person.  It is only desirable that men should see that the
direct employment of the citizen by a Board of Public
Works intensifies and completes the incentive to political
organization, watchfulness and purity; while the reverse is
the case'n the sub-agency system because the strongest incentive of pure, genuine government is destroyed and the
inevitable results of political demoralization follow.  Instead of the government being watched over and guarded
by the majorities, whose labor creates the public improve.
ments, it is left at the mercy of the unscrupulous who, to
secure the contracts, would bribe you with the very money
they make out of the overwork exacted from these citizen
employes whom the direct agency system would enfranchise and elevate rather than degrade, as at present done,
,It I 0 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
by employing them on the principle of increased wages
and shorter hours.
POLITICIAN.   Would not this increase of wages and diminution of time be a disastrous expense to the city and be
regarded by that portion of the general public not thus employed, as an insidious means of buying political organization of the workingmen?
PEOPLE'S ATTORNEY.       No; although suspicions might
be incited by those interested, or in symnpathy with subagents who are sometimes powerful both in political influence and in the sway of established public sentiment. A little reflection proves the contrary. In outside industries,
the wages as a result of the desultory methods described,
are so low that the workman or woman is only able to exist. Comparatively few of the unfavored million can accumulate property. When thrown out of employment they
almost immediately begin to suffer. If taken sick, the horors of a twofold calamity, destitution and pain, befall them.
The only mutual aid or burial society they belong to is perhaps their Trade Union or mutual benefit society  and four
fifths of them do not belong to those. Ti this helpless state
it is easy for the subagent of the Municipal Works to exact.
There is no resistance. Hle can therefore, true to the instinets of monopoly, he does exact. Helpless poor people.
become virtually degraded slaves at his feet, because they
have no appeal. Beggars for the privilege of remaining servile are truly wretched creatures; yet such are they! A pitiable government then, is this you dispense in secret; and
those who tolerate the same, boasting of the management
of details in politics to whom are given the destinies of ant
immense Board of the people's Public Works, are also do
plorable slaves both to themselves, and to tls sub-agency.
211 
A LABOR CATECHISM
Tne labor agent after obtaining the contract, hires his men
at the lowest compatible wages and even then, constrains
them to a constant hazard and fear of losing their occupa tion. Labor contractors clothed with such power of inter est and consequence, can exact a large amoulnt of work firom
each; and twenty percent more time than the law making
eight hours a day's work allows. These employes are of
the people who, insofar as means of redress are denied are
humiliated.  Not satisfied with this, the performer of Mu nicipal Work is by the same propensity for gain, impelled
to slight it; and the working people who are the true taxpayers are compelled to pay in exorbitant rents and provisions, for what has not been done. The streets of your city,
are proverbially unclean and in summer the stench of carrion and of putrid cesspools and sluices, and the ordures of
the open gutters combine their infectious miasma, breeding
and fostering choleraic deatlh-rag,e. Mad dogs rave, spume
and snap unhindered; summer fevers bum and destroy while
the city surgeons burlesque medical science with autopsies,
and learned reports on the phenomena of germ diseases and
the discovery of the nerve fatality of hydrophobia. Neglected cities thus make science a satire on the nerve and sinew of their human victims. Evidently it costs the sub-agent
money to purify the city; and since emoluments of profit
can purchase reputation he has no other incentive to do
work well than unprompted virtue. Competitive individualism thus renders employers void of the second incentive
of good citizenship; and their workmen by reason of bad
treatment are equally void of it.
POLITICIAN.    Cannot a brighter shading be given to
some side of this dark and ghastly picture? Give ius an
idea from a brighter point of view. The Boards of Public
212 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Work on streets, docks, parks and public buildings are
completely under our control or may be made so by a little
legislation.
ATTORNEY.        Employ the men yourselves  and you
have the bright side as a consequence., Hire them independently of contractors.   Direst and supervise their labor. Hire them at Eight Hours per day if according to
law. Give them honorable, living wages. Never turn your
good men off to starve. Treat them with respect. Hire
men for their intelligence and honesty as well as for their
efficiency, as workmen. Encourage them to join and enlarge the political organization, until every person required
to conduct Public Works finlds permanent employment under your immediate supervision.
POLITICIAN.    How long before they will get dogmatic
and tyrannical and abuse their power? Contrariety and
self-destruction seem inborn elements of the laboring class.
ATORNEY.        Because they have never been trained in
industrial self-govcrnment.  But they will never do this.
They have no interest in doing it; and it' they had, they
would be soon self-accused, and detected; for they are too
numerous to be secret.  They are citizens in actual co-peration with each other for the common good; citizens actuated by the desire to promote the general welfare which
forms the first incentive of political organization  to which
they cannot but belong, and also by the desire to maintain
themselves and their families in respectability and comfort,
which forms their second and strongest incentive to political
organization and honorable citizenship Do away with
this pernicious letting of ferries and other work which begets injustice by opening opportunities for it. Endeavor to
institute a direct employment policy and streets will hence
213 
A LABOR CATECHISM
forth be kept clean; parks well made public edifices will be
genuine;;erries  and other steam transit thoroughfares,
cheap and comfortable. Employ's will be honorably treat  ed and elevated fom slavery to manhood; and thec'ost of
doing it will be far less than this indirect patchwork by o6b  sequious sub-agents of the Public Works.
PoLMrcIAa.     Admitting this assumption of control of
the ferriage, passenger transit, and other such work, to be
channing in theory, it applies only to those improvements
over which the Boards of Public Works already hold con trol.  It does nothing in the way of restoring the great
shipbuilding and other industries which the country has
lost by the ravages of hard times.
PEOPLE'S ATTORneY.    If the country has lost indus tries, energy will restore them. There is no reason why
a city cannot build a ship if it can build a park; nor any
reason why it cannot navigate ships if it can conduct intri cate industries like Water Boards, Fire Departments and
Schools,
POLrrICtAN.    Do such counsels premise that shipping
industries can be assumed by every Seaboard metropolis
through political action?
ANSWER.    They can be restored by the action of the
Boards of Public Works. The shipping industry is a political necessity of the people.  It forms an important co-efficient of an integral community. Without it, the strength
and symmetry of a Seaboard are shorn away. Commercial
plumpness, beauty, prestige and health are lost. It becomes a necessity. Now under individual management the
shipping industry has failed and fled from your city; although a public necessity. Being an industry necessary to
the prosperity of the public it deserves the consideration of
.214 
OF POLITICAL FCONOMIY.
the Board of Public Works.   Yet this consideration -implies sanction or rejection  which cannot be done without
resorting to deliberation, and the yaes and nays. In other
words the ballot, which is political action.
POLITICIAN.    Yes, but what has the Board of Public
Works to do with it?
ATORNEoY.    Public sentiment cannot find expressions
except through the machinery of arrangement and detail
Boards.of Public  Works represent a political power thatmanagesthe details in politics.  You seem ignorant of this'
great ptlitico-indistrial necessity: the shipping interest of
Seaports.  You have  never even taken into consideration
this important subject.
POLITCIAN,    Nor have Boards of Puiblic Works  power to authorize such an enterprise without authority; fromthe State Capitol.
RrsroSPsE.... -No.  But the people have.  PublicBoards
may not have latitude sufficient to cover such an enterprise'
without some legislative sanction; but organizations hav' a
right to bringit before; public consideration, with anview of
obtaining this legislative permission.  After'such preliminary work it belongs to the Boards of Public Wor'ks to car-,
ry it into effect.  It becomes a co-operative' enterpr'se.
Work is,done by the people after plans and, drafts most; approved by them.  The industry restored to-thecitytisthen"
a demnocratical or co-operative industry instead iofa monar-c 
chical one as heretofore.  Employ6s -the managers, drafts,
men, carpenters, machinists, blacksmiths and others employ-..
ed, feel an impulse to organize in clubs politically, and ho'pe-'
fully work for the best interests of the enterprise i, because'
they feel -the doubled interest in it:- that of citizeniship,
and that of duty to themselves.
215, 
A LABOR CATECHISM
POL1TrC1AN.     How may that sullen tendency be recon.
oiled, which appears both in political government and that
of great monopolies, requiring employes to wear uniforms?
People say the uniform designates caste and look upon it
as an aping at social distinctions. They are told to calm
their fears; for it is only a business necessity, very convenient and innocent. But that does not explain. You allow
that the Post Office is a proof of the ability of a people to
manage great Distributive Industries, more economically
than individuals; and point for proof at a growing tendency to distribute and infuse watchfulness among the people,
rather than to concentrate upon individuals the great current
of control. You even say that the people are mutually impelled to the management of their business concerns by
their own intimate, heart-felt and fireside interests; even by
the tenderest family and friendly intimacies; that they are
compelled as a collective commonalty, each integer of which
feels a sovereign impulse to depend upon the mutual combination of all, to enforce. This power of popular will, it is
argued, is supreme and becomes a true democracy. But
how does it look democratic when it shows itself in the very
garb of royalty; imitating the hated uniforms of military
despotism which has so emphatically spoken in deeds of op
pression and of blood?  The people will ask for a correction
of these discrepancies in logic; because uniforms are forced
upon employ6s of both aristocratic and government industries.
ATTORNEY. The uniform is not offensive to the eye or
the,taste. It is not only neat, genteel and popular, but also
serves the purpose of putting a stop to double dealing. It
makes men show their colors. Whims of the dishonest may
be shielded under colors of daily life. Uniform dress does
216 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
not permit occult dealing.  A letter carrier or other agent,
hired by the State is well dressed, and respected. He is on
a par with any person who earns a living.  Colors are honorable. The great bank which pays him is the treasury of
the people. He is given and must execute an honorable
trust.  He is more punctually paid and better treated than
are the employ6s of most individual firms and seems by no
means dishonored with the uniform of the law. It is a necessity to him, assuring him special protection and a necessity to the people being their means of recognizing their
employe and his responsibility. What is said of the letter
carrier may also be said of the Policeman.  This objectio.i
loses force in another point.  The Gens d' armes of Europe
are uniformed through compulsion.  The spy and detective
are very careful not to dress in uniform when they have a
secret X-6le to play.  It is characteristic of rogues to we.r
inattractive apparel, and they know each other by wDink,
grip, blind cypher, argot, lingo and other langue de serpent; and the shrewdest  detective, if he calculate their
manceuvres from ordinary lines of action as established in
honest, business methods upon which men career, finds it
difficult to discover them.  The statement however, that all
officers should be required to wear their uniform, must refer to society as it is at present; when the number of uniform-wearing officials is as nothing, to the numbers of the
people. What we may wear when all become responsible,
is a distant subject. The uniform per se, indicates simply
nothing. It is only a matter of convenience. That as a token of military grades it makes some people pedantic is
true; but this will, before the criticism of rising public inteligence, be frowned upon and its uses be applied as a
mechanical necessity.
211 
A LABOR CATECHIISM
POLITICIAN.   Ther        e appears ogreishly rising before the
industrial world, another threatening spectre  in- form  of
two  or three extraordinary inventions, Withm a short pe
riod there stalks unbidden  into the labor market, an instrument which claims the power of supersedng and of
entirely supplanting and destroying the great and timeholnored art of printing. There are a half mDfllon printers making a living by their skill in this art  Shall all
these honest tradesmen submit to be driven away from a
respectable employment by en inanimate tool w-ith which
the tender  and comparatively unskilled fingers of a girl,
may perform in an hour more work than the printer, with
his long earned skill and close practice, is able to accomn
plish in a day?  Allow these sciences and inventions you
hold up as elements of a high civilization, to thus undermine the means of existence of this large and useful class,
and you make them arbitrary scourges and a curse instead
of a blessing. Does it not look like ~aldest sophistry to
maintain that a machine which, in giving employment to
one, robs five others of the means of existence and throws
them, helpless, into penury, is a benefit?
ATTOrNEY.    There  is nothing within human reach,
whereby the wrongs described may be adjusted, so long as
a common sharing of the earnings of this printing machine
is denied the aggrieved mechanics whose skilled art and
whose means of support are destroyed by it.  The introduction of inventions no power can stay.  Nor  should it.
WTe may as well seek to throttle the fount of human genius.
We may as well condemn the struggling, aspiring race to
intellectual oblivion; for what, more than this unearthing
of nature's buried jewels, this analysis and synthesis, this
resurrection of her latent virtues, can contribute evidences
o 1 8 
OF POLITICAL ECONOM'Y.
of mind above brute force?  No, Let no man  dream of
stanching the flow of intellect  It is saredc. The cure
of the evil does not lie in an act of barbarity which could
produce only retrogressior and selfontempt.
But a ctire    i in y}our hands, as managrs of great Boards
of Public Works wA   prol  rtya tM,d   Fxpecet nothing
so lonig as tie compeietitive system rages and the scramblers
for the lion's share outwit the working mitlion who struggle
and vainly combat  to check an emulative career which
grasps and appropriates  ll for selfish ens, giving no quarter to the otLtwitted vicetim. No. Hope cartnot be looked
for in the compet itive system. Bitterness, poverty, humiliation, raeedegeueraeya and othLer concomitant crimes against
humanity  exist fillig the wvor10 with seial ulcers  There
is but one method of relief. Tite St&a:C mzcst becorea C o6oCrazon; and take controI of these inventions, as legitimate
propert  or wealth which enich.es a people by enriching
such State, Common-ealliW, MiipaIit, in w1hich they live.
This delivers the:new printu~ [istrument  in full function,
to society by ao    4a cC offis   th:m$ itrcepting
tha   scuLfve u,ativc e': Miake this noble gift of the cit
izens' intellect eom.vca'rtys stbject to the control of
the Boards of PuhliL Work.
Other magncifent inventons like the telephone, which,
through a competitive iLsinct, of speculative strife tall prey
to, and are swooped up by shrewd indivduals and mon opolies, with recreant untfeelingness for the fate of masse
must, before a rapidly engulfing problem of habors Rights,
yield to the altruistic methos of mnanagement and  become,
hkewise, tie common goods of humanity.
P.oLfrxielzZ.    Even concedinrg a possibility that Boards
of Pablic lork nuder our direction as thieir Political e  gin
219 
0A LABOR CATECHIISM
eers succeed; that the printing innovation, the telephone, the
gasworks and all similar industries now operated by and for
individuals on the competitive, or emulative system, become
common; what moral or intellectual benefit would masses of
the people derive from the change? The same spirit of
strife would continue. It would only be forced to course
in broader channels. Instead of being personal it would
be political. In a few years it would be national. Conflict
ing with the interests of individuals whose business is differently grounded, it must inevitably tend toward the begetting of strifes rather than the quieting of human passions I
Indeed, who shall say that it will not provoke the strifis of
blood, by exasperating our emulative impulses?
REsPONsE.    Were it a private affair, a conflict between
two neighbors, serious results might f)llow. But this change
of management in the applied methods of new inventions,
which are as much the common property of civilization as
the air we breathe, and as little the prey of individualists
as water, or intelligence, or soul, or law of nature, is an affair which affects all humanity. Its province is not circumscribed to petty individual interests. It sweeps over broader areas and covers the interests of humanity. It becomes
a problem of Political Economy involving the grandest and
profoundest prit?ciple of mutual self help and love, such as
the world has never known. It becomes a school. There
are no elements of strife in a community of interests which
its discussions, its reasonings, its moral agitations will not
melt, soften, purify, refine, as in the chemist's crucible; for
it is the school of schools, the nursery of humanity, the foe
to oppression, the messenger of practical wisdom and of reciprocal love.
220 
CHAPTER XI.
A MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION OF THE FOUR
PREVAILING MISCONSTRUCTIONS AND MIS     TAKES THAT BESET TilE AGITATORS
OF THE SOCIALISTIC
PHILOSOPHY.
A FRIENDLY COMBAT OF OPINIONS WITH SEVERAL PEE   SONS, ALL INTERESTED IN SOME METHOD OF HU      MAN IMPROVEMENT BUT CONDEMNING ALL
BUT THEIR OWN.  PLAIN TALKS
ON GIFT, FARMING AND
TEMPERANCE.
OBJECTOR.    ACCORDING to almost every sort of feeling
that actuates our mind and muscle, the so ca!led Socialistic
Philosophy, which requires that Government assume the
control of all our economic means of existence, is highly
prejudicial to individual liberty. How is it possible for enterprising persons, men, for example, of great managing
ability to develop any useful life work, like a manufactory,
a farm or an invention, when every free action is curtailed,
restricted, and submitted to the impudent censorship of everybody? The idea is distasteful from first to last! It is
destructive of individualism and independence. It cannot
! 
A LABOR CATECHISM
but have the effect to ruin personal aspirations upon which
it is conceded by all writers and thinkers on Political Econ oiny, the superiority of our age over past ages of the race,
takes its marked distinction. "What's everybody's business
is nobody's business" has long been a maxim which people
of experience find to be literally true. Surrender the per onal incentives that inspire us to any enterprise, that gird us
with that almost marvelous energy which characterizes men
of our day, give these longings, cravings, delights and pam pered hopes that accompany individual responsibility, over
to the many, no matter how well qualified those masses are
for the task, and it wlll be speedily seen that the life of all
genuine energies has been sapped, perhaps when it is too
late to prevent or rectify the disaster.
SOCIALIST.  You speak of four kinds of industry.  The
premises are fair, and very favorable to a fair discussion
We will accept them on your own grounds and confine our
researches to the three great industrial branches upon which
millions are constantly dovoting their genius and practical
energies-those of Manufacture, Agriculture and the Invention of labor saving Machinery, much of which is used solely in facilitating the other two pursuits. Let us first look at
the subject of Inventive Gift; the most important, being a
source, directly or indirectly, of modern development and of
much of our shelter, clothing, medicine and other necessaries.
Do you consider that industrial pursuits are, in the main,
economically conducted? If the power of individual management is so sacred and unerring as represented, how is it
that nine elevenths of the industries in the entire country,
fail within a seven years trial? Yet this is lamentably true.
Wlen we fairly submit this assumed success of individuals to
statistical count, we discover that instead of the boasted
222 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
triumph of their masterly genius and strength over difficulties, it is, to our astonishment, disastrous bankruptcy nine
times in eleven  Nowv, so far as concerns the exhilarating,
delightful or refining sensations and the life duties and retsponsibilities which make the incentive of such duties, we
must be honest with ourselves; for instead of actual results
leading to this, we find that the disappcintment, worry, perplexities of many kinds attendant upon the calamity of so
frequent failure, furnish statisticians with a key to that preponderance of suicide among managers, over common, or
non-managing people. It is true, that suicide prevails in a
degree among working people.  Tlhis is traceable to almost
the same fountain-fears and anxieties-but of quite different kinds. What troubles the journeyman, is uncertainty
about holding his situation and the insolent usage he is too
often subjected to when he has one.  He hb-s no grand "castles in the air".  No half developed life-work to be wrecked.
No costly hopes  long treasured, to be dissipated, and no
fears of any ill results of mismianagemelit except as he ruptures the natural law by violating a rule of the art and myp
tery of his handicraft.  Being always forwarned by ever repeating experience that the punishment for this is imnmediatly inflicted by nature, he learns care and gradually grows
into habits of exactness which produce pleasure instead of
pain.  Not so, the business adventurer.  A large majority
of them fail within the first seven years of trial.  Many are
unwilling to survive the wreck of a life project and as such
persons generally spring out of the most enterprising and
magnetic class, society in general suffers, in proportion to
its loss. The fallacy of your argument that steady selfemployment of the people by themselves, will, in any manner, produce hurtful results by cuttting off individual liber
223 
A LABOR CATECHI;_M
ty is self-apparent; since a large majority of your independent-spirited citizens are necessarily doomed to failure by the
fiat of competitive institutions under which they struggle.
OBJECnONIST.    Still, you fail to meet the great and Ui:answerable objection to the proposed plan of conducting,
industries-the objection that it will utterly intercept the
incentives which now inspirit people to energy, enterprise,
and vigor, without which, man would sink into the condition of the naked, purposeless savage.  Whence all this delightful, progressive enlightenment with whlch we are surrounded?  Has this been procured by peniing up, restricting men's minds, submitting them to the constant inquisition,
as well as the glaring censorship of an ignorant populace?
Let working people be honest with themselves and they
must soon become convinced that their undertaking is one
which cannot fail, if carried out, to consign this civilization
to decay! The world is not so far advanced that it may not
suffer another collapse.
SOCIALIST.    TO the reasoner who has honestly canvassed
this subject for true information, this objection seems not
only strange but extraordinary; strange, because it containsno truth in fact; and extraordinary, bee:-use it is the first
objection raised, hooted at and shaken in his face and the one
which is most calculated to bewilder, horrify, prejudice and
finally prevent him from studying further. Now, in order to
meet this subtle objection plainly, we must begin with the
first and worst class of fault-finders-the political office holders themselves. The very persons who most loudly clamor
against labor getting a foothold on its own management are
those whom Government has been a mother to, or been their
almoner. Alexander was born to a throne and consequently to vast means. Did not this circumstance contribute to
224 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
makehim the renownedAlexander the Great?  Or did his
"'overnment pay" you deprecate, dull the boy and cut off
his incentive and rob him of the means of self development?
The fact is, he, like thousands, even millions of less fortunate
ones, was born with those life incentives; and the government place and pay he inherited, were just what proved indispensable as means with which to accomplish his purposes.  Forgetting the bloody deeds of his brutal age and race,
the world owes him a debt of gratitude for the one great act
of establishing the Alexandrian School. But if military heroes are objectionable as illustrations, (militarism is condemned by the Industrial Party altogether, not only on the
ground of its inhumanity but also because workingmen are
its first dupes and victims) we will look at the career of individuals in private life. Let us study biography. IKant,
who himself could do nothing till he got a life position in
the Royal University of Koenigsberg, openly proclaimed as
one of the cardinal points of his philosophy, that what men
ought to do they rust do; and consequently, must be supplied with means of doing it. He taught that it is the duty of man in the aggregate, to help the individual, as an
integer.  His teachings were intensely democratical   German Political organization of the socialistic School has taken root upon Kant's trenchant theses.  Yet this intrepid
sage, like millions of the unfavored ones of gift and special
genius, might have floundered through the world without
writing an essay or delivering a lecture, had he not been
provided with means, by an institution with a government pensiloned by the State and' as permanent as any, po
litical institution on: tie earth. But we can. go' farther back.
Nobody was anybody, without government help in ancient
times.  Yet this aid was what produce+] the civilization of
225 
A LABOR CATECHISM
Athens and Alexandria. It is now recognized that the doetrines of the great philosopher, Aristotle, which upheld accumulated investigation of natural law, by means of mechanics, statistics, natural science and comparison, were correct;
being exactly the scheme the world is now following in the
minarch of enlightenment. But this celebrated old greek was
both a teacher and an engineer under the emperor Alexander and his father, king Phillip, before himn. He was, in all
repects, a government employ6.  Did this prove disastrous
to this great man's genius or life-hopes? It furnished him
means, on the contrary, to popularize and apply his system.
What would have been the Alexandrian School without such
a founder and such a teacher? Solon was nothing until he
got on the government pay rolls.  Lycurgus was adrift until he became an employc of the Spartan Government, under the Eurystheneid line Hle seems always to have enjoyed the pecuniary blessings of the people's exchequer; but it
cannot be said of that eminent Lawgiver, who lived in a
comparatively early era of our race, among quarrelsome, ignorant, indeed desperately superstitious barbarians, that his
happy advantages had the effect to debauch or demoralize
him. How can you assume that government paid service
was, in this remarkable case, other than a blessing to our
kind? We simply assume, with Kant, that whatever men
ought to do they must do; and when it becomes necessary
as in the present struggle of the adjustment of Labor product with regard to ownership and enjoyment, the people
must look to their government as the natural employer as
well as protector. Every man in early days, to bring his
inward being out, had to be the protege6 of the people under some solid institution. Demosthenes and Cicero were
useless lawyers, mere babblers in the field of rhetoric, until
-2 6 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
they became state's attorneys; until their mighty philippics
were heard from the hema and the'forum. This does not
presuppose that great, even greater souls did not exist. It
means simply that those who have nothing ean do nothing.
In the gaze of modern democracy Spartacus looms up a hero; and his story thrills and gladdens every heart.  But even poor Spartacus, a gladiator and a slave was fed, furnished, nurtured in daring deeds and his army with which he
carved a page in history was in like manner supplied from
the government and this rough host he afterwards led to a
remarkable uprising against oppression was equipped with
weapons, fed and trained in the arena a,nd prepared for their
leader when he came, through the money and the laws of
the Roman government; else how could Sp:ruaeus have
given humanity this wonderful example of revolt against 
brutal and humiliating species of slavery-the arena of Roman gladiators. Hardly do we find a man of note in the
Middle Ages who was not, in like manner absolved by one
of many methods of government guaranty, from the responsibility of property-holdiug and of private life.  Copernicus, the monk of Ermeland, wrought out, brought out and
thoroughly demtnonstrated his inestiable Planetary movements under the quiet hbounties of a fixed government institution. Now if servility, or intimidation and fawning obedience are results of such employment, how could a poor
mathematician like Copernicas, who got a living by teach ing, have succeeded in demonstrating mathematice  hypoth eses which were not only unpopular in all such institutions,
but frowned upon by the governemts of the earth that sus taiied them, because they were regarded 1by such governm
nients and institutions as heretical,. actually threatening tihe
overthrow of foundation principles upon which those inst
2 2'1 
A LABOR CATECHISM
tutions were grounded? Did his steady employment in a
solid institution that gave him regular payments for labor,
have:the effect to demoralize the Monk of Ermeland? Co  lumbus and Magellan who proved by experiment what E  ratostbenes and Thales had predicted, were dumb and pow  erless until governments gave them their commissions, their
outfits, their crews and launched them out upon the high
waves. For over a hundred years from the great discovery
of Columbus the oceans were ploughed in all directions by
ships fitted out by different governments of the world, for
geographical and other useful researches. Does all this sus  tain your argument that men of independentce and genius
become gross, lose their natural spirit and characteristic
parts and dwindle into effeteness or worthless political ser vitude and indolence? On the contrary, Columbus is an ex ample among many others, who have suffered the torments
of individualist jealousies because he was successful. Biog raphy proves that inventors who are unprotected by some
strong institution like a government, are too often made vic tims of by grasping, irresponsible individuals. A principle
cause of this is attributable to the fact that men of invent ive minds are wanting of those aptitudes that characterize
men of grasping, selfish minds; and consequently fall an ea
sy prey.  Individuals generally succeed.n despoiling the
researching, inventive, penetrating geniuses who contribute
most good to their fellow men, of the honors and emolu ments of their gift and their industry. Laws tclerate it.
Competition grows out of it. Political and economical af* fairs are numb to its cruelties in ratio as it fosters greed in
individuals and makes them callous to the sufferings of its
victims. While the great discoverers and inventors could
maintain themselves under the guardian wing of a solid in
228 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
stitution, like Government or an endowed seat of Learning
which has outgrown individual ownership and management
so as to be recognized as common to the world, they could
succeed in realizing their aspirations unmolested. But when
the insinuating student of narrow egotism and self-interest,
who thinks of nothing but moneygetting, fastened upon innocence ot' this kind, the usual result was to get away from
the ingenious man all that was worth anything, of his project, and turn him out to die unhonored and unknown.
If the pure truth were acknowledged we should know that
the secret of England's glory and success is, that she has always been a wise almoner. What could Newton have accomplished outside the University of Cambridge? But Cambridge is in fact, an institution of the British government;
founded by government officers and receiving periodical subventions from it. Newton was the philosopher who could,
therefore must and did, give us the facts about gravity
Who shall question that it was the exalted influence of his
position, his co-operate help his college prestige and salary
that established the man's power and made his success certain? Why, even the quiet of a government prison has educated many a genius for a great work. Bunyan was but
an unlettered enthusiast, tantalizing the public ears vainly
screeching at deaf disgust, until his twelve years of discipline in Bedford prison; then he could write the "Pilgrim's
Progress". Many a heretic will testify that getting away
from absorbing circumstances, even though it be hiding in
the clammy dungeon, has the effect to c-ordinate and marshall the tributary requisites of a successful life-work.
John Milton, the great polemic democrat, a government
employc under Cromwell, was a gentleman who for many
years had received help from government. His genius was
229 
A LABOR CATECHISM
strengthened by such help and was perhaps invigorated for
the master-pieces that followed. What of splendor that af terwards shone out from this contributor to language and
literature, was property born in him; and that wanted only
means from no matter what source, wherewith to further,
encourage and ultimately accomplish his purposes. How,
then, did the exalted and ennobling position he long occupied under solid and respectable institutions like the British
government, tend to demoralize him or weaken his powers?
On the contr-ary, Milton must forever be recognized as one
of the great builders of republican government.  Tennyson
the Poet Laureate of England has for many years received
a large annuity fi'om government.  This does not prove his
poetical work to be in the least stultified. Would that the
ingenious people of every station, who for want of means
are lost to the world, might all be equally well provided
for!  Would not the resuit be to free inventors and authors
fiom the robbery that is now almost certain to destroy the
man or woman of genius, by heartlessly grasping their conceptions away, while in the embryo and vending them as
the robbers' own? Fixed or endowed institutions, like a
political government, or a university that belong to no persons in particular but are the property of humanity, are generally very honorable in matters of recognition and payment of services. Is it not natural then, for persons otf every variety of unprotected genius which has conceived valuable things in the mind, but is unprotected, and surrounded
by a thousand greedy sharks of the competitive world who
always stand ready to pounce ulpon anything they are likely to make money out of, is it not perfectly natural and,just
that all such, including the working masses, worst robbed of
all, should turn toward their staunch, benefficent, magnani
230 
OF POLIITICAL ECONOMY.
mous nation, for safety and for means? "Government"
is always common to any people who have the organization
and the manhood to assert their claimns. Swedernborg owed
his ability to produce the "Arcana" and other literary work,
to the sinecure he held for many years, under the Swedish
government. His salary paid his publishers' bills. The
world is indebted, primarily to Swedenborg, secondarily to
the Swedish government for whatever the labors of Swedenborg are worth. You will find few in the American Republic who have really succeeded in reaping the honors and emoluments due them from a work of their own genius, who
have not had more or less assistance and protection from
that great connmmon resource, "government". All those perons mentioned, have richly repaid the world for its public
favors.  A similar story of almost any great man might be
squeezed out of the negative reticence that broods over the
annals of genius. It is a fact worth knowing, that what
sets the British government among the ablest and most
successful of Commonwealths, is its munificence in elevating and endowing its geniuses. It is a fact too little known
that what made France, durinig Napoleon, an object of
scorn from within and without, was that dynasty's jealousy
and exclusivism against literary and originative citizens. It
exhibits a steadfast policy of England to lift her genius up,
and a fixed determination, prompted by the meanest spirit
of jealousy, on the part of Napoleon, to push Freiich genius
down. What signalizes the punic nature of most republics
is the stinginess of their mediocre politicians and their misplacei, sycophant guardianship of the taxpayers.  There
prevails a great mistake in the minds of community, as to
who and what this "taxpayer" is. Tie advocate of the
competitive system, on which political economists base the
281 
A LABOR CATECHISM
dogma of "supply and demand" always imagines that those
who have the immediate handling of the money with which
taxes are paid must of couirse, be the taxpayers; whereas,
any honest person who reasons, cannot but see that LABOR
is the original, the true and only source of all payments on
articles taxed. Now, the laboring people are those who
perform such labor. Yet managing persons have not only
gotten away from the laborer his labor-product itself, but
they assume, with the coolest effrontery, that this "gotten"
product of the laborers' toil is the source of taxation; and
consequently, that they themselves are the taxpayers! It
is just here, the great Industrial Party takes its source.
'This kind of thing has been going on long enough.  It is an
effort in the direction of justice as the hard working, unappreciated, ill paid workers of the country are the owners of
it, in justice, having made it what it is. But it will be seen
that the labor party does not propose to degrade this citizen's government to the capacity of a mere almoner or
almsgiver, the position that governments certainly have assumed in most cases mentioned, toward citizens needing
help. The party assumes that the government belongs to
humanity and not to any select objects of favor. Governments, like the air we breathe, are conmmon property and
cannot be construed as the exclusive property of any man,
or of any set or minority of men whatsoever. As the air
man breathes is necessary to bodily existence, so the laws
and regulations for national existence called government,
are necessary for his moral life; and any effort of a class of
men to exclude masses from the free benefit of either, is direct usurpation. We are determined the world shall see a
system by which, not ony its geniuses but also that still
greater class, the working masses themelves, who go hand
'232 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
in hand with genius, constantly assisting her in all elaborations, applications and toils shall enjoy the strong, steadfast
aid of government, in a manly manner. We cannot forget
that under the old competing methods, this govornment
help has generally been enjoyed under some form of sinecure office. The labor movement regards sinecures in the
light of alos-giviny or beggary; of itself without a shade
of manly independence. True, such a benefit as that has
generally been regarded as better than proffers from an individual. But a sound labor movement wants only for citizens the honorable labor that government can, and ought
to, and must render them, by assuming the management
and control of the great people's Industry, altogether independent of managing schemers, who now manage them for
themselves. Governments belong to one individual as well
as another. Whose right is it to make distinctions in favor
of particular persons? Who shall say that a government
possessing the ability to work as difficult a matter as an atr.
my of conquest, may not also have the ability to operate a
cotton mill? Who shall say that if government can, by its
well known, successful system of feeding, clothing, equip ping its legions of defense, often to a half million men, at
rates far more economical than they can furnish them them.
selves and with better articles, that the same government
cannot render anybody and everybody, every claim to citi izenship and protection? Who shall say that if a govern ment can conduct a magnificent enterprise like a postal in dustry, with a great, systematic department, regulated by
the people's will at pleasure and run with such cheapness
and unerring exactitude for ages, that it is unable to work
the telegraphs the railroads and water lines that form a part
of it? It is a stupid ignorance of political economy which
0
233 
A LABORP CATECHISM
stimulates them in their denial that government is the only
legitimate and natural channel through which the railroads,
water lines and telegraphs should be operated; because so
long as these instruments of transmission remain property
of individuals and joint stock companies, whose interest is
advanced rather by exacting from, than promoting the interests of the great mass on whom they thrive by extorting
exorbitant rates of freights and fares, just so long will the
postal system itself remain incomplete. We hold that the
assumption by government of the railroads, water lines and
telegraphs, if for no further purpose than merely as auxiliaries to the postal department, would soon cheapen railroading, shipping and telegraphing so as to make these inventions of the laboring people practically usable by them; for
as things now are, they are almost totally deprived of their
uses. Now, to your question. How is it going to destroy
individual incentives? Without economic mneans the people
are slaves. This is their economic means. How can a person lose the spirit, glow, animus that nerve him to an invention when he has means with which to carry out the project? On the contrary, these advantages will help people
by liberating genius from the shackles of poverty. The almost free postal arrangement of the people makes it possible
for a poor man, whether employed in the post office department or not, to write correspondence which used to cost
beyond his means before that beneficent service was undertaken by government. He can transmit sums of money in
safety; and finds himself facilitated in accomplishing many
other things which in the dark incompetence and the gloom
of the unlettered ages he could not have done. Does not
this explain why inventions are thickening upon us, even
with a rapidity which outstrips our corresponding growth
III
234 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
of knowledge as to how these inventions should be applied!
Had government under the sanction of the people, as in
this case of the post office, the control of cotton and woollen manufacture would it not be in furtherance of the people's interest to cultivate inventions? Would government,
like the sly, crafty, selfish individual or joint stock company study to cheat an inventor of improvements for facilitating this manufacture?  On the contrary, governments, as
we have seen, are magnanimous; and in all such cases, it
is for their advantage to be so, because the people want to
rid themselves of every burden when they do their work in
common. The government nmust help the man of genius.
How could Cap. Eads have accomplished his work of deepening the channel of the Mississippi, without the help of the
United States Government? What a failure would the genius and energies of M. de Lesseps have proved, had not the
French Government sanctioned his schemes and rendered
him abundant assistance in cutting the Suez Canal and also
in bis railroad and marine floodings on the Sahara Desert!
We find Cap. Ericsson writhing in the slow tortures of
the monster of individualism, lashed by its merciless tail, de rided by its tongue, shriveled by its breath, lntil a goverln ment took him, in an hour of peril; then his genius taught
the nations their greatest lesson in marine armaments of de fense and gained for him the imperishable honor and glory
of having rescued a fleet and perhaps saved a Republic.
The significant truth is, that if all our industries were the
common property of government instead of being as now,
the plunder of a system of individualism that thrives best
by robbing people of special ingenuity and enterprise and de priving them of both the pleasures and emoluments due by
v.rtuc of their origina.tive minds and their labor, if, we re
235 
A LABOR CATECHISM
peat, these industries were property of the people, the Body Politic, or general public, they would soon learn to work
them collectively and independently of the competitive
methods altogether; simply because it would be for their
own interests as individuals to do so.
Here we are furnished with a proof that Collective con trol of the Economic means of life enmancipates, rather
than enslaves the mind.  As it is, people make slavery a
trade. To delve ten long, dull hours for a person in whom
you take no interest, is slavish. But the moment you begin to feel a proprietorship in that industry, you are free.
This proprietorship yields a right to labor there  If you
are abused, you are entitled to redress by virtue of your
collective ownership in the business. It is your right to la.
bor there that makes you ecoumically free.  With freedom
you can work out an invention or study the materials for a
book or any other life.work, unmolested.  What genius,
enterprise, happiness want,  is FREEDOM from poverty.   Eonomic emancipation is the sane, solid, reasonable question
before the world. How could prostitution exist if females
werefurnished good, respectable employment?  The disgusting traffic would soon disappear firom the earth; because
female modesty as a rule can be proved to outweigh both
passion and temptation; but the gaunt monster hunger forces her with a cruel grapple to forget modesty and become
his slave. Again, as a further proof that the assumption
by government, of industries, as in a cooperative society,
would be greatly beneficial in encouraging genius, let us
look at more facts. Whenever it becomes necessary to science that correct observations should be taken on a forthcoming transit of a planet, an eclipse or even meteorological data like those of the weather signal service, we find
236 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
all the enlightened governments of the earth engaging in a
lively co-operative work, fitting out costly scientific expe.
ditions and with a most cordial understanding, forgetting
all their petty differences, sending ships and special trainsequipped with the best of instruments and the most thoroughly skilled experts to various points on the earth's surface where the best observations may be effected.  Here we
find not only one but many governments furnishing the U,niversities and Colleges of the world with means to do needed work which otherwise would be left undone.  We find
also that these governments in thus furthering science, are
actually employing many working people of many professions and trades who otherwise might have nothing to do.
We find governments of various countries, busily assisting
each other with plans and equipments for carrying into effeet the expeditions of research to the North Pole. The
ostensible excuse given for this is, that individuals are not
capable nor are they qualified to carry out so prodigious a
work.  Quite true.  Here we agree with them emphatically. Neither are they capable of conducting so immense, so
vitally important a business concern as a cotton or woollen
mill or a farm, on a scale large enough to be either respectable or successful.
OBJECTIONIST.     Then you hold that the management
of Industries by the State instead of the individual, would
have the effect to develop rather than discourage the genius of the people  But what about health?  Is it more than
fair that we consider the great topic of health in these dis cussions? Yet you are undermining health-health of soci ty as a mass and health of the individual as a unit of socie ty-undermining health, I say, by driving people into the
adoption of great changes sure to produce distempers. Mark
237 
A LABOR CATECHISM
history. Wherever bodies of people have been known to en  ter new enterprizes, involving emigration from home into
new territory, we find that generally a large proportion, oft  en half and sometimes nearly all, fall prey to the pestilences
that beset the new modes of life. In their eagerness they o verlook the deadly malaria that lurks in the damp forests,
the wild, unpent blasts of winter, the sultry simoon, whirl wind and tornado of summer, the storms of spring and au tumn, interspersed with an occasional free use of the reek ing tomahawk, scalping-knife, the desperado's bowieknife,
revolver and bludgeon and all this delectably inter-wreathed
with failures in the crops, starvation, inability to meet in debtedness, mortgage sales and bankruptcy. Poisonous rep tiles, hungry wolves, bears and alligators complete the pic ture.  Exactly so with the greater, mightier and vastly more
fundamental changes you propose shall take place in the so cial and political world. Nothing can prove more disastrous
to the social and political health of the people. We know
it took thousands of years of growth in human development
to grow out of certain forms of socialism, patriarchal and
otherwise and get society fixed upon a sound basis of'competition. It took many scores of ages to get this splendid
enlightenment and now it is dogmatically proposed, by an
ignorant rabble, to throw it all away, wheel back into ancient
barbarism and violate the decrees of natural growth or progress by swooping humanity into a thousand perplexities that
environ a life of new experiences dogmatically forced upon
us without even considering their own inability to erect a
wiser system and supply it with means and with honest officers and functionaries of experience to take the places, of
the old. You are plunging the world into an abyss, certain
to produce the most terrible moral, social and politic,l ulcers
238 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
tumors, wens and vital diseases the world has ever known.
SoCALIsT.L  The answer to this hash of objections is, that
the growtA of our knowledge of political economy does not
keep pace with the growth of mechanical instrumentalities.
A class of aptitudes for grasping is allowed by this marvelous enlightenment you depict, to hold unlimted, even predatory sway, havoc, rapine and murder over the innocent, peaceful inhabitants, who are endowed with adaptabilities and
aptitudes which qualify them only for inventors, producers,
workers, builders of this astonishing civilization you glowingly describe. It is a civilization then, based upon rapine
and predatory brigandage. Each inhabitant born with the
grasping faculty instead of the productive or inventive, becomes a licensed squanderer, practicing a legalized devastavit upon that which ought to be a paternal estate. What
a wonderful condition of social, political, ind'.vidual health
must be the inevitable outcome of such a state of affairs I
Like the eagle, the lion, the vulture, that are the emblems
and symbols of the predatory, hawking competitive system
your bloodthirsty military enlightenment stands- on, your
man of shrewd grasping aptitudes unhindered by either the
law, the ruling interest or by public opinion-since all these
are moulded, shaped out to best thrive under this systemsallies forth from his home of comforts, pounces upon the
defeinseless majorities, too busy in the great world's work
of production, distribution, invention to defend themselves,
and robs, starves and enslaves them on every hand!  A
most marvelous enlightenment!  What other-than debased
and low and ignorant, may your system's victims:'be?  An
enlightenment based upon brute foree; advantage getting;
ignoble use of power.  An entightenment without magnan imity, bloated in oligarchical rule and living by thlebeast.
239 
A LABOR CATECHISM
monarch instincts of the eagle and the lhon, while belying
such creatures' true characteristics by aping their predatory
life too far, for the animals disdain to feed upon their kin.
Such is the enlightenment then, which you call a healthy,
as well as a health producing growth upon society!  Did
it not outgrow the competitive system itself, it might be
more tolerable. But it builds up overbearing monopolies and
destroys the very principle of competism by stealing from
the Socialist his Cooperation and aplying it to Joint Stock
Companies, crippling free manufacture, free intelligence, free
distribution, reasonable rates of travel and telegraphy, even
free circulation of money. This is the enlightenment you
live upon and uphold; a civilization based upon the mechanics
and mechanical instrumentalities the working people produce,
operate, and become the slaves of, through their monopoly
by men gifted only with this class of grasping, unchecked
aptitudes. The laboring, inventing, creating class, unprotected by class laws, invent the locomotive and weave the
railroad system over the country; but are virtually forbidden the enjoyment of these vehicles they themselves con.
struct, supply and keep in motion! Let us look at the effect of this on the health of the laboring classes thus deprived, by exorbitant rates of fare, of the advantages of healthful, cheap travel. The poor, it is well known, are afflicted
with many kinds of diseases which only a change of climate
can cure. Physicians have geographical charts, delineated
from government statistics of the census and health reports,
accurately showing the localities where certain diseases prevail and also where those maladies do not and cannot exist.
Now let -as, to make our argument on this health question
clear, suppose that this new democracy or social government
were in full play. Of course there would immediately spring
'40 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
into existence workshops and farms, scientifically conducted
through every expedient at the people's command, as in a
co-operative society. There would, to do all the manufacturing of machinery and other iron work, be perhaps a dozen
vast government iron works  doing business at different
poin s; one, we will suppose, located in Colorado, another
at San Francisco; one in Florida, Maine, Texas, Missouri,
the Central States and other localities where resources of
health and of iron, coal, timber and other material of success
and comfort abound. The railways are also the property of
the people and tariffs fixed at -actual cost.  Now Colorado is,
we assume, marked on the map of health as blessed with
a climate excellent against consiunption. At another quarter
io fevers exist. Different maladies fly different countries.
Now, if a man engaged in one of these workshops is taken sick with a scrofulous or consumptive disease any good
doctor must advise him to go there he may enjoy a Change
of air. And he does not have to wait for an occasion; for
the workshops are  arrangeAto meet the exigency.  A situation is ordered for him by telphone and the sick man is
cured by the change, without squander of time or money;
for he now rejoices in a true citizen's co-interest in management as well as mere muscular activity in these grand works.
Carry out this system and you settle health's darkest mystery.
OBJECTIONIST.    DO you want the private business of
the country to fall into the hands of politicians?  This is a
plain question, plainly put. Our experience with politicians
is, that they are not to be trusted, as a class. There is a slv,
impudent, dishonest look upon the very visage of a politi cian. He always shows a well fed face and does not exhibit
the gaunt accomplishment of starvation to be found among
your labor agitators but there is seen an undisguisable cun.
241 
A LABOR CATECHISM
ning playing a wanton art upon his lip.  He can, no doubt,
talk sweet things about giving the starving people employment. He knows how to promise. It is a part of the se.
cret of his false career; and he harvests his successes from
it. He is fully prepared to take the poor creatures he deludes, into his most gracious confidence and with reckless
'promis tell1 yot of his great ability in all the details of bu.
siness managenment if you  wil but   p hrim in oMce!  He
wants the Municipal, State and General governments of the
country to vote appropriations of large sums of money, ostensibly for building up these government industries which
you advocate because he knows that such appropriations are
just what is the most easily converted into political plunder
which is the only game he is scenting. These coy, shrewd,
double-tongued politicians who mostly spring from the unprincipled, if not from the lowlived part of community, are
baiting a trap with the soul and body of the working men.
They are totally incapable of managing an industry of any
kind. All they want is to gratify themselves. Are not we
trifling then, with good sense when we pander to rogues?
SOCIALIST.    Every Socialist will acknowledge that you
are putting the question straight; but your views are all taken from the old competitive standpoint. We have no pol~iticians in the movement.
OBJECTIONIST.    That signifies nothing.  Politicians are
s penetrating as mercury. No matter how much you labor
to repudiate them they will always be there; the first to decoy, mislead, demoralize you and the first to assume and
shout loyalty to your cause in the light, while stabbing at
both you and your principles in the dark.
SOCIALIST.    Well, since you hold so bad an estimate
of politicians, our only answer to your inquiries can be in
'242 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
straighter terms. We care little or nothing about who the
workers are. Any man to be elected to a political position
in our Party must believe in our principles.  It stands to
reason. When an editor is engaged on your newspaper his
sentiments are consulted before his abilities. He must be
loyal to the principles of that newspaper. After that matter is settled, the question of qualifications can come in. It
is principles first, qualifcations afterwards; for of what
use are his qualifications to that journal, if they are not directed most strenuously and exclusively toward its success?
Now., the labor movement must be as practical and businesslike.  The Piogressive move of this age cannot affordto select men who are not well known to it, as efficient exponents
of its principles.  What a foolish thing it would be for an
army of conquest, invading a new region, surrounded by all
the besetting temptat;ons that usually decoy an invading
enemy, to be commanded by a general who were known to
sympathize and intrigue with the forces he was sent to overthrow! Yet the cases are parallel ones. If you are un willing to admit the justice of the cause itself, you must, in
candor, recognize the necessity of applying sound business
methods in the work of carrying out those principles, wheth er good or bad.  Our Principles are so clearly studied out
and so definately put in language, that they become a stu dy; and the most advanced students-those who most a bly, honestly, persistently advocate, teach them will natur ally be looked to with most confidence, as persons best fit ted to become the employed servants of the Party. It is
altogether impossible for treachery to exist in this move ment for the very reason that those who are not for the
principles are against us. There is no such thing possible
as half way measures in this Labor Question. When the
243 
A LABOR CATECHISM
moment for solid, practical effort arrives men must choose
and be consistent with their choice; because it is a prince  ple to be labored for; not an individual. This is distinctly
understood. Now a political party, in point of moral or eth  ics, resembles the newspaper or the military scheme refer  red to. Each has its curriculum, its peculiar ethics or mor al ideas of right and wrong, without which no newspapers
invading army, college of learning or Folitical Party ever
has thrived or perhaps ever will succeed. It matters little
then, what the likes and dislikes, the whims and petty ca prices, notions or tricks may be, of the exponents of prin ciples, who are elected to work out those business objects,
assigned to each through the fiat of creed. We care little
whether our agents be inanimate instruments or living men.
Be he saint or devil, humane or selfish, the man's merit, or
usefulness does not consist in this. It consists in his show ing his constituents who elected him to office, that he con forms to the oath of fidelity to his Party's Principles.
OBJF,CTIONIST.     What are the principles of your organ ization expressed in short terms?  The reason why  the
movements of Labor in different parts of the world are so
vague and unappreciated is because nobody knows what the
agitatators want. They get themselves flurried over some
real or imaginary wrong and without even knowing or reckoning upon the exact or probable results, send out wild and
fierce men incompetent to state even a proposed plan of relief.
SOCIALIST.     The exact wording of the principles of the
Labor Party would be a difficult thing to give, because at
nearly every congress or large conference, where the working people meet, the words of the so called "platform of principles" are changed to suit some trivial necessity of the moment without altering the general sense; but we can give you
the most important ground-work or theses, in a few words:
244 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
PLATFORM OF PRINCIPLES FOR TIE SOCIALISTIC LABOR
PARTY.
LABOR being the creator of all wealth, through and by
it alone is civilization possible. It rightfully follows that
those who labor and create all wealth are the most Uecessary part of society; and hence should enjoy the full results
of their toil.
An equitable distribution of the products of labor is utterly impossible under the present system of society. This
fact is abundantly illustrated by the deplorable condition of
the working classes, who are in a state of destitution and
degrading dependence, in the midst of their own productions. While the hardest, most disagreeable work brings to
the worker only the bare necessaries of life, others who do
not labor at all, riot in labor's products, having everything
wbich wealth can purchase.
The present industrial system of competition causes the
intensity of this inequality; concentrating into the hands of
a few, all the means of production, distribution and the products of labor, thus creating gigantic monopolies, dangerous
to the people's liberties.
Monster monopolies and extremes of rich and poor are
a natural outgrowth from the competitive system of conducting industries which are supported by class legislation.
They are subversive of all democracy, injurious to the national interests and destructive of the practice of truth and
morals.
The resources of life, that is, the means of production,
transportation and interchange must become as fast as practicablle, the social property of the people under the administration of government so as to institute direct popular Legislation
and enable the people to propose or reject any law at their
245 
A LABOR CATECHISM
will, thus securing self-government in the interest of each.
. - -: *-DEMANDS.
First.   Revision of the Constitution, or Frame-work.
Second.   The right of suffrage shall in no wise be re strieted.
Third.   Political Equality before the law, to all citizens.
Fourth.   The establishment of a National Ministry of
Labor.
Fifth.   All Conspiracy laws operating against the rights
of the working people, must be repealed,
Sixth.   Congress (and Parliaments) shall provide for an
immediate creation of National Bureaus of Labor Statistics.
Seventh.   The rigid enforcement of the eight hour law
in all national and public works. We also demand an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, legalizing eight hours as a day of work in all industrial employments.
Eighth.   All uncultivated lands shall be taxed equally
with cultivated lands in the same locality.
Ninth.   Government alone, shall issue all money; and
such right shall not be delegated to any banking or private
corporation.
The Socialistic Labor Party struggles to carry out the following measures in states where they are not now the law:
First.   State Bureaus of Labor Statistics.
Second.   Eight Hours as a legal working day and strict
punishment of all violators.
Third.   Abolishment of the system of hiring out by contract the labor of convicts in prisons and reformatory institutions.
Fourth.   Strict laws, making employers liable for all accidents resulting from their negligence, to the injury of their
246 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
employe6s. Mechanics and laborers are thrown upon the mercy of greedy management, unless protected by rigid Life and
Limb Laws through.which justice may be obtained.
Fifth.   Entire legal restriction of the labor of Children
under fourteen years of age.
Sixth.  Universal Compulsory Education; all school materials to be furnished at public expense.
Seventh.   Factory, mine and workshop inspection; and
sanitary supervision of all food and dwellings. 
Eighth.  All wages shall be paid in the legal tender of
the country; and violations of this law shall be punished.
Ninth.   All ballots to be printed by town and city governmants.  Ballots containing the names of all candidates
for public office to be sent to all voters two days before
each election, and all election days to be legal holidays.
Tenth.   All property whatsoever, without regard to the
purposes for which it is used, shall be impartially taxed, so
as to bear its just proportion o.f this burden.
All so-called tramp laws punishing unemployed workingmen as tramps are unconstititutional and inhunan, as poverty is thereby made a crime. The immediate repeal of such
brutal class laws is demanded.
By a deep laid scheme against the people, carried through
by means of class, or lobby legislation, over 125,000,000 of
acres, good government land, comprising an area of territory larger than ten states-sufficient to furnish farms of fifty acres to over 5,000,000 of our citizens- have been given to
sharp, arrogant corporations whilst great masses of the citizens are cringing with but a scanty existence, too destitute
to enjoy either home or competence; and at the moment
these wrongs exist the great, reigning parties which manage
the nation's destinies  are joining hands, South and North.
247 
A LABOR CATECHISM
PLATFORM  OF PRINCIPLES  ADOPTED  BY THE  "NEW
DEMOCRACY", NEW YORK,  1858.
The following Platform may be instructive, being in sub stance and very nearly in words the same as recommended
at that time for the people's consideration:
1. As all legitimate property is the product of Industry
it rightly belongs to the producer.
Eight hours of labor should be the extent of a legal day's
time, being as much as the health, happiness and progresBive improvement of society will permit.
3. As the earth is the common parent of all mankind,
from whose bosom each individual inherits the inalienable
right to live and draw subsistence, therefore any and every
interruption of the enjoyment of this right by the monopoly of traffic in the soil is a violation of the sacred principle
of justice and must ever be attended in the future, as in the
past, with direfi'l consequences. Land then, being a commion element (not property), should be supervised by society for the benefit of the people, upon the basis of equality.
4. To secure the greatest advantages of economy from
the improvements of the age, and to guard against the cupidity of contractors and organized monopolists, the system of
contracting public work should be abolished, and all public
improvements, such as railroads, gas-works, canals, mining,
post offices, expresses, telegraphs, &c, should be public property, conducted by government employ6s, at cost, tbr the
benefit of society.
5 As ignorance is a fruitful source of crime, therefore every facility for the acquisition of useful knowledge should
be equally guaranteed to all and schools, colleges and scientific institutions must be supported by the government, free.
That the people may be enabled to convene frequently, to
'248 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
consider subjects of public welfare and revise the acts and
propositions of their public servants, the school-houses of
the land should be open at least two evenings in each week
for the use of the people.
6. To develop the resources of the country and afford
just protection to the useful classes against the avarice of
capitalists and the derangements of trade, an Industrial Bareau should be established by government, upon equitable
principles of time and compensation, thereby preventing the
necessity of strikes by furnishing employment to those who
might otherwise suffer the pangs of hunger or be tempted
to crime.
7.  For the protection of the people in cities against exorbitant rents, the unimproved property belonging to the cities should have economical residences ei'ected thereon by
the city authorities, and rented to the people at cost, in the
same manner as they are now supplied with water.
8 To prevent the further practice of fraud by municipal
authorities, the people must have new charters for cities,
containing clauses to the effect that all tax levies, and other
important measures must be submitted to the people for al proval and rejection; and further, that the head of each de partment must make and publish monthly returns of the bu siness done and all the particulars of receipts and disburse rments.
9. To protect the poor against the impositions practiced
by soulless speculators, the authorities should purchase, in
proper season, a sufficient quantity of coal for the domestic
consumption of the people, at cost of mining and transport ation.
10. As the declaration of Independence affirms that "all
just governments derive their power from the consent of tlic
249 
-A LABOR CATECHIISM
governed" themselves, therefore, the right of suffrage
should be secured to every citizen of mature age regardless
of sex, color, or condition.
11. To remedy one of the most corrupting customs of
the present system, we demand that all fee offices shall be
abolished, and all lucrative salaries be reduced to comport
with the wages paid to mechanics and persons of other useful callings; and we further demand that whatever labor
society requires a person to perform, said person shall be remunerated therefor upon the principle of Equal  Cornpensations.
12. The Currency of a nation should be issued by its
government only; be a legal tender and bear no interest.
13  The sad experience of all peoples exhibits the fact,
that wherever irresponsible authority is conferred it is liable
to abuse; whether it be exercized by monarch, lord or delegate; therefore, in political institutions, the inhabitants
should retain the sovereign function of ratifying or rejecting
all acts of their authorized servants.
14 The demands of the Labor Movement are extreme
of necessity; that all individuals desirin'g reform must, on
the merit of the principles they strive for, place themselves
on this Platform; while those not favoring reform will naturally rally on the other side.
The above Platform is remarkable if only on account of
its age. There is no better arrangement and wording of
these great, fundamental truths to be found. Ever since
the war of the revolution boasted of as having given liberty to the inhabitants of the United States, there has been
much dissatisfaction manifested, and frequent grievances,
to the effect that this liberty was a sham. These democratizing amendments have been agitated many years, as a relief 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
The following is taken from a code of principles adopted
by the Social Democrats, formulated at the different European congresses of the labor movement and often quoted
as reference by the Industrial agitators in America:
PLATFORM.
A.  The Social Democratic Workingmen's Party seeks
to establish a free State founded upon Labor.
B. Each member of the Party promises to uphold, to
the best of his ability the following Principles:
1. Abolishment of the present unjust political and social
conditions.
2. Discontinuance of all class rule and class privileges.
3. Abolishment of the working people's dependence upon the capitalist by the introduction of cooperative labor
in the place of the wages system, so that every laborer will
get the full value of his work.
4.  Obtaining possession of political power as the prerequisite to the solution of the labor question.
5.  United struggle, united organization of all workingmen and women and strict subordination of the individual,
under the laws framed for the general welfare.
6. Sympathy with the working people of all countries
who strive to attain the same object
C. - We further demand:
1. a) All public officers shall be elected by a direct vote
of the people.
b) Every inhabitant over twenty years of age shall be
entitled to suffrage.
c) Introduction of the one-house-representative system.
d) All enactments shall be laid before the people for rat
ification or rejection.
2.  Improvement of the present judicial system; and in
251 
A LABOR CATECHGISM
troduction of free administration of justice, without fa voritism.
3. Abolishment of conspiracy laws in all the states.
4. Abolishment of all indirect taxes and introduction of
a single progressive income and property tax.
5. Abolishment of all monopolies; manufacturing to be
carried on by free co-operative labor societies under the guar antee of the people, with government credit.
6. Adoption of obligatory school-aws for all children be tween their seventh and fourteenth years; free use of all
necessary books and other public eductional appurtenances.
Prohibition of the labor of children in industrial concerns.
7. Introduction of the eight hour system for all.
8. Regulation of female labor in occupations injurious to
health or morality. Equalization of women's wages with
those of men.
9. Prohibition of work in prisons being done in the interest of private persons. The prisoners' time to be managed
by the state and only for public  purposes.
10. As the contract system tends invariably to corruption, bribery and felony, we demand its abolishment
by the State; and that every kind of work done under
the auspices of either the general, the state or the city
governments, be done by days' wage work,  according
to the Eight Hour System as designed by the statute.
11. Sanitary inspection and authorized care, over
the workingmens' and workingwomens' habitations and
work shops.
12. State and National bureaus for Labor Statistics to be established.
13. Banking and insurance to be conducted by the
State.
.252 
CHAPTER XIL
THE GREAT LAND QUESTION.
FINAL AND BOLD WORDS ON THE NATIONAL IZATION OF LAND.  QUACKS, STANDARD
PHILOSOPHERS, BUZZARDS AND FILLI      BIUSTERS WHO HANG ON THE OUT        SKIRTS OF A GREAT SCIENCE
CONVERSATION BETWEEN A SENATOR AND A SOCIALST.
STATESMAN. There appears in many parts of the country a strong desire to understand exactly what organized labor is going to do as a finality with the Land
Question. What is the action resolved upon, or what
is going to be resolved upon, by your Organization if
it succeeds in ultimately reaching a majority?
SoCIALIsT. The ultimate Land Question, unlike many
other and more familiar forms of the great Problem, is
necessarily kept in abeyance. When the proper time
arrives and the movement is in readiness all alone the
,f
4 
A LABOR CATECHISM
line, with a reliable force of speakers educated -to the
idea; in short when all preliminary arrangements have been
completed, minor demands realized, the party out of in fancy and in dignified attitude, it will do to sound loudly
the clarion of Land for the Peopl)le.
STATESMAN. You claim to be the Party of science;
to be the only and original among many which you ac cuse of selfishness and  insincerity.   Now, fairnf.ss and
sincerity demand that you frankly impart to all who are
anxious to know what in your theory is to be done with
the Land.   We want no half way language but the simple conception entertained by you as to what is to be
done with Land when labor (comes into political power
and control. What will you do when in power, to realize your Land theory?
ANswER.  The question is fair.  One thing in answer
is that no inhumanities would ever be tolerated by the
Party of Labor.  Neither honor, science, justice nor humanity can afford to do a cruel deed.  This movement
cannot prosper except on principles of strictest equity.
No arbitrary assumption of titles, no dispossessrnent of inheritances, forcible evictions or cruel confiscations can
ever be countenanced by it. As in the formation of so-ciety or social conditions among men, long ages of time
have been consutned, so now in its completion, no man
should impatiently hope for nature to hasten beyoniid her
usual pace. The Land question be it ever so radical or
formidable need frighten no man; for correctly considered its nationalization on a large scale cannot take place
until the people are first in possession of the scientific mechanical instruments with which to cultivate land and
make it fruitful.
254 
OF POLITICAL EGONOM.
STATESMAN.  We  understand that this nationalizing the
machinery of labor — that is, the improved lacilities used
in modern production axid distributionu-means with you,
their social ownership, management and impartial yield.
This is quite plain and comprehensible; but it is very
far away from  the Land qutstion. How are the land
and its products to become social property?
ANswER.  By nationalizing Land is meant  both the
word and the deed to their fall extent.
Question. Land among the earlier nations largely belonged to the state. Having the failure of many states
that once held it in common, as examples of stupendous
follies of the dismal past before us, hovv can we indulge
anew the hugging of that ancient phantom, which never realized a proposition for humanity and has only nourished individualism and the most ghastly forms of slavery and other cruelties which have always widened the
gap between rich and poor?
ANSWER. Land it is true, was in some ancient countries, as Rome, nationalized by the barbarous ordeal of
force; but it was never social property.  Your question
must be answered by the political economist. Government should not only possess but should also cultivate
the landed domain. In doing this it must bring into activty all its immense powers of capital, genius, science
and prerogative. Being the natural organization of the
people it should be their basis, bolster, employer and
insurance fiund. People are gradually but coLstantly becoming wiser and surer in their legislation; are growing
out of their old warring habits and getting so practical
as to dare undertake through their government or popular
organization, large business enterprises. These they have
255 
A LABOR CATECHISM
found to be much more economical and safe, less partial
more democratical and true to the masses, than the old
competitive ones still existing about them. People are
learning that there is nothing so great, so intricate, so difficult that this great common organization, the collective
unity cannot better and more satisfactorily do, than the
old snarling, short4ived, competitive concerns which have
hitherto undertaken business for purposes of profit. In
short, people are discovering that this sort of business
management  is just what causes the poverty, ignorance
and misery which surround them. Looking then, at the
past, its nationalized land and celebrated landless agricultural laborers with their enormous and bloody agrarian
convulsions, it is fair to reason that while men were ignorant of collectivism, they could do no better than to accept individualism. Collectivism was too scientific for that
time.  Individualism was fierce, selfish, competitive and
warlike. But it was the best system known. Now, men
are more advanced and better qualified to comprehend
the three great improvements inherent in collective ownership and control of the land, namely: brotherhood that
does away with warfare and cruelty; understanding that
makes clear the methods and possibilities; and lastly, the
opening up of a new set of incentives of good citizenship.
Now, this collectivity is the people's co-operation for a
better management of the land. Men are daily taking
fresh lessons in government and thus gradually opening
their eyes to the practicability of engaging in business upon a vast rather than a petty scale. You cannot any more
reasonably doubt the ability of government to cultivate a
farm, hiring men at good pay and exercizing modern-inventions, modern short hours, modern humanity and kind
256 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
ness, modern public watchfulness over state, general and
municipal transactions than you can doubt its ability to
conduct the postal system, the Erie Canal, the schools
or the railroads and telegraphs. It is absolutely preposterous to argue against the ability of government, the
natural organization of every people, the collective mind
or state, to assume with the utmost confidence and certainty the control of any enterprise whatever Most especially do these words apply to scientific cultivation.
But thltey apply anywhere. Man as an integer without
the mutual co-operation of his fellows, when out in the
cold, competitive world is a failure. This fact is seen in
the mortgages on his land wherever we go. True, large
numbers succeed; but if a nmajority fail the proposition
holds. Individualism has had a fair chance for thousands
of years and failed; and it is high time for co-operation
to be tried.
STATESMAN. You speak of this proposed assumption of
land ownership and cultivation by the state, in other
words, state farming, as if you were discussing a society
for mutual co-operation! Can any stretch of imagination
picture the slightest analogy?
ANSWER. Yes, in the outward appearance, but not in
the outworkings.  As individualism is precarious in its is
olated forms, taking advantage, like the hawk, the tiger,
the huntsman, of superior gifts of cunning, of strength
or vested rights and opportunities to destroy its corqpetitors, so in the proportion of the numbers, the whole
system of co-operation as known in modern days is little
better than the creature of prey, even attacking distant
efforts of its own sort, when not affiliated in some clique
of the craft. The socialist is too poor, too meagerly sup
257 
A LABOR C&TECaSM
plied with the leisure that begets competitive wit; too
lard-worked to attempt the ha,lf-way policy of petty co-operation Which has proved itself so hawkish, that in Germany and wherever it has existed as long as-a quarter
of a century the favoritism natural to its loop-holes, openings and chances, was found always to fall to smart people who bought more shares, exercized more wit, bullied
Snore cunningly, and were soon seen strutting about with
plenty, while sweating toilers got little except leers. In
fact, co-operation is oligarchy from the start, dwindling
down into monopoly-oligarchy while its joint stock features last and are more numerous, monopoly when the wit
has succeeded in outwitting, displacing the many.  This
however, he is sure to do.   Thus the dribblets of the
many become the capital that starts the thief in business.
Cooperation then, is monopoly in embryo while the jointstock concern numbers many; for the hateful germs are
there. Its tendencies, like those of the joint-stock company, are to gradually push out the many after using
them in establishing a business, to assume individual control, enrich a paltry few and end in an individual concern
at last.  Especially is this petty co-operation worthless
in America where the nature of institutions is political,
with a hypocritical gloze of freedom and an actual monopoly of wit and its concomitants of victimized poor.
Wit has it all here.  The poor on ten to sixteen hours
hard labor have little wit, however bright and brainy
they may have been born.  And wit and its oily offspring
modern monopoly, are many times bound to thank some
petty co-operation for their start in the world. Search for
the root of poverty and evil and you shall find it so. How
are poor men and women going to apply co-operation to
'.258 
OF  POLITICAL ECONOMY.
land-tillage? What can petty co-operation do, even if
it possess honest wit, in a scheme to own and cultivate
land? How long would it be before a cunning wit of superior business abilities would spring some poisonous
wrangle on the unsophisticated membership which would
terminate in hoisting him up as the manager? Of course
the rest soon become subordinates, then mere agricultural
laborers, afterwards serfs.   So wit sets up as getter; all
others are outcasts; and the thing winds up in one man be
coming owner, boss, landlord, congressman, monopolist;
and the rest, common people of no account, with their
ordinary quota in the poor-house and their darlings in un —
memorized graves. Why friend, unless you allow yourmoiety of statesmanship in this gravest of social problems.
you are admitting absolutely no proposition for ameliorat.
ing the growing horrors of monopoly!  While you object
to our scheme of state co-operation because it involves so
vast a measure, you yet do not object to the insidious and
constant growth of land monopolies almost equally vast.
This individualism is enlarging with prodigious strides.
Its attendant roll of poverty-doomed names is equally alarming. Great grievances must be met with radical
rights. Labor is blest with the unique quality of harboring no ancient, rooted prejudices; it hugs no traditional
fancies of history or of family. It has resolved that since
the isolated individual is a failure, the business capacities
of the collective individual must be tried. The individual
cannot farm the land; else why a majority of farmers or
agricultural workers in poverty? why a small minority
in affluence? why bankruptcy, mortgages, squalor? why
thistles and choking tares, weevil and rot? Could not cap
ital, well paid energy with the well known scrutiny of gov
259 
A LABOR CATECHISM
ernment, make a farm blossom as well as a park; protect
us from starvation as well as from fire; control public farm ing as well as public schooling; bring us our food as well
as our letters; fertilize and work the acres of the country
as well as the gardens of the cities; employ the wanderers
and tramps as well as political partisans? Do you for a
moment imagine that any argument to the contrary can
hold against evidence so sensible and self-convincing?  A way with prejudice and tradition fostered in wiles of in dividualism which have led men astray! What the work ers want is statesmanship founded in the sciences whereof
their own skill and toil have created in these modern days
the mechanical tools The state can farm the land, if the
makers of the tools, the majority of voting citizens will it;
for possessed of such mechanical means, it can put capital,
with which its treasury is burdened, into it as a public en.
terprise and veritably "make two blades grow where one
grew before." A change thus determined upon and thoroughly discussed by labor as an organized political party,
nothing can satisfy us until it is in force; until the sources
of fertility are thoroughly tapped; until practical skill in
chemistry or ground-constituents, and in machinery shall
be the prerequisite of a first class appointment thereon.
Then our youth will have some attraction to labor, to
knowledge and lofty attainments; whereas the craft of
thievery is now too often the attraction because it offers
higher rewards.  Cannot government see to land as well as
mind-tillage? Yet we see it busy everywhere cultivating
mind-a new function not yet a hundred years on trial but
already a vast success and being copied by all governments
claiming title to the rank of civilization. Before this prodigious undertaking was begun ignorance infested men's
260 
OF PO,ITICAL ECONOMY.
households keeping pace with war, social corruption, king
craft, standing armies, toadyism and their natural associate poverty. How foolish to cling to the old traditions
based on a system of rank individualism which has forever kept men upon the land as serfs or slaves and is little
better to-day! Already the sane and entirely scientific
proposition has gone abroad that war is useless, brutal,
always selects its victims from the laboring masses, does
not belong to a truly enlightened age or country. This
idea born of the labor movement, receives most of its aliment and impulse from the educating power of the public
school system of the world. Had this great state undertaking not existed, workingmen would not for ages have
discovered the uselessness of war and it may be regarded
as certain that the nobility and wealthy who reap the
emoluments of war would not have introduced any such
life-saving measures. It is the work of this tillage of the
mind of great masses by the state. So this proposition
to cultivate the land in mass in the manner that states are
cultivating mind in mass, though it startle some nervous
folks, is really thie one to bring wars to their final termination; because agricultural prosperity belongs to peace
and cannot go hand in hand with brutality and suffering.
All this however, does not allege that the hard-worked
men and women engaged in the tedious field of labor, with
all their opportunities of the public schools, do not lose
much of that wit and independence which are necessary to
the watchful care required in the management of a small
co-operative concern. It is just here that statesmanship
based on so-called platforms of principles is, in this pro gressive form of government management of land and im plements of tillage, secure from all danger of being wrec-k
261 
A LABOR CATECHISsM
ed by business sharpers such as have cursed all our efforts at
co-operative stores, building societies, farms and manufactories.  It is easy for the workman ever so sadly dulled by his
enfeebling work, to catch on to a principle determined  by
his political party. The poor thus wrongly characterized as
witless unfortunates, are not fitted for co-operation, because
not prepared to cope with the competitive system, but are
certainly in a good frame of mind to urge the same idea by
means of the ballot. This IDears a portent and power of inspiration which works upon his pride. The idea of compulsory fraternization for neighborly help conveyed in schemes
of petty co-operation, is always extremely offensive to the average American voter no matter how lowly his social condition
may be. This feeling seems inwrought into him by American institutions and makes him a natural politician and a bad
co-operator. Thus when once set and determined on state cooperation, he will, with a rough, uneducated, less sensitive
mind-condition into which hard fare has brought him, be in
exactly the right mood to use his vote towards the indiscriminate dismissal of all public servants who would turn the arts
of trading against his jealously nourished hopes of realizing
the principle of his political platform. The poor man, in fact
no matter how benumbed his sensibilities, is, in any country
better qualified to guard against political knavery than he is to
watch and detect the financial knaves who hover about the cooperative enterprises.
STATESMAN.   Then this system of land ownsrship and tillage clearly means that your party hope to reduce the ownership and cultivation of land, from its present tenure by individuals, to one of common or popular ownership through govertment tenure and tillage.   May  it be asked, if once this
theory be practically inaugurated, where will the matter end 
6i 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
that will become of the world?  How soon will the revolution be at hand and your overthrow of institutions collapse
society! When is the first blood of our desperate resistanc'
to be spilled? We are anxious to know because, being ourselves the owners of the land, having the means t6 institute
a formidable resistance by employing the too willing talents of
your own purchasable members and by a wholesome'creation
of repressive laws for the occasion, we promise to be faithful to
our duty in maintaining good government.
SOCALIsT.  Now, let us reason well and exhaustively first
We are opposed to this impatient, not to say infiamatory method of argumentation.  It leads to neither (Christian-like nor
rational deductions..   We would ask for nothing -which the
calm reason and fiat of an honest majority does not recommend after great discussion, deliberation and compariso' with
the history of the past.  You recoil before what you imagine
to be a revolution.  Not a whit more momentous is this turn
of things than one just gone through with in the great mechanical world-the cotton manufacturing indastry.  The relative
difference in the eomparison is, however, very great; sinCe
in this case it was the poor and helpless who were deprived,
even of the use of the skilled art at which they earned a humble living. This mighty revolution was the result of the invention of machinery. It turned thousands of worthy people
out of house and home, caused starvation, great suffering and
death all over the civilized world. It caused rioting and organized resistance of the victims and was fraught with deeds
of blood. Your class sanctioned this revolution, quelledthe
riots, used your prisons, enacted your favorite, laws, hoisted
up your alleged inventors who had stolen the honors as sell ats
emoluments from labor-your  Arkwrights and others- and
knightel, glorified, f easted them, crushing and humiliating the
263 
A LABOR CATECHISM
deserving. Yet we do not complain, because it was the natural outcome of a science.   Nothing can resist its inroads.
Neither can anything resist the scientific, onward tread of the
movement before us to-day But now comes the answer to
inquiry as to when this change shall come. It is not now even asked for.  Outside parties may seize on to the land question and attempt to project its issues in advance of their time
but nothing could be more dangerous. The history of the
past to which you justly allude, is a most memorable warning to all men, to beware of the mere nationalization of land.
Why, it was that which under Roman control, plunged millions of free men into slavery!  All through Greece, Sicily,
Italy, and Asia Minor land, bT)efore the Roman conquest, was
worked by small farmers, who, although as we have shown,
were liable to failure like all others in the competitive conflicts
of business, were comparatively prosperous and contented,
working their bits of land as individual tenants on the same
system of small holdings as that prevailing at this day.   Un
ions of trades existed all around them; for the ancient laws
tolerated labor societies. The farmers themselves sometimes
had their grange organizations.  They were respected and
probably were as well off, all things considered, as many of
our farmers to-day. As Rome spread her conquests of arms
these lands fell into her clutches and became nationalized.
They became ager poublicus, or public lands, incorporated
with the Roman domain.   Beautifnl farms, village homes in
Asia, Greece, everywhere, fell by seizure and cruel confiscation
into her rapacious hands. Rome assumed ownership of it all
and the working people lost their homes. And what was
Rome? Nothing but the lords, blooded grandees, millionaire
politicians, braggarts of boasted family and their toadies and
speculating fortune-hunters all maintained by the military, the
264 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
nrmed force and repressive laws of which you so grandly
speak.  These were the statesmen.  They constituted all
that was recognized of Rome except her enormous wealth
robbed and plundered from labor. Such statesmen made
laws to suppress the labor and other social organizations
everywhere, taking advantage of a monstrous military
-power to seize those happy farmers, degrade them to slavery, trade and interchange them as goods with one another and thus establish on this nationalized land the foulest,
most gigantic system of human slavery ever known. This
is what would become of nationalizing land prematurely,
as advocated by many foolish agitators to-day, and right
here.  Should land again become militarized, as it surely
would without an immense, counter-checking organization of laborers, whose teachers are educated and alert on
these momentous, would-be-repeated tragedies of history,
our newly inspired hopes would be dashed to atoms upon
the despotic flints which line your ambuscades. No, no!
We shall profit by the lesson taught by that old republic;
and beware the premature nationalization of land; we
shall thoroughly watch the land sharks who, even now,
are eagle-eyed, regarding from afar the hopeful turn the
land license question is expected to take, which may, in
due time result in opening the American public acreage,
in that loose, unwatched, desultory way that our domain
will be as it was in the days of the Roman conquestsnationalized, without pre-arrangement or order. We can
see these tactics already begun-the same old squatter
tactics of the arrogant gens families of Rome. Cesar
had his elegant estates, as squatter on the public lands.
Lawyer Cicero whose most eloquent bursts rang against
the working people whom he twitted of being vwithout an
265 
A LABOR CATECIHISM
immortal soul, because too poor and lowly to possess a
family name, drove to his squatter country seat, on the
high road to Capua regaling the ladies who shared his
chariot, on views of the six thousand revolted mechanics,
,enslaved farmers and gladiators, whose crucified bodies
.for long months dangled on ghastly gibbets because they
dared to strike against their bondage. And Crassus,
Pompey and Lucullus who thus murdered them are lauded
by Rome's flunkies of the quill, because, like our modern
railroad statesmen, they won their power through this pernicious old system of legalizing the occupancy of land that
always belonged to nobody when it belonged to the state.
We are a more watchful and guarded people, it is true,
<than were the ancients; but this system of land grabbing,
<even here may yet plunge us into war. Ireland has been
amost literally swallowed up by rapacious land gluttons.
Trace this mischief to its true source and you find all the
trouble in the desultory, unscientific nationalization of
land. In early times the land was worked by farmers on
the aged and still prevailing competitive system of small
holdings  The kinds came and arrogantly made presents
of large tracts of it to their favorite lords and ladies; for
the very fact of idngly possession bears on its face this
nationalization through cruel confiscation. England has
plodded into the same egregious error, titling her grandees, one by one, until little remains for the impoverished
toilers.  War and violent revolution-which we always
deplore-must inevitably follow, so soon as labor organization shall have awakened the aggrieved, landless poor to
a full sense of the enormity of their grievance.  How long
will it be ere the squatters upon our recently nationalized
geyser-park will turn up as the undisputed owners and
266 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
lords of their leases and have to be driven off at last, by
the enraged community for the same unwarrantable, insidious encroachments upon the public domain?   Had
government in either case, kept the nationalized lands;
had the people tilled them without using the contract sys
tem at all; worked them scientifically employing unsparing capital; made a noble study of this great and difficult
business art; banished from it by degrees, the competitive
system entirely and always employed men and women as.
much for the sake of the labor as forits profits; and finallyhad all this been done at the sanction, and under watchful
direction of such people employed and fed, be assured that
there would exist no land question to-day. But alas, these
are conditions of that great democracy, at whose millennial camps, swords shall be turned into pruning-hooks,
the lion shall lie down with the lamb! The story of the
terrible revolts, or strikes of those downtrodden slaves,
freedmen and small farmers everywhere on the national
lands, has been mostly suppressed; because, threatened
by the bayonets of the ruling despotisms and coaxed by
honeyed cajolements of patrons in power, historians have
failed to do their duty; but enough has come to us to iIluminate the path of this our second progressive movement of labor, setting its teachers on their guard against
all agitation for land nationalization, until the implements
of its productive management are all practically and thoroughly in the hands of the workers; the nation itself in
their hands; the standing armies-if any be needed-in
their hands; a progressive party of labor in their hands;
for nationalization of whatever sort, being in the past, an
instrument of all that is fierce, selfish and cruel, is susceptible only under the highest enlightenment, of becoming
.267 
A LABOR CATECHIS.f
the basis of that new form of co-operation destined to en sure all against failure and injustice. For the presents
then, we argue, "let the land question alone".  Mattera
are bad enough now, without further aggravation.  Our
old, warlike, competitive system has, so far as the welfare
of working and useful people is concerned, proved itself
an utter failure; since our blood was shed in those conquests that wrested the lands from their original owners.
STATESMAN If this be the correct method, socialists'
views are far more conseiwative than violent; at least on
the land question.  We shall be constrained to acknowledge their measures on land reformation to look less violent and less disposed to rupture the existing laws, than
certain other contemporaneous propositions offered by
gentlemen claiming to be of your class. What are your
notions on the idea of a progressive income tax, a tax on
the values of land and other panaceas, such as are being
pushed with considerable vigor from time to time?
ANSWER. We have never advocated any panacea. In
fact, we simply recognize scientific management of every
industry upon an equitable co-operative basis; the governments, of which we are the citizens, owners and directors,
sanctioning, lending moneys for, and assisting to control
them. This, on the whole, ought not to disturb the good
sense of any one.  A real and honest labor mnovement will
want this, because its members are the millions of humanity who cannot cope with the inimical competitive system. Men have tried it. Sharp idlers have always got
away their last garden patch and they are landless to-day
Is it not time that a radical system were tried? And is
a tax upon land values, be it ever so violent, a radical
measure? Would it not leave us still where we are now, 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMiY.
scrambling, seething, failing, in this same old competitive
cauldron? Suffer your standard philosophers to tax land
even to dire confiscation and thus force its nationalization;
what would it all come to if you fail to exhibit that great
and crowning stroke of statesmanship that shall arrange
for the governments to which such lands might fall, to imnmcdiately assume its cultivation on behalf of their citizens, using all necessary instrumentalities known to mechanics, chemistry and industry? Such hobbies are destitute of any power to effect what we only desire:-a final
escape from the horrors of the competitive system.  Imagine a tax on land instead of incomes, machinery, fine yachts,
or vaulted gold, silver, interest-bearing bonds, or mangrinding nills, or coming inventions of a perhaps near era
enabling imnh to live upon the air and defy the sweating
denizens below; or big monopoly-run conveyance-hulks!
Why, half the taxable values of our orb would be made to
float air and sea! All this and land the only source of revenues wherewith to defray expenses of good governments!
Ingenious doctrinaires' heaven of monopolies! Land owIners, celebrated in the records of all times and countries,
asthe class of humanity most liable to failure, must, we are
told in these days of glittering sciences whose progress
is built upon other branches of industry, pay alJ costs
on pain of Confiscationi!  And all this cruelty is demanded by gentlemen who claim to loathe the preparatory and
truly humane proposition of labor, to science down this
great land problem to a basis of practical co-operation in
order to finally root out these features of competition and
bring land cultivation into an attractive, desirable and
prosperous pursuit.
A still further and more complete answer to questions
269 
A LABOR CATECHISM
of this kind must contain two distinct paragraphs.  In
the first place, a truly scientific, progressive labor party
must be based upon that excellent aphorism: "judgment
of masses is always surer, purer and more reliable than
judgment of individuals when those masses can agree in
council"; and this we must treat first. Land-tax ideas,
and others of which you speak, belong to one man; that
is, they are generally the outcome of a single brain, or a
single conception; whilst this peaceful, equitable solution
of the problem by means of co-operation and government
aid, of which we speak, is the outcome of ages. It was
the too advanced study of the forefathers.   America's
Jefferson hobnobbed with Saint Simon, then a soldier boy
under Washington, wounded in the revolutionary war,
years before he started his school in Paris for its propagation and became the teacher of great men.   Some of
the finest talent of the great German philosophers has also contributed to this principle while the Jews who are
homeless, are rejoiced to find it a dead letter in the good
old law of Moses; and their wonderful forces of intellectual insight are now being resurrected and reapplied. Finally, it is this sort of cooperation that is always agreed
to in all important world's congresses and conferences of
working people themselves, whenever they have met for
deliberation and at which this country, as well as those of
other continents have been represented. No man can say
that the question is undignified by being the foamy creation of a single brain. It is veritably the deliberate and
unimpassioned judgment of many.
In the second place, the realization of the co-operative
idea as applied to land cannot at present, nor perhaps yet
for ages be even asked for. The nationalization of mines,
270 
OF POLITIOAL ECONOMY
railroads, telegraphs, telephones, lumber mills, factories,
everything requiring the use of mechanical implements;
in short, the tools of manufacture and distribution, which
means, the natural common property-they having been
invented and applied by the common hand of labor-must
come first. All these natural tools of the great laborato.
ties of civilization are products of human toil andh ave
never been paid for. Their nationalization means simply
their restoration from the hand of profit-getters, to their
original makers and owner& But man's labor did not
invent and create the land.
Such is the modernized form of co-operation. Govern.
ments that have ever stood over and watched and upheld
the minority, are hereafter to protect the true owners, the
nakers, the majority.  Is not this democracy? Why, correctly viewed, ours is the genuine democratic party, asking for nothing but what we create. When the people
own this, when the mechanical tools of labor hitherto used by exploiters of profits wherewith to deprive men of
comforts become the people's own, when they shall thereby find themselves out of danger of their immediate oppressors, then, this more distant and dangerous question
of land nationalization may be carefully and humanely
approached. Or, it may commence sooner, by piecemeal,
as in cases of persons leaning to socialization of lands,
through common, or state management, or tillage for the
people; but no threat to wrest homesteads from the honest farmers, mechanics or others by exorbitant taxation or
any other cruel device can for a moment be tolerated.
Now a word as to the peaceful achievement of great
measures sooner, by avoiding violence. Correct ideas of
political economy are henceforth to be based on evolution
2171 
A LABOR CATECHISM
or steady and natural development.   A plan of land tax ation sufficient to exact a revenue for defraying the vast
expenditures of governments, unavoidably leads us to an archy if not to violence and bloodshed. Land owners, an
enormous class, would be driven to rebellion. Better to
suffer the old system, bad as it is, to plod along until men
see their way clear to introduce the more humane and
democratic finality which, when they have studied, and
gradually become convinced that it is better, they will
of themselves develop into the acceptance of, and allow it
to sweep out the old obnoxious competitive system root
and branch. But an unobtrusive and law-abiding piecemeal system may, without the least danger of rupture,
be allowed to take its course.
Show up the evils of a thing to an intelligent public,
and if there are no obstacles in the way, such as the old
vested rights of kings, the intelligence of such people will
of itself, decide against it and it must go.  Monarchy was
driven away from the American borders by a bloody revolution and its train of vested rights have gone with it.
And this introduces us to the piecemeal or fragmentary
system-the gradual substitution, little by little, or slice
by slice, of the old by the new. We find instances of this
elsewhere, where true and correct methods gradually and
harmlessly supervene upon old and clumsy ones.  There
is the spelling reform for the English language. We have
methods of eradicating from it this nuisance of bad spelling. But while earnest doctors are busy tinkering it with
their half-way system at the schools, never deigning to acknowledge anything but the worshipful old alphabet of
Cadmus, a modern literary economist invents a new and
marvelous lightning system to supersede Cadmus himself.
272 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
So our genuine labor party should be such as will never
need to be radically altered and only revised from time to
time, at the suggestion of experience.  Each experiment
must be a germ which will generate a permanent institution. Now, applying the illustration, we find the orthography of the language an acknowledged abomination.
Phonography, with the unscrupulous characteristics of all
inventions, sweeps out all these redicutlous incongruitie s
by its new method of spelling by sounds. Boys learn it ill
the schools; and as they have to learn the other also, the
absurdities of the old are brought into comparison with
the beauties and economies of the new  and often disgust theml.  By and by, when the arising generation"
come to have their way, the letters of Cadmus, like the
bones of the dodo, will have to be sought among  the
fossils of things extinct.   Any method of doctoring up
the old system is not only useless but a waste of time.
Now, let us more lucidly apply this illustration to the
argument in favor of an agricultural system to supplant
that of competition under which the masses have failed.
Like the old Cadmian letters, competition is of mnythic origin and comes of kings.  Applied to agriculture it has
been a wretched failure. It however answers the purpose.
Through it we get enough from the soil to feed us; and
if it come to us perfumed by the poison of the huckster's
adulterations, it is not the honest farmer's fault.  Although a large amount of the cultivated land is in the
clutches of lawyers holding mortgages against farmers
who perish with overwork and broken hearts, yet their
thankless toil is enough rewarded to support the human
race with the viands of life.  The mountain of wrong in
the old competitive system is too prodigious to be spaded
273 
A LABOR CATEOCISM
down. Its evils must be supplanted by the new and bet,
ter one. But this co-operation must eventuallytake con trol of lands and till them with the scientific implements of
man's invention, the most perfected application of chemistry, irrigation, machinery and labor-saving art, and thus
finally solve the problem in the unbiased interests of all;
that all may direct, all partake and enjoy and all grow into the true understanding of the word  Democracy.  We
are not, therefore, in the incipiency of the practical appli:
cation of the great finality, so wanting in good sense or
so undiplomatical as to require a wholesale adoption of
this boon or even to admit it as a plank in our platform.
Now  the acceptance of land nationalization slice by
slice, so to speak, may be compared with this spelling reform whose new measures are so radical and novel that
even the prejudices besetting roundabout reform methods
of the earnest doctors are forgotten; because boys learn
phonography as a business qualification. In like manner,
no prejudice or evil can result from any person bequeathing parcels of land to society or the state or government, if
such person desires to have an experiment tried. But in
both cases it is admitted that these experiments are founded upon the correct and final methods. The principal
difficulty in either case is first to ascertain, when a new
experiment is to be tried, how to make it a success. In
the new system of phonography, its very practicability and
demand have rushed it forward. To acquire it was to be
qualified with a neat and genteel accomplishment, often an
indispensable one wherewith to secure a position under
government   So likewise this new proposition to radically change the method of land cultivation will create great
numbers of neat and most highly respectable positions.
274 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
But the evil tendency against which we work is this
determination of industrial capitalists to get rid of paying taxes. The richest men are too shrewd to covet land.
Out of mere land there is no comparative profit.  An
instance of a great monopolizble industry such as better
suits their purpose, is seen in the telegraph and telephone
that can reap enormous profits, scarcely using( a foot of
land. It can be made to occupy neither soil nor surface.
It soars and sings high in the air, an aeolian harp that
harmlessly thrums among the aerial haunts of wild birds,
squirrels and bats. If land is too precious for its owner to set its poles of the size of a bucket's bottom, at intervals in the hedge, or bog, or wayside waste, it has an
anchoretical faculty of insulating and isolating itself from
the world's gaze by plunging under ground, there shyly performing duty to the enrichment of mortals above.
A cellar-way is good enough for its offices and thus its
taxable land values are reduced to nil.  It works best at
the unknown bottom of rivers, lakes, gulfs and oceans,
or wherever the hope of taxing land is most absurd and
impracticable.  Yet the telegraphs and telephones become not only gigantic industries but are classed among
the most defiant monopolies of the earth; overcoming
by bribes and other resistance all efforts of the taxgatherer, while millions of profits flow into the vaults of a few
men who own and control them.
Even the railroads are leaving the taxable land; and
their proclivity for worthless fens, hollows and rivers is
familiar to all. In the cities they soar above the heads
of animals and men without molesting or endangering
them or their cares and toils below.  They run through
tunnels deep under ground where earth and granite are
275 
A LABOR CATECHIS3M:
valueless and cannot be taxed; for no sane person can
think of land values in connection with their subterranean tracks. In London the great railroads are sources
of enormoub profits and likewise making millionaires.
To avoid taxation is a study of their owners. They all
plunge underground, below the surface limits of the taxgatherer.
In the same manner other industries successfully avoid
the payment of taxes wherever they can escape the legalizable claims of real estate. And should the ideas of our
land-tax theorists be realized, they would inevitably resort to the subterfuges of wit and opportunity to dodge
the normal occupancy of land, rather than submit to paying their quota of revenues assessed upon the land.
MIoney, another great vehicle of human activities, also
possesses the same invisible, subterraneous characteristics; and can to a still greater extent, exist and career
without occupying taxable space. Who would think of
levying a tax upon an underground vault, comlmensurate with the vast and uncertain because constantly moving values which huddle and sequester themselves upon
its bottom a
A broad range of criticism thus uncovers to view the
utter absurdity of any attempt to shirk upon real or hypothecated land-values the burdens of revenue supply.
At every glance of reason fresh loopholes discover theeselves wherein are secreted these venomous creatures of
subterfuge.  To avoid paying taxes is tile well known
and too successful determination of wealth owners; and
these land-tax theorists though undoubtedly at heart
the kindest of men, will be looked at by farmers as plotters of a plan to assist them in securing its avoidance.
276 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Land can be socialized slice by slice, so to speak or little
by little. The progressive industrial party may plausibly demand that government, either municipal, state
or general, adopt it upon a scale of a few acres, a few
hundred, or even if there be enough faith among thepeople, a thousand acres at a time. States are continually trying hazardous experiments; let them try
this one and get their hand in. They may be called
upon to help us on a larger scale by and by. We are
constantly to bear in mind that socialism is the reverse
of anarchy;  it may be called the world's law and order society. As with the spelling reform system, boy
after boy and girl after girl learn the new and outgrow the old method the youngster becomes the adult
and from the private it gets into the public school
and soon becomes property of the state, so this system of land tenure and cultivation may commence
with the individual, converted and leaning to its ownership by co-operation of many, and as the small experiments succeed grow into universal adoption by the
governments of the world. But no half-way substitutes are wanted, that will tend to decoy the people
into antagonism against the final end. Nothing will do
which enlightened intelligence and lessons of experience by trial from year to year, shall not cause to be enacted by law. Any whims to patch up the old corapetitive system by taxation of land values, by new-fangled schemes of rent or confiscating land and selling it
again to the highest bidder, must be regarded as dan-.
gerous and misleading.
QUESTION.  We have labored under the perhaps
wrong impression that this social democracy was an
277 
A LABOR CATECHISM
organization of malcontents who, with firebrand in hand
and vengeance in spirit were contemplating no peace
nor harmony but violent and indiscriminate overthrow
of present institutions. If, however, your measures,
be they ever so extreme in the ultimate, are both humane and peaceable, even though contemplating the
abolishment of the present system of business which
men are forced to compete against rather than co-operate with, that is, selfishly array themselves in warfare
against, instead of coming into Christian brotherhood
mutually with and for one another, heaven grant that
it be done7 and our echo shall be Amen t And if it apply as a finality to the great and vexed land question
so much the better.  But how, we would ask, can men
know just at what moment to strike for these things,
eachli in its turn when ripe and ready? How are we
going to rightly judge the auspicious moment?
ANSWER   By letting it assume the political form.
We always know by the signs of the times just the
right moment to bring to the front and push a political issue. It is one of the redeeming virtues of politics. It may be said of these days of innovation
and change that another important discovery has
been made, namely: that there are two classes of industries, or of industrial management in the world
at the present time, vigorously competing with each
other for existence-the ascendant and the moribund.
We may assume all necessary operations requiring
human activity and devotion to be industries; the hall
of legislation, the court of adjudicature, the workshop
and the farm-all these are industries, indispensable
to human government, safety, comfort and  nourish
278 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
aent. The judges as well as carpenters or farmers
are paid; the court is therefore, technically considered, an industry  To work as a member of congress
is often arduous and there are many who cannot stand
the strain.  But these are industriesof the genuine
communistical class.  The great and growing postal
industry is now one of the largest and most flourishing in the world -pure communism in germ, and rapidly developing into perfection.  Every industry that
is co-perative rather than competitive, is communistic at root and all such are of the ascendant class of in.
dustrial activities. A cIoperativc farm or a piece of
land, as a park, garden, botanical or zoological grounds
or experimental lands for food fishes or seed raising,
where governments conduct the operations, are of the
ascendant class of activities in the category of economies for human support. At present this cooperative
method is especially in the ascendant, urged on by almost every species of labor organization in all parts of
the world where labor has taken a stand.
On the other hand, industries which are operated
on the profit or competitive system where the welfare
of the community supplied, stands as a secondary con
sideration, may be denominated the moribund class.
They compete with one another, are the instigators of
an emulous, often unfriendly spirit akin to warfare and
are the cause of strikes and misery among those who,
for want of more of the co-operative, or ascendant industries in which to find self-interested employment
for their heads and hands, are obliged to barter them
to bosses on terms that under a hackneyed law of the
competitive system on which all moribund industries
279 
A LABOPR CATECHI1St
are based, forces them to suffer and is a cause of their
organizations of resistance against capital. These are
two mighty forms of managing our means of produ cing and distributing the necessities of life. They are
at war to-day, because the ascendant, communal system
upon which all governments and courts of justice are
founded-the most ancient, most just and imperislhable of all known forms of management has, through
the agitations of this labor problem, been discovered
to be also most harmoniously applicable to the management of industries and everything else. If coinmmon or state co-operation can martial great armies and
cause men to brutally murder and destroy, the same
principle under wise and humane statesmanship, can
be made to operate a manufactory or cultivate the land.
All that is wanted is collective will, intelligence and
statesmanship. But labor, feeble, ignorant and unorganized, never took political issues upon this mighty
discovery before. Old industries were run on the competitive system then as now; corrupting, tangling and
usurping; constantly drawing like leeches, from the
co-operative system to gratify private ends. Thus,
although the mutual system was the best, the usurpation by egotistical individuals has prevented its application to business functions, other than such as best
subserved the selfish purposes of kings and bosses.
The fact is, the true interests of labor have not kept
pace with her amazing products of every other kind.
She now awakens to find herself cheated. No statesmen ever did, or ever will represent her and work for
her interests. Labor must go into the political field
and henceforth assume the management of her own af 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
fairs of statesmanship and legislation. She has built
the splendid things on which human welfare rests;
it is high time for her to take a stand politically and
most energetically in their defense.
Now, so long as competition could maintain itself ilii
this way, it could exist; but when it began to turn thecommunistic or co-operative principle towards furthering and maintaining monopolies by which the great inventions of labor were robbed, even of thre little advantage that resides in cold competition, a veritable rebellion followed, which has already outlined tm attack
upon both competition and monopoly, by  uceatIs of a
counter organization in politics. The natural offspriing
of competition is monopoly; and its whole great line
of tactics having proved a failure, may be regarded
under the pressure of its bad record and in the light
of the nobler system of co-operation, as in a dying condition. All around we see examples of our sweeter
mutual method rising into power. Nations have taken hold of it. Cities build beautiful and useful things
upon it. Great non-competitive establishments like
public schools which develop our intelligence flourish
upon it like the green bay tree. Immense labor organizations and social parties look forward to it as an
only basis of hope.  It is coming;-the grand old so
cialism taught by our Master, having put its slander
ers to shame; and at its approach the selfish, rotten
old competitive system is doomed to take its final
leave.
Now, as this true co-operative system comes slowly,
piece by piece, into the world it is preparing itself to
grasp the land problem and sweep all other industry
281 
A LABOR CATECHISM
with it. Co-operation then, applied to land, is the distant and difficult work of statesmen, chemists, mechanics-all science, art and energy combined;-for it is
here upon the vital and perhaps final question of land
that the greatest duties, responsibilities and dangers
of its experiment must culminate.
Finally, a word cannot be amiss regarding the very
important matter of health.  Of all the many enemies
of human sanity the competitive system is the most
appalling. The vocation once learned, whether that
of farming, carpentering, mining, stitching or anyother, the poor wage slave under this baleful profit system is bound to delve a life-time without hope of accumulating enough to pay the costs of travel and other
changes prescribed by either physician or the common
sense rules of health. The employer generally goes
and comes at will; often necessarily, on account of the
requirements of business but in obedience to the rules
of physical health just the same; thus escaping those
dangerous, often deadly chronic maladies which come
of constant exposure to the malaria-breeding sameness
of drudgery. This fearful sameness of habits is the origin perhaps, of more chronic diseases than all else
known to the dispensary It heaps on its melancholy
burdens of helplessness as it fiendishly forces its victims to gulp the same poor nourishment and breathe
in the same fumes of virus from year to year. Add
to all this the still worse poisons of despondency and
hopelessness and their ghastly companions, recklessness and the bowl, and you have a too correct picture of the competitive system as now applied.
But the cure comes in a vast swoop, with this nation 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY,.
alization of land, also the implements of labor, mines
electric contrivances, the railroads, manufactories and
expressage. The world is large and its surface configuration is full of charming, inviting and health-restoring varieties. There are climates where no consumption is known.  Others where catarrh is a stranger;
and again others whose bracing air heals those infected with malaria as if by magic.  Obstinate diseases
are frequently cured by their contact, Physicians often know this but are powerless to prescribe except for
the rich. Nations have prepared charts of these excellent and beautiful lands and we know where they
are. Yet those suffering, who have no means to go there
must remain and tug and rot. A co-operative or government farm as described, located in a non-consumptive region would, with the transfer system and the
nationalized railroads, naturally invite such people to
its anti-consumptive or anti-catarrhal. or anti-malarial
home not only to continue their regular and useful vocation, but also to be permanently cured. The mere
beginning of such a salutary system of transfers would
tell upon the longevity of the working classes. Owning their means of travel, their farms, shops, mines,
and being themselves the authors and directors of the
legislation by which these industries were maintain ed, they would not stop with the cultivation of land
by cooperation but would erect workshops in those
healthful places, offering workers of many callings an
equal opportunity to work for themselves and breathe
the air of heaven. But alas, the good question, no bly coming into being is yet too blind and too sad
ly chained to the old obstinate stumps of ignorance 
283 
A LABOR CATECHISM
No. Nothing portends more gloomily an evil future
frowning both suspiciously and ominously near than
this new and unexpected slogan, the single land-tax
theory. Especially is this a darkling foreboding to
the farmers. Mr. Mulhall, in a sound work on "The
Progress of the Nation within 40 years," shows in a di agram the relative advance of different industries in
England. The lines start from nil; the comparison of
actual growth beginning at 10. Commerce which is
susceptible of the greatest range of profits and makes
the most millionaire speculators, runs up to 550 on the
scale, while manufactures, the next greatest resource
of the monarchs of wealth, rise to 450. Several other great industries which make rich men are shown to
have similarly risen. But where stands agriculture?
Instead of rising it has actually fallen and stands only
at 8! And yet it is this most unproductive, most unfortunate of our industrial resources, the land, which
is to be made to pay all of the enormous expenses of
government! This proposition for an exclusive land
tax relieving these speculators of commerce, manufacture, distribution and jobbery from all burdens of assessmtent, however plausible it may be made to appear,
looks most ominously suspicious. It is well known
that the great millionaires of monopoly are constantly
on the'alert to avoid payment of taxes. They would
combine and pool enormous sums of money to secure
such indemnity from paying their quota of taxation.
And through scheming advocates of so-called single
land-tax throwing the entire burdens of taxation off
the heads of these colossal and might-wielding millioatires of the speculative, money-winning businesses,
-284 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
the silly people, like flies in the spider's deadly decoy,
plunge into an inevitable doom that yawns behind the
insidious veil of fascination and enchantment I Land,
and toil, old twins of poverty must as usual, continue
to delve, supply all wants, pay taxes, and get nothing I
You may crowd the art of agriculture to the highest
point but you cannot under any conditions get from it
more than a given product, acre for acre the world over;
although science and capital may combine to increase it above what it now is. But the labor monopolist well knows
that he can crowd workmen upon a given piece of land
and by owning their patents and exploiting their toil,
force from a small piece of land an ever increasing product-aye, make them stand at their forges, anvils, workbenches and looms so thickly together that even the free
air is vitiated by sheer monopoly of it through his exploiture of labor. One may here see that while an acre of
land-muscle, so to speak, can but produce wealth in arithmetrical ratio, an acre of human muscle, crowded almost
from the earth, or even out upon the waters, is made to
produce in a geometrical ratio;-exactly what many industrial managers desire. This shows why our millionaires are so determined to rid themselves of the payment
of taxes on products.
Confiscation of land is well known to have ever been
the source or foundation of the great and arrogant families of England. This mischief has been done at times
when nobody thought of the state farming them for the
people on equal footing for all men. The ancient Demesnes of the time of Edward the Confessor, were crown
lands.  All Demesnes acquired by escheat, forfeiture and
feudal delinquency were crown lands;-all nationalized
lands-just as the proposed land-tax theories admittedly
285 
A LABOR CATE'CHISM
would reduce lands here, should not the implements' of
its cultivation be also transferred to the state or peo ple. The seizure by Henry VIILI. of the vast Monastery
estates made them all crown lands  Indeed, Great Brit
ain, now the true battle-ground of the land problem, is
the country of nationalized lands. What became of them?
Why, they were alienated to court favorites through the
tricks of politicians and used to found the great overbear
ing families; as a study of the reliable blue-books reveals.
Against the tyrannies of these usurpers of the people's
birthright-the soil-there now arises a prodigious con
flict!  Beware then, this careless meddling with Iand!
Let the agricultural question grow with other questions
of social ownership;-ownership of the tools by which
labor is performed and product created and dispensed.
Statesmanship and benevolence must socialize themselves
and get out of the competitive rut, Savagism which is
still building its landmarks on this our boasted age must
be outgrown.  When people possess full knowledge of the
correct methods of conducting industries, there will be
no danger. What men are commanded to do is to love
one another; help one another; take care of one another; and they must narrow down their isolated, precari
ous and predatory individualisms until they can nationalize and mutually employ as by co-opration, all instruments of land cultivation as well as of manufacture and of
distribution, upon an altruistic, Christian-like principle.
This is to begin the work of reconstructing society for
the sake of human happiness.
STATESMAN. But what can be the harm, even if these
land theories be tried? Would not the general tendency
of such an agitation be in the direction of the finality toward which you aim?
286 
CHAPTER XIII.
GOVERNMENTALIZED WEALTH WORTHI MORE,
DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR TO THE INDIVID     UAL, THAN PRIVATE WEALTH. SYS         TEM OF GENERAL AVERAGES.
CONVERSATION BETWEEN A BANKRUPT AND HIS MORTGAGEE.
BANKRUPT.  I HAVE grown old in honest manual toil
to accumulate for myself and my family a fortune which
would not only act as a capital whereon to be emancipated from want or care, but which my stock or race and
inheritance bearing our name, might perpetuate a true
family in honor.  In the ups and downs of this exciting
career, often sorely tempting my honesty and beckoning
me many times to become a knave-temptations which I
have struggled against-I find myself in bankruptcy with
nothing but my gray hairs and a sullen future before me.
I have made up my mind, since I am at least of average
ability to make a living and yet having failed, that the 
A ILB()R CATECHISM
mass of the human race fail; and I believe they will continue to fail unless the conditions are changed. In other
words, I have been driven to believe in the doctrine that
if the property which all so easily create but which so few
can keep their share of, could be held in trust for them
by their government, then each and all might own an ample competency and prevent bankruptcy and the pinch of
poverty altogether.
MORTGAGEE.  Well, you are reiterating a doctrine which,
as I discover going the rounds of my business and collecting my dues-often a heart-rending duty I must cordially confess-a good number are becoming converted
to. But what, in such a case as you instance, is to become of us who are successful? We do not want any
change of conditions. The world offers a free chance in
the competition. If I succeed and you fail this does not
justify you in advocating institutions which would make
my business impossible; for this would invert the matter
by making me the failure and you the success.
BANKRUPT. I am too much withered and solemnized by
age, toil and adversity, and too near the grave to discuss
with you in a spirit of unkindness; but a zealous, truthful argument may take place without a vestige of bitterness, and only in this feeling would I speak.
MORToAGEE. Speak, but allow that I have the same lib
erty.
BANKRUPT. Of course. You have made each of your
enterprises pay its own expenses, and the plan that I propose shall be based upon the same principle, with the
addition that a system of general averages is to be admitted, by which the people may pay, out of a common
fund, such deficits as may occur, until the methods of
288 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
any one branch of business newly taken in, can have time
to adjust themselves so as to attain a paying basis.
MORTGAGEE.  I would like to hear an explanation.
BANKRUPT. I am the head of a family of ten; a nation
is a family of millions and as all wants are common, supplies should be common. My family are a community by
themselves. Had I escaped bankruptcy and succeeded
in business as I once hoped, I should have been able to
found an estate or a property of $50,000.  This would
have been a matter of $5,000 for each. But we are a loving, well-regulated family; and mutual sympathies and
interests so fairly cohere that should one of our little enterprises fail, all the others would fly to its rescue; that
is, if one branch should fail to pay its own expenses while
all the others succeeded, then, the prosperous part of our
community would, by a mutual understanding, straighten
out the unfortunate one; and with this valuable experi ence it would result in its success the next year. This
is the system of general averages on the inter-mutual or
co-operative plan of assistance and common security-the
idea being to secure a comfortable living for all, from
generation to generation of our stock. I must now how ever, acknowledge that it is a pernicious one; since the
inevitable outcome of it would have been to plant another
family or nucleus of power whose gradual growth into the
world, would, like all the families of history, continue to
browbeat the unfortunate. On looking it over I have ar rived at the coneiusion that a system of general averages
might be apphlec by a still more powerful institution than
the family-even by thie family of man, the political gov ernments of masses-acd! aml convinced     thaat suc h man agement, beit     g nturaly i.ke a  tiher or head of a fam
289
0 
A LABOR CATECHISM
ily, would furnish labor and the necessaries of life to all
of the children with strict impartiality.
MORTGAGEE.  That might answer very well for a mere
Family affair; but the question is, how are you going to
apply it to your state?
BANKRUPT. It must be left to the people, to discussion,
to a political party, to public common sense. What is
the real difference between a state, which is the head of
its family of citizens and a father who is the head of a
family of children? I take it, however, that the state has
the advantage by far, over the father; for statistics tell
us that while individuals who engage in enterprises of
business, fail on an average nine out of eleven timne, the
state is proved to have failed only once in five times, or
twenty in a hundred. The reasons for this are that tihe
state, having capital, talent and experience, and being, so
to speak, immortal or undying, can be more positive, stern
and sure-footed than any short-lived, erring, stumbling
individual; especially when the former is above competitive strife while the latter is tormented by competitors
at every step and stage of his existence. That the state,
then, has a large advantage over the individual in matters
of industrial enterprise of every kind, is seen in the fact
that whenever it undertakes any enterprise it is almost
sure to succeed, while the individual proves himself to
have failed as many as nine times out of eleven, from century to century, which leads me to the bold opinion that
the individual is a failure. These remarkable figures convince me that a large and powerful institution, like a nation or country-which is in fact, a species of collective
individual-may and ought to undertake business enter.prises on my family principle. I am one of those who
290 
OF POLITICAL ECONO1MY.
have failed. My steady and arduous labors have, in the
course of many years of hopeful youth and middle. life,
built up this fortune which you now possess, through one
of the wicked kinks of the dangerous competitive system.
You may not have committed the least guilt as the law
reads; for the heartless law was the robber that ruinedi
me in foreclosing the mortgage and its insidious grippers
have at last crushed me to the grave. You are but the
instrument of the law which throughout the country
is foreclosing mortgages and ruining homes, and everywhere blighting the hearts of honest men. I would see
a radical change. I would see the nation's government
of which I am a citizen, assume the mutual care of its
family just as I desired to do with my own children; and
in view of my own failure because isolated and uninstructed,
I am constrained to believe that no government will ever
be perfect and long-lived until it is really what it pretends
to be-a protective power over its citizens like the father
over his family
MORTGAGEE.  There is in your mind a certain improvement on the leap from sublime to ridiculous; your portly
assurance adds to it a sprinkling of the charms and splendors of Utopia. I apprehend that you are going to have
each industry managed by the government and fix things
so that each one will pay its own expenses. What then
becomes of the systems of rent and taxation? And will
not the thing tumble like all other top-heavy contrivances of which bad temper is often the inventor?
BANKRUPT. Eventual free trade would result from such
a system, because each industry produces for itself, employs its own numbers and pays its own expenses. In
your competitive world taxation must always be neces
291 
A LABOR CATECHISM
sary; but that does not make the taxation, which is com pulsory tribute, interest, customs duties, rent, any less a
robbery. The inter-mutual state which I desire to see,
possesses no inherent attributes of these in its nature.
It would not fight with bloody weapons against the pres ent method which destroys citizens, but it would supplant
the whole evil by a better system through which citizens
could be furnished means to live. By this means every
industry is self-supporting in the end; each being aided
by the averaging process during its incipiency or youth,
until it can stand alone like a child. This is but nature.
Already we have instances. When the government post office was undertaken, it was so infantile and inexperienced that it could not stand alone. It had to be supported by deficit appropriations, as the parent supports
the child.  In fact, it never will be able to pay its own
way and do its duty without such support until perfected.
Then it will not only go alone but will be able, by a surplus over its own expenditures, to in turn, help some sister industry to a share of deficit money. To become perfeet, it must have all the railroads, steam lines and electric transmissions incorporated as parts of itself. If the
state or collective body assume all industries as it has the
post-office, it would soon get them all on a paying basis,
after which there would be no more taxation because
everything would pay for itself. Incomes more than sufficient to pay the expenses of each department would flow
in from the business, and the system of taxation would
cease, giving way to unlimited free trade the world over.
Now while I would go softly i would push these matters
with energy.  I would seize nothing, but would work with
the still more powerful and convincing weapons of persua
292 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
sion, experiment, experience. When one of your old murderous industries of the competitive system is found to
be regarded with dissatisfaction by its own victims, the
work people employed in it and the masses deriving their
supplies from it, then the government should assume it
by purchase.  As soon as one of them shows signs of a
general dissatisfaction, be assured that it is in a decaying
or dying state. I call it moribund. We will illus3trate by
this moribund industry, answering your questions by it.
The reason why the government assumed the mail service
was simply that the joint stock company could niot do it.
Company and individual business proved a failure and
they died-a very profitable demise for every nation; as
by their death the true owner takes possession, and that
owner is the people. But the system is still faulty as we
know and the reason why is that it does not possess its
plant. The very wheels by which mail and other express
packages are carried, still belong to individuals who control other inventions of the people. The people or community invented and constructed engines, railroads and
all the make-up of this vast business. Somebody who
possesses no genius to invent but simply a genius to:make
money, got away the machines from the people!  and
while citizens own the government post-office in common,
this individual owns the machines; thus crippling government by placing himself as a managing monopolist
over the whole.  Now, as this glaring wrong is stuidied
by the people, they begin to demand that the machinery
be restored to them, in order that their postal system
may be completed and that they may get letters.  ackages and wire messages transmitted to them at cos~:.
As this question comes up and is discussed and carefully studied, the old system becoies tasteie.s and stale
293 
A LABOR CATECHISM
and finally gives way to it; because it cannot offer any
plausible argument in its own defense. It is in a mori bund state. It has been attacked. The same is to be
said and done with other business, even with cotton mills
and flouring mills-all machinery both of manufacture
and distribution. The people need only to be awakened
to perceive the wrong that lurks in this individual ownership of their machines. Why, it is little less than the
old legalized brigandage. These things belong to the
people, the children of the nation. We invented them and
many of us have starved in carrying out such labors. A
shrewd individual has worked so well his tactics that the
true owner is left but the miserable inheritance of bankruptcy, A mere family like mine is too weak to grapple
with the wrong. The great family of man must grapple
with it, and the implements of labor must become their
own and be operated and held in trust for them by their
natural business and protective association, which is their
government. No tenable argument exists to support the
opposition to these burning truths. Every sort of industry, be it distributive as a store, or constructive as a cotton
mill, should belong to the nation and not to the individual. So long as it is run by the individual as personal
property it will partake more or less of the spirit and
practice of robbery. When it is endorsed and absorbed
by the nation it will quickly learn to work in the unbiased
interests of all, and gradually become, with the growth
of public wisdom, the employer as well as the source of
supp!y for all of us who claim to be members of itself
and of the human family. The plan of government
industries will not only simplify all methods of business,
cause them to grow honest by making their value com
294
I
i 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
mon and distributing their blessings equally, but it will
enrich the citizen through a permanent possessorship of
actual property so that he or she will be wealthier, freer,
more dignified and self-supporting than by the plan of
the single family, such as I failed in attempting to create; besides it eliminates an element of hypocrisy which
I am willing to confess, undeniably exists in my family
arrangement
MORTGAGEE. How can it enrich each? Distribute the
property of tihe country ever so equally among the citizens and they would not be worth twenty-five dollars
apiece.
BAlKRUPT   We shall come to this phase of the inquiry
soon. On the contrary, it will be proved that each citizen, as a co-possessor of the property of his or her country, becomes possessor of a sum in sterling money, if you
like, so considerable, that with a small amount of welldirected labor each day, there will be plenty; and there
need be felt no fear. Even as it is now, with all the enormous, incomputable waste which flows from the systematic jargon of competitive business, there happens alwavs
to be enough. Want is not known except where distribution is defective. If one side of the earth suffers loss
from war or drouth, the other side contains an overplus.
If one family starves, the near neighbor wallows upon a
surfeit which he cannot devour.  There is always plenty.
What the hungry want is the possession of it. This is of
itself sufficient proof that if the present wealth-values
were in the hands of the people as they ought to be, there
would never occur another case of starvation.
MORTGAGEE.  There is such a thing as making, at least.
an approximate count of both the actual value of all prop
erty now belonging to companies and individuals in an.
295 
A LABOR CATECHISM
given country or nation and the amount of the popula tion of each. Your idea becomes interesting if for noth ing more than the prodigious dimensions of its scope.
Have you ever drawn upon figures for a conclusion as to
the amount of property, under your theory, that would,
as you say, be owned in a bond of equal citizenship, if all
the property, say in the United States of North America,
should become nationalized by government and worked
under your system, or upon a method by which no one
person could rule or profit on a larger quantity than another? If there were such a thing possible, it might be
worth more than a fleeting consideration; for I admit
that things are not always as they should be-a lottery
in which I have gained and you have lost a fortune. But
firs it would be very necessary to make a thorough computation as to how it is going to turn out, even upon its
most sublimely enormous scale; and as I am, on my own
acknowledgment, a victim of one extreme, while you are
the victim of the other, both feeling our consciences to be
involved, I am ready to say that if the figures warrant, so
also the law of equity warrants, that you try it.
BANKRUPT. Very well then. Nothing is easier than to
get at a fair approximation of the actually paying property that would become, under this system, the bonafide
state of every citizen alike. And the freshest gem of
hope that each man or woman's property possesses, is
that the property employs every human being of right
condition, holding claim thereto, and this not by any speculation of the mean competitive system, but by virtue of
the birthright of humanity; and under a management
which is their own.  It will be a management that gives
a certificate to labor as the first right-a right which by
the simple law of equity, cannot, under any conditions,
296 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
shut out from them the offer o+ tfee la;bo   o r ce';ve citizens of its enjovmentfor of tL,e Lull pro-'u tunny fo6r,
penny, of that which their la,bor creates.;
:Parceling out, itemr by ite,     thie vast pir    S'., hich
these 70,000,000 people liN.    e siall-finld tlat there are 
two bases of calculation  the real and the hyp(thletical4
values, the latter being' often merely asserted with(ut any
proper estimate and with an o-ject to spec tlate.  It goes:
by' the name of " watered stock.   Between the two, we
may-although they are consftantlv varying-  et a troii,'ilb;
estimate which: will be sufficit:tfor our purpose, since a
fair approximate is what we wanxt.  In order to do th,,is
we shall draw from the"'' Ilterstate Conmerce'o(l: 9iris
for railroads, and from books, and lectures for estimai tes:s
of other property. 
The entire amount  in -linear miles,: of railroads in the
United States reaches above 150,000.   These railroads
cost on an average, a trifle less than $ 60,000 per ]ile.
In other words the railroads are worth $9,000,000,000 i
round numbers.  This gives; for each man, woman and
child, a sum of $ 129 nearls.Y  But as each head of family
has the care of four persons at the lowest average  and of
six persons at the highest, the property in charge ol con
trol, under his trusteeship for the children, that is, goods
citizenized, so to, speak, in jo(irnt ownership and enjoyiVnt
of each head of a family of four, would be about $514 f4!
the' small number, or $774 foir the larger  unlber.  Thus
in the  matter of railroads alone, ie is in control of no in   considerable sum.  All good things accruing from this,
are equally participated.   The average workingman of
our times does noT probably possess so much of the goods
of this earth; or if he does, they are not, as profitable and
steadfasti'a property as is the said amount  invested in
these great public works 
A LABOR CATECHISM
Then turning to the telegraphs, telephones and land,
which several authors, arguing against nationalization
in books and lectures on economic philosophy, estimate
at a value of $25,000,000,000, and at this low price we
shall find, if it were possessed alike by all, thlat each in habitant would become by this natural title to existence
which I advocate, owner of a snug little sum of $ 350 or
more.  This is for each and all, including children of
tender age. But as the head of the family or somebody
must attend to their wants, we shall have uniler his super
vision of the family of four, a sum of $1,428, or of the
familyof 6, $2,140.
But we have said nothing as yet, of the vast values of
mechanical property upon which the working people are
best entitled to ownership because they are its inventors,
its manufacturers, its repairers and its operators. This
property exists in shape of tools, factories, mills and water
powers. We have said nothing of the enormous wealth
in form of steamships, steamboats, ferrying and coast-lines.
Nor have we spoken of the immense stored wealth of naa
vies with their armaments of protection; of the war departnmernt with its munitions of defense. We have not
considered the still greater value of stored wealth in the
coal, iron, silver, gold, copper and other mines which can
not be estimated until our labor has been applied. This,
of all other property, should be owned by the people.
Then there are to be added the vast values of the oil wells
and natural gas as well as the pearls, the mineral waters
and other resources of incomes and of health and comforts.  None of them should be monopolized by owners,
as in the present maniner, or held in trust as some people
imagine is done by individual possessors who thus in their
298 
OF POLITICAL ECOYO,IY.
legal fashion carry out and perpetuate the ancient system
of brigandage or something that is little better-seizure
and appropriation by the one, enslavement and degradation for the other-but these things should be common,
as a birthright to humanity and enjoyed by humanity
by means of state, or government management, which is
the new and final political economy, since all other forms
have failed.
Now, if we rate all this immense and growing property
at no more than the railroads, electric appliances and land,
we shall, even at this low valuation, have a round sum of
$34,000,000,000 which would give to each one of a populatiQn of $ 70,000,000, about $ 485, say $ 500, in valuable
productive property, such as becomes more and more
respectable and dignifying as the ages and the enlightenment of humanity proceed.   These $500 belonging
to each person, as in the previous cases we have given,
cannot be managed or participated in by all, because
some are children, some idiots, some insane or othewvise
disabled. Continuing the enumeration on the same basis
of the family of four under the paternal head, as in the
family with the father at its head, we will reckon from
this figure as the minimum and from six the maximum
number, ve shall have for this guardian's trust, $ 2,000 for
the smallest estimate and $ 3,000 for the highest.  In our
coalculation on the land and t"h, macliinery of distribution
we obtained nearly as mieh molre.  Adding the two sums
~which engross all property or the couitry, into one estate
belonging to the family of xaL,) or tnat branch of it residing within the limits o thle;e       me titoned, we have.
for each individual         w,ithoutb    t) c i; o    e, sex or cone
dition,!i.ing undier the b'o'thri t o utexit3h'a sum of
f ') 
M  — TAGE    -But you wanted$50,000'f'or your fml
or";utr each aii; oithoT,-t that- F,,oun  necessary in
or4r tae -yourseiv(,s',decent.13t   hr,ncomputing t,he- Whole val u-e -of the'counfry's wat,addv~n
it'h  thes pop'u'lation, you only ha ive~ a';pthjthouad
You wanted ~ 0,000 for ~thepae'l        1,rtetrs
,as he,ad ot thefamiy  aul III yuenb4   t ofyor
estimate for th   oilzdwealth". is   -~(Tu'ou   o six
thiousands.  I fail to se e h ow, t] is pI~  at  ~rte.ca
ever avail towards~ prodi-(ine ir     ndeenet orn,o
even raising-Ith-em out o,,, h~e the Iiisa4iieofoo-rty.
BAN   P   Thiis is met by two a,         -SNKU' t Irurn(",f  Frts    as I
have show"n, whatever s~tore, )>v(-l m'~    t iil)ou valaes the
fact remains that there -is en~oughl.' Th~r     n4uch thing
as estimnathip 7ialues ~am'(i~st, eatse an~ ple,)cntitude   There
is ~alw,-~s en~ougrh~-eil(,)a&g,h for e~vor.)h)(ldy at all ti'mes-if
itcouldi only be ba-i bt( -y th,e i-e(-ll   An   In   smrl
a met  od by  hichb tlhey, are (he4to~ gt, i't  It brnnga
-this prf' Tertywich ~le~y >dccs enough for all,'With   ithir rec,b   ~~i~(~y~cag   f its manage
,!-enit,fomtepentilii~aan  compettv  one,
wihse-normou  waste -i,-d erci'itter.g-srife int o~a co 
OF POLITICAL ECONOMy.
operatie Ian,'een throu
to the'elimintion o~'~2_ gthouj  statesmaishiD
o p e r t iv e nn at o bo t h  w a s t e'n d - a r h.   t h a t   l e a d s
Tohe e                        so   and
The superior advaltage of the sstem is in the ower that
erful   -    ~     _  pwe.that
ge,rch and powe rful concerns possess over small nd
.e.k onres Thi )spower resides in all go vernments and
ls geatule r l tlm n..,:.that..o~ i0Vndslt t i videtualsit  ~
a toindividuals and    nies.  Be     ig cond,cth eda fort]the poiple by the people, and not for
e i-.,peculatve Ppos.es, but for an  object of prtefi 
,, "o Cn u n   dh l d ke itcan  perform  m'any t imes
m?r;WrkT'in'a -year and      p        rodu e m any  times larger re_
titer~~~fore..~ ~ -ra'-~
or,its   It can  therefore,make al olJar worth many timeS
~OIC than theiniv~ida ---
cor'i mpethenitfdualCn, since he is obliged to st rug   g l e   w i th         b rea k i n g   d o wn   a n d   r i up   fr o m
heahsof ruiniPfo
cn d   s u c h  o t h e.   to r m e n t i n g.  i. i t d.
ascharatr.....
-~-.,.e'.msludes
er.,,ze hhedW~th~~...
;~vhe            t     rece    manae.me:t  of  andividua1
en depending only upon their shrewdness,  or  ftlig
under the lack of it. A nation that has  its force o in'ventors,  of  designers,    of  mechanics  o   lb  e
lectie   body,'lnows abothi-~ of   de a    s   a  i  anger-t
f d ea;h"I  saI tmgrt
ba- lr "" y t'-                         i
bankruptcy, It knows no suc w                l.. t
d~~~~~~~~Ie  butr thyrpouethmevs adth,o ie
,dlie but the                       d, as fib..t
hy retrrocn p.  t  anz':'    nd t  hc.nl
,     forever.        It           isa  dethe o i nd f  mand
cal~j'.  ta trw n ivesh
retroPrade,:'bu[v cel plmnt,          ya'may     st tde
g    r c e a n d l o g e,,  n e e e s s a   O t dt o   i eiwt O L
.tdpi of          indust rial
',i  agetion tha t  has. withi n   itself. the  req miofte:. wth
~ies'u~.7~;cean  butg I.,~, -ee,sa,y~ riew/   u fian'a
into absolute perfect, on'~ tor itshf gritesgr o  rot
d -pO ndent   on   the   a bility           ex in.... pe.1 es  are
dimiduals  Who die without
piii 
A LABOR CATECHIS}-:,f
transmitting to pesterity theircap;ablliLes to outlive the
strain of competition.  Conseq-uently it is the only kild of
management destined to liv e forever.  With all these ad  vantages the state, when it assumes the control of busi
ness affairs, one by onei, or the people its citizens, is mnor  ally sure to succeed, and can make a given or stated sum
invested in a concern, worth much  more to the owners
than the same sum can be worth, if in the hands of an
indivi(dual or company; because it can produce all that
is required, by a calculation so exact that there is nei ther waste through overproduction nor prodigality in con  sumption.   The individual or companyy cares little or
nothing for this central and sole consideration proimpt ing true co-operative industrial energy.  It only cares to
sell its wares at a rate above cost: being based upon the
speculative idea-exactly the opposite of the ineentive
which actuates and energizes the nter-mutual state.  If
the employ6 of the individual concern is siek, loses his
work or perishes in the misery-bound slavery of the sys temn, the individual manager cares nothing; wherea,s  o
succor such and provide for them, is the principal motive
that inspires the inter-mutual state; for this is its harve?,
of citizenship.
Thus a thousand dollars investedl in this m~agmficent
co-operation, is practically worth msore tha,ii twenty tircs
hat sum invested in a more precariouLs'busness unndc. -
a joiXnt-stock comnansy or individulal ma-snagement; for its
first incentive is to funis!i pernanent employment to himn
so tha     t on his stored captal tlus invested through the
birthright of humanity, he is afforde-d a- place to exercise
his natural capital which is his labor of br-in ue, muscle,
This is what men are organizig for to-d:,-y —a place t,
2 
OF POLITICAL ECONO IY.
w(ork, where all and not a part of what they produce will
return to them; for in this, their atearutl capital, or power
to labor, lies the true fortune and independence of humanity.  This, the individual or competitive concern will
not do.  You now have the full reasons why I so clearly
perceive that the individual in the competitive world is a
failure.  Moreover, under this form of co-operative control, the tendency will be to multiply inventions and produce labor-saving machines; which is again, the reverse
of the wish of organized tradesmen engaged in the terrible scuffle with them because they have proved their enemies. The machine is not nationalized. It is not their
own.  It belongs to individuals and companies who use
it for their destruction.  Give to the workers their implements of production and distribution and let them be operated under their own eye and management, through
government guarantee, so that they sh1l all receive employment and the agonies and turmoils arising from such
cruel misallotments will be forever at an end.
MORTGAGEE.  But it seems to me that you are going
t;o sap and undermine the whole great, living principle of
patriotism.  What becomes of protection? Where is the
patriotic force which stands at the helm of nations; lhe
vigilance inspiring a military prowess on which all true
statehood rests?  What, when you tike away their propertv, remains with eitizis, to give them the leve of country which makes men eight with seif-saerice and intrepidity, such as protects and perpetuatfes a state?
BANKRUPT.  Ah! You have now tap,?ped a sulbject that
covers new ground and opens new fields to the science of
statesmanship   When the Franco-Prusqsian war s+ruck
Europe it found among the brave Franks a discouraged 
WORKS
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
THE
OR HISTORY'.OP THE I
A -agw'z w~
This celebrated work is now ready in the completed dress
of its third edition.   In this dress it presents about 49 illustrations, 14 of which are from splendid old steel and copper
engravings, several are crayons drawn from the original stone
and metal tablets, and some entirely original drawings prepared expressly for the work. There is a final chapter embodying the author's conclusions, a charming translation of
all the notes into plain, easy English, and an analytical index
of 61 pages, furnishing a complete reference-list of subjects,
allusions and catch-words enabling readers, students, ministers
etc., to easily find any point treated in the book   The whole
work now contains 691 octavo pages; and is admitted to be
the most masterly treatise extant on the great labor wars, the
brotherhoods, their grievances, struggles for existence and frequent massacres, in the ancient world. In fact, there is no
other work extant upon that neglected subject.
The ANCIENT  LOWLY  is endorsed and recommended
by the great labor organizations as the best and indispensable
teacher, guide and first-lesson for organizers, lecturers, legislators, as well as for the masses of every class or community.
Elegantly bound in CLOTH,
Sent, postage paid to any address on receipt of price.
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