/ A A ; 1 i The Primer Of / Political Economy. _y ^^ aHMii \ qSriirfdd mio,)(\K UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES l! IN MEMORIAM BERNARD MOSES THE PRIMER o» Political Economy-, IN SIXTEEN BEFIMTIOSS AND FOETl' PCOPOSITIONS. BT ALFRED B. MASON AXD JOHN J. LALOB. ' • • » ^ CHICAGO: JANSEN, MCCLURG & COMPANY. 1875. Copyright, 1875, By JANSEN, MCCLURG & CO. :••: <•• •. ; '• • • ... : ■: • • •. - • :> • « • ... " • - . . - , . - . • • •* • ./^K mfHI SHT ft T.KOIIAH-D . — €S? T H8 l^ PREFACE, This little book makes no claim beyond that expressed in its title. It is simply a Primer. We have written it in the hope that it may be used as a text-book in the common schools of the country. The time that can be allotted to the study of political economy in these schools does not exceed a term or two ; and the ordi- A nary text-books are far too large to be even superficially ■^ mastered within that time. The Primer, on the contrary, can be thoroughly learned without any undue inter- "^ ference with the other studies of the course. The ■^ experience of one of the authors in teaching political J economy, for several years, to boys and girls has con- .^ vinced us that the arrangement by definitions and propo- sitions which we have adopted is the best for the purpose here indicated. Especial prominence has been given to the more practical applications of the science. The pages devoted to cooperation are the result of personal study of the subject in England and Germany. While the Primer is designed for use as a text-book, we trust that persons out of school may read it with some pleas- ure and profit. The standard English, French, German and American works on political economy have been freely consulted in the preparation of the book. We have aimed to give, in simple words and with copious illustration, the well- 218206 'I' 4 PREFACE. settled doctrines of the fascinating science. The dis- tinction between the real and the possible wage-fund has not, we believe, been stated before. It may serve to reconcile opposing theories on the wage-fund question. With this exception, the Primer contains only old truths in new forms. A few pages in it are transcripts, more or less exact, from articles written by the authors for the Chicago Tribu7ie. The experience in teaching political economy already referred to is our excuse for a word of suggestion. The scholar should be required to give the definitions and the captions of the propositions zr;7^a//;«, but mere memoriz- ing should not be carried beyond this. It is far better that the explanation of the one and the proof of the other should be in the pupil's own words. One of the best tests of knowledge is to ask for original illustrations. ALFRED B. MASON. JOHN J. LALOR. Chicago, June, 1875- TABLE OF CONTENTS. Definition /. Political Economy is the science which teaches the laws that regulate the production, distribution and exchange of wealth, 9 Definition 2. Wealth is anything lor which something can be got in exchange, 9 Definition j. A commodity is wealth in tangible form, . . 10 Definition 4. Capital is wealth saved, and used in production, 10 Proposition I. To produce wealth, three things are re- quired, — natural agents, capital and labor, 10 Proposition II. Natural agents which are limited in quan- tity-, are wealth; and those which are practically unlim- ited, are not wealth, 11 Definition 5. Capital is divided into fixed and circulating, . 12 Proposition III. The proportion of fixed to circulating -capital depends upon the way in which capital is used, . 13 Proposition IV. The stock of capital is kept up by con- stant reproduction, 14 Proposition \'. The amount of capital used, measures the amount of labor employed, 15 Definition 6. Demand for a thing consists of desire to buy it, on the part of persons wlio have something to give in exchange for it, 16 '»^ Definition 7. Supply of a thing consists of desire to sell it, on the part of persons who possess it, 16 Proposition VI. Supply in excess of demand causies prices to fall ; and demand in excess of supply causes prices to rise, 16 Proposition VII. A demand for a thing tends to produce a supplv of that thing at a fair price, 17 (5) 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Definition 8. Consumption is productive or unproductive, . i8 Proposition VIII. Productive consumption benefits labor, i8 Proposition IX. Unproductive consumption hurts labor, . 19 Proposition X. The division of labor increases its ef- ficiency, 20 Definition g. The part of capital which is, or might be, used to pay labor is called the wage-fund, 22 Proposition XI. The possible wage-fund varies with pro- duction, 23 Prd. a day. It cost them no more to live in one country than in the other. The Canada wages were therefore 1 1^ times as high as the English wages. The reason of the difference was that there was a greater demand for masons, in propor- tion to the supply of masons, in Canada than in England. Therefore, the real wage-fund varies according to the first law of supply and demand. PROPOSITION XIII. Wag^es are lower in an agreeable than in a disagreeable, in an easily-learned than in a difficult, and in a steady than in an unsteady, employment. For persons, in choosing their trades and professions, are apt to take the most agreeable employment, the one that seems to them easiest to learn, and the one which apparently offers them the most constant work. The PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 25 result is that the supply of labor in the employments that are disagreeable, hard to learn, and uncertain, is much less than the supply of labor in more favored industries. It is therefore more apt to be insufficient to meet the de- mand. Consequently (Prop. XII) its wages are apt to be higher. Scavengers get high wages because their work is very disagreeable ; engravers get them because their work is hard to learn ; and plumbers get them because their work is very uncertain, now brisk and now dull. Therefore, wages are lower in an agreeable than in a disagreeable, in an easily-learned than in a difficult, and in a steady than in an unsteady, employment. PROPOSITION XIV. The average wage of labor is equal to the quotient got bv dividing the real wage-fund by the number of persons employed. If the daily wage-fund of an employer is $ioo, and he hires fifty men, it is evident that he must pay them an average wage of %2, which is the quotient of the wage- fund ($ioo) divided by the number of men employed (50). This will be equally true if the wage-fund is that of a country instead of one man, is yearly instead of daily, and is counted by millions instead of tens of dol- lars, and if the laborers are many thousands instead of few in number. Since the real wage-fund (Def. 9) is the money actually paid to laborers, the part of it paid to each laborer, 071 an average, must be equal to the whole divided by the number of wage-getters. Therefore, the average wage of labor is equal to the quotient got by dividing the real wage-fund by the num- ber of persons employed. 26 PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. PROPOSITION XV. The test of the highness of wages is their purchasing power. If the wages of A will buy more than the wages of B will, A's wages are higher than those of B, although they may not contain as many dollars and cents. Thus, if A, in New York, gets $3 a day, and B, in California, is paid $4 a day, and if clothing, food, rent, etc., are twice as dear in California as in New York, $3 in New York will buy as much as $6 in California, and therefore A can earn as many necessary things in a day as B can in one and a-half days. Hence A's wages are higher than B's, although he gets %\ less a day. Suppose John Smith, an English carpenter, earns four shillings (^i) a day, and John Brown, an American, earns $2 a day. Suppose, too, that a suit of clothes costs $6 in England and $15 in America. Then Smith's wages, reckoned in clothes, are larger than Brown's; for Smith can earn a suit in six days, while Brown has to work seven and a-half days in order to earn it. If other necessaries are as cheap in England as clothes are, then Smith's wages, reckoned in anything except money, are larger than Brown's. To compare wages, then, we must first find out how much money each laborer gets, and then how much that amount of money will buy. The man who can buy the most has really the highest wages, no matter how low they may be in dollars and cents. Therefore, the test of the highness of wages is their purchasing power. PROPOSITION XVI. Wages can be raised only by increasing the real wage-fund or by lessening the number of persons employed. This is evident, because (Prop. XIV) wages are the quotient of the real wage-fund divided by the number PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECOXOMY. 27 of men employed, and the quotient can be increased only by increasing the dividend, or by diminishing the divisor. In this case, the dividend may be increased in four ways : First, when the real wage-fund (see explanation of Def. 9) is the same as the possible wage-fund, an in- crease in production may be caused by increased energy on the part of the laborers. This (Prop. XI) will in- crease the possible wage-fund. The laborers can then persuade, or perhaps by united action compel, the em- ployer to advance the real wage-fund as far as the possi- ble wage-fund has advanced. Suppose a farmer can afford to use four-tenths of his annual crop in paying his laborers, and does so. If the crop is worth $100, the laborers will get $40. If the crop rises in value to $200, the possible wage-fund will be $80. The laborers may be able to persuade the farmer to give them the benefit of this advance. If not, they can compel him to do so by refusing to work except for the increased pay ; pro- vided^ that he can get nobody else to take their places. This latter remedy for low wages is, however, a danger- ous one for the laborers, as Prop. XIX will show. Second, when the real wage-fund is below the possi- ble wage-fund, persuasion or compulsion may make it the same. Third, both the real and the possible wage-funds are increased (Prop. XV) whenever the commodities bought by the laboring classes are cheapened. Fourth, if a laborer, or anybody else, avoids unpro- ductive consumption and saves what he can, he increases the wealth of the country, therefore the capital, and therefore the wage-fund. It is calculated that every $1,000 in the savings-banks, by being loaned to a man who wishes to use it as capital, can employ one extra laborer. It is far better to increase the dividend (the real wage- 28 PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. fund) than to diminish the divisor (the number of men employed). A decrease in this divisor will not always increase the quotient, because it is apt to cause a decrease in the dividend. If a wage-fund of $io is divided among five men, and the death or idleness of one man involves a de- crease of $2 in the wage-fund, wages will remain the same. At first, five men got gio, or $2 apiece, now four men get $8, or $2 apiece. There are two ways in which a decrease in the number of men employed may not in- crease the wages of the remainder : First, since capital cannot produce anything (Prop. I) except with the aid of labor, a diminution of the lat- ter may make the stock of capital too large to be profit- ably used in connection with the labor that is left. Part of it will, therefore, be withdrawn. This will diminish the general wage-fund. This decrease in the dividend may be large enough to balance, or more than balance, the decrease in the divisor. If it just balances it, wages will remain the same, as the last example shows. If it more than balances it, wages will fall. Thus if the with- drawal of one of the five men leads to the reduction of the wage-fund to $7, the four who are left will get onh §1.75, instead of $2, apiece. Moreover, the diminishec production of one commodity, which is apt to result fron. the withdrawal of labor, will raise its price, and thub (Prop. XV) really decrease the wages of all buyers of that commodity; Second, if the men thrown out of work find nothing else to do, they will be unproductive consumers. They will then be supported at the expense of the whole coun- try, including, of course, all wage-getters. This will di- minish the wealth of the country. A decrease in wealth usually involves a decrease in capital, and a decrease in capital means a smaller wage-fund. In this case too, then, a smaller divisor will involve a smaller dividend, and therefore the quotient may not be greater. Lessening the number of men employed is thus at best only a temporary remedy for low wages. By de- PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 29 creasing the supply, and thus (Prop. VI) raising the price of the commodity on which less labor is now spent, it diminishes the wages of all buyers of that commodity. By causing a direct withdrawal of capital, it diminishes the wage-fund. By increasing the unproductive con- sumption of the country, it lessens its wealth and there- fore its wage-fund. ■ Nevertheless, this decrease in the number of employees may raise wages. If half the carpenters in this country should die or emigrate, the wages of the other half would be advanced, although, owing to the consequent with- drawa. of some capital, the new wages probably would not be double the old ones. Therefore, wages can be raised only by increasing the real wage-fund, or by lessening the number of persons employed. PROPOSITION XVII. The use of labor-saving machinery benefits labor. The use of such machinery may at first diminish tne number of laborers employed, but it will ultimately increase the number. If a spinning-machine which enables two men to do the work of ten is invented, its use would probably lead, at first, to the discharge of some of the spinners then employed. The saving in labor would make spun goods cheaper. This would (Prop. XV) really raise the wages of all laborers who used such goods. Moreover, the manufacture of the new machines would lead to the employment of more machinists. The gain, too, would be lasting, while the loss would be only temporary. Experience has shown that an arti- cle offered at a low price will be bought by many per- sons who would prefer to get along without it if the price asked were a little higher. If a manufacturer can pro- duce linen at a cost of 95 cents a yard, and can sell one thousand yards if he asks %\.o^ a yard, and three thou- sand yards if he asks only $1, it will pay him to choose 30 PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMT. the latter price, because he will then make a larger sum of money. His two accounts would be as follows : i,ooo yards sold at $1.05 $1,050 Cost of same at 95 cents 950 Total profit $ 100 3,000 yards sold at $1 $3,000 Cost of same at 95 cents 2,Sso Total profit $ 150 The extra profit at the lower price is $50. The great reduction in the cost of production, and therefore in the selling-price of goods made by machin- ery, has always hitherto so increased the demand for the goods that the manufacturers have ere long employed at least as many workpeople, with the machinery, as they did before the machinery was invented. Usually they have employed many more. Thus, to take the case of linen, the persons now employed in its manufacture greatly outnumber those so employed when the work was nearly all done by hand. The following little table, condensed from Mr. Thomas Brassey's "Work and Wages," p. 125, shows that in England, Scotland and Ireland the number of persons employed in the manufacture of several important com- modities has increased with the increase of the number of labor-saving machines, and decreased with the de- crease in such machinery: /-.„..„ ( Number of power-looms . Cotton \ ^, , -. "^ , { N umber of employees , . . Woolen, etc. \ ^>"'^'' °f Power-looms . ' I Number of employees . . . Flax, etc. j Number of power-looms { Number of employees . . 1856. 298,847 379.21.3 .';3..399 166,885 8,689 80,262 1861. 1868. .399.992 1379.329- 4.51.569,401.064 64,818 173,046 15.347 94.003 118,865 253.056 35.047 135.333 PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMT. 31 The temporary loss of employment by the people whose labor is done by machinery is more than counter- balanced by the permanent gain of the people whose labor is necessary to make the machines and by the finally increased demand for the labor temporarily in- jured. Besides this, the increased cheapness of the machine-made goods (Prop. XV) raises the wages of every laborer who buys them. This is a permanent gain in most cases for all laborers. Therefore, the use of labor-saving machinery benefits labor. PROPOSITION XVIII. High wages often make high profits. The cost of labor " is determined by the amount of work really done for the wages."* Thus, if A and B are paid equal wages, and A does twice as much work as B, B's labor is twice as dear as A's. Suppose they get $2 apiece. B produces 10 yards of linen in a day and A produces 20 yards. Each yard produced by B therefore costs 20 cents for labor, while each produced by A costs only 10 cents for labor. It will be cheaper for the em- ployer to hire A at $3 a day than to continue to employ B at $2. For then linen will still cost (^3-^-20 = ) only 15 cents a yard for labor, wliereas with B at ^2 it will cost 20 cents a yard for labor. Good labor at good wages may therefore be cheaper than poor labor at poor wages. If an employer gives higher wages than his neighbors, he will attract to his service the very best laborers. He will therefore have the advantage of a set of workmen who have more strength, skill, carefulness, economy in the use of materials, honesty, and sobriety, than those of his neighbors. His employees will be careful not to lose their good places by quarreling with him in any way. The feeling that he is treating them generously will lead them to treat him in the same way. They will not shirk work, and thus part of the expense of overseers may be • Prof. Fawcett. 32 PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. saved. The cheerfulness and hopefulness caused by their improved material condition will increase their pro- ductive powers. In Austria free hired labor was found to be three times as jjroductive as the labor of serfs. The better food which men getting higher wages can buy may also increase their powers of production. Thus high wages tend to increase production. They often, as experience has shown, increase it so largely that the real cost of production is less, and the profits are therefore higher. The following proofs of this are taken from Mr. Thomas Brassey's " Work and Wages ": " At the commencement of the construction of the North Devon [Eng.] railway, the wages of the laborers were 2S. a day. During the progress of the work their wages were raised to 2S. dd. and t^s. a day. Nevertheless, it was found that the work was executed more cheaply when the men were earning the higher rate of wages than when they were paid at the lower rate. " In London, in carrying out part of the Metropolitan Drainage works, it was found that the brickwork was constructed at a cheaper rate per cubic yard after the wages of the workmen had been raised to loj., than when they were paid at the rate of 6^'. a day. "In the same quarry at Bonnieres [France], in which Frenchmen, Irishmen and Englishmen were employed side by side, the Frenchmen received 3 francs, the Irish- men 4, and the Englishmen 6 francs a day. At those different rates, the Englishman was found to be the most advantageous workman of the three. " During the construction of the refreshment-room at Basingsbroke [Eng.], on one side of the station a Lon- don bricklayer was employed at 5^^. dd. a day, and on the other two country bricklayers at t^s. 6d. apiece a day. It was found, by measuring the work performed, without the knowledge of the men employed, that the one Lon- don bricklayer laid, without undue exertion, more bricks in a dav than his two less skilful country fellow-laborers. PRIMER OF POL I TIC At. ECONOMT. 33 "On the Grand Trunk railway, a Runiber of French Canadian laborers were employed. Their wages were y. bd. a day, while the Englishmen received from 5^. to (iS. a day ; but it was found that the English did the greatest amount of work for the money." If high wages incite men to better work, a smaller number of men can be employed to produce a given amount. In this way, while the wages of the individual are higher, the aggregate wages (the real wage-fund) may be less. If 10 men, getting $3 a day, will do the work of 16 men, who get $2 a day, it is manifestly cheaper for the employer to hire the 10 men. For then he will pay only $30 a day in wages instead of $32, and will still have the same product. The French smelting-works emj)loy 42 men to do the work done by 25 men in English works of the same sort. If the Frenchmen get %\ a day, and the Englishmen $1.50, the real cost of labor is greater in France than in England ; for the 42 men will be paid $42 a day, and the 25 men $37.50 a day. Both sets do the same work. Therefore the labor on this work costs $4.50 less in Eng- land than in France. It must be remembered that increased wages can only make increased profits by increasing production. Hence, if men are not induced to work better by getting better wages, it is bad policy for the employer to give such wages. There are cases in which high wages will not stimulate production. When the laborer can buy all he needs with low wages, if wages rise, he will labor just long enough to earn what he used to earn in a day, and will idle away the rest of his time. The Hindoos em- ployed in railway-building in India worked less and less as their wages rose. The coal-miners in England have had their wages greatly increased since 1870, but their hours of work have since been fewer, so that the value of the coal produced has not kept pace with the in- creased value of the wages. Their high wages have 3 34 PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMT. therefore diminished, not increased, profits. These cases show that high wages do not always make high profits. The previous proof, however, has shown that they sometimes do, and in fact are apt to do so. Therefore, liigh wages often make high profits. DEFINITION lo. A strike is a conspiracy of ejnployees against employers^ by which the former refuse to work unless the latter yield to their wishr DEFINITION II. A lock-out is a conspiracy of employers against employees, by which the former refuse to give t/ie latter work unless the employees yield to their 7i)ishes. PROPOSITLON XIX. It is bad policy to strike. When men strike, the side which can afford to be idle the longest will win. The masters are usually rich enough to live on their accumulated property for some time. The men often have no savings, and rarely, if ever, have large ones. They may belong to a trade- union which will supply them with means of subsistence for some time, but the small funds of such a society, di- vided among a number of men, cannot go far. The masters must have the men work in order to have their caj)ital yield them anything, l)ut the men must work in order to live. It is plain that the masters can, as a rule, stay idle the longest. i'he masters can combine against the men. Since a strike which forced one employer to raise wages would probably compel all similar em[)loyers in that part of the country to increase their wage-funds, too, it is to the apparent interest of every employer that no strike should succeed. Hence, if one set of employees is supported while on strike by the contributions of their comrades who are still at work, the employers of the latter often PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 35 make a lock-out (Def. ii), and so cut off this source of supply and starve all the men together into submission. The masters can combine with more effect tlian the men, because they are fewer and better informed. It grows more difficult to strike successfully, every year, because the increased facilities of transportation enable the employers to bring men from other parts of the country, and even from other countries, to take the place of the strikers. Men have been engaged in Sweden and brought to this country to take the place of Americans who were on strike. A strike is apt to create a habit of idleness among the strikers, which unfits them for good work thereafter. They are often led to drink in order to while away the time. The want from which they and their families suffer while they earn nothing, sometimes drives them to theft. If these dangers are escaped, a strike usually consumes all the men's savings, and obliges them to waste, in un- productive consumption, a large part, if not all, of the trade-union's funds, wliich are the joint savings of them- selves and their fellows. The strike of the Preston (England) spinners, in 1836, cost, the men $300,000 and the masters over $200,000. The strike of 17,000 Preston spinners for thirty-six weeks, in 1853, cost the mas- ters $825,000 and the men $2,100,000. The strike of the Belfast (Ireland) weavers in 1874 cost the strikers $1,000,000. The fear of constant trouble from strikes is apt to drive away capital, and thus make it necessary for the men dependent upon the wage-fund part of that capital to seek employment elsewhere. A prolonged strike has sometimes utterly ruined the industries of a whole town. The prosperity of Norwich, England, ended with a great strike there in 1S30. Much of the Russian trade has been lost to English manufacturers, because the Russian merchants, hearing of strikes in England, and fearing their orders could not be executed there, have sent the orders elsewhere. 36 PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMT. If, however, all these obstacles are overcome and the strike succeeds, it very seldom repays the men what they have given for it. They rarely get the higher wages for any long time, unless the working of the first law of sup- ply and demand (Prop. VI) would have soon given them these wages without a strike. For such artificial changes in wages only interrupt, not destroy, the natural law laid down in Proposition XII. Despite all that employers or employees can do, that law will in the long run fix wages. Suppose I, GOO men, each earning $3 a day or $3,000 a day together, strike for three months in order to get $3.50 a day. The strike will cost them the wages they would have earned, or $3,000 a day. Its total cost for the eighty working days in the three months will be eighty times $3,000 or $240,000. When they resume work at $3.50 a day, they will receive fifty cents apiece, 0/ $500 together a day more than before. This is what the strike pays them. It will be necessary for them to work 480 days (or, including Sundays, over eighteen months) before they have made up the money they lost by the strike; for the loss was $240,000, and $500 a day for 480 days just equals $240,000. Not until the eigh- teen months are over will the successful strike have added a cent to their incomes. But it is very improbable that they will get the $3.50 for eighteen months, unless the law of wages wou-ld, before the eighteen months were over, have given it to them at any rate. And in that event the money spent on the strike was simply wasted. In order that a strike shall succeed, three things are absolutely necTissary : First, the real wage-fund must be less than the possible wage-fund ; for if the two coin- cide, no power whatever (see proof of Prop. XI) can raise wages ; second, the men must have means of subsist- ence for some time; third, they must not only stop work themselves, but they must persuade or compel all their fellow-workmen to refuse to work for this particular employer. If they compel them to refuse, they are liable PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMT. 37 to be fined or imprisoned ; for a man has a right to sell his labor to anybody engaged in honest business, and compelling him to give up this right is a crime. While, then, a strike may sometimes succeed, the chances are greatly against it ; and if it does succeed, it rarely repays its cost. Therefore, it is bad policy to strike. ^ ^ PROPOSITION XX. It is to the advantage of both employers and employees to settle their disputes by arbitration. This method of settlement is as follows : The em- ployers and the employees together choose one or more persons who are to act as the judge or judges of the dispute. Before the court thus formed each side states its grievances and its wishes. The workmen ex- plain, for instance, why they think their wages should be increased, and the employers tell what reasons they have for not raising wages. The judges, having heard both sides fully, decide which is right. As the judges are chosen for their integrity and fair- ness by both the parties to the quarrel, this decision usually satisfies both sides. As masters and men agreed to submit the question to these judges, both parties are bound, in honor, to obey the decision that is given. They usually do so. Thus an interruption of work and a waste of wealth by a strike or a lock-out are prevented, and good feeling is preserved between masters and men. Mr. Walter Morrison, a Member of Parliament, and Judge Rupert Kettle, both of England, have persuaded the employers and employees in a number of English manufacturing towns to establish permanent boards of arbitration. Half of the members of these boards are elected by the masters, and half by the men. They have decided very many trade disputes, and have saved millions of dollars that would have been wasted if the 2182()(i 38 PRIMkR OF I'OLITICAL ECONOMY. men interested had struck against the masters, or if the masters had locked-out the men. In France, there are regular arbitration courts (called " Conseils des Prud'hommes "), organized under the laws of the country. These courts consist of a President and Vice-President, appointed by the government, and six other persons, who are elected by the employers and em- ployees. No salaries are paid, so that arbitration is cheap. A committee of the judges, consisting of one employer and one workman, holds almost daily sessions. Thomas Brassey says in his " Work and Wages ": " The result in 95 out of IOC cases brought before these tribunals is a reconciliation between the parties, and although appeals are permitted to the superior courts of law they are rarely made. Lord Brougham, in a speech in the House of Lords in 1859, declared that 'in 18*50, 28,000 disputes had been heard before the Conseils des Prud'hommes, of which no less than 26,800 were satisfactorily settled.'" Arbitration has often prevented wasteful strikes and lock-outs in this country. Therefore, it is to the advantage of both employers and employees to settle their disputes by arbitration. PROPOSITION XXI. The best way to produce wealth is by co-operation. True cooperation exists only when every one who has contributed to the production of anything receives a share of its proceeds in proportion to the worth of hi» work. If his capital or his labor has done half the work, he owns half the product. If he has done T-jT oiooo th part of the work, he owns -nrolhnnrth part of the product. Cooj^eration may be productive or distributive. It may be between a master and his men, or between the men alone. A cooperative coal-mining company is an example of cooperative production. A cooperative grocery is an example of cooperative distribution. Co- operation between master and men exists when the men PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 39 have a share in the profits, outside of their wages. Co- operation between men exists when the men have all the profits, that is, when the workmen in an establishment own the establishment between them. Distributive cooperation is safer than productive. The capital and skill required in the management of a grocery, which usually has a steady circle of customers and sells to-day what it bought yesterday, are miich less than the skill and capital required in the management of a coal-mine. The cost of mining the coal is great. A good deal of capital is therefore necessary. The cost is also rather uncertain. The price at which the product can be sold varies from week to week. A great number of causes affect it. All these things must be foreseen, as far as possible. Great skill is therefore required. The best of all forms of cooperation is that between master and men. For in this the men gain the use of the skill and the capital of the master, and the master gains the hearty goodwill and the uttermost skill and en- ergy of the men. There is little cooperation in America, but a good deal of it in England and Germany. As an example of cooperative distribution, by work- men alone, we will take the Equitable Pioneer Society, of Rochdale, a manufacturing town near Manchester, England. In 1842, twenty-eight weavers formed this company. They were so poor that they could pay into the capital-fund only four cents apiece per week. It took them two years to accumulate a capital of 5^140. On a December evening, in 1844, "Toad lane," a dingy little street in Rochdale, was crowded with a hooting rabble, gathered to see the opening of the "weavers' shop." When the shutters of the little room the Society had hired were taken down, the jeering crowd screamed with laughter at the sight of the almost empty shelves within. For a long time the twenty-eight weavers were the only customers. Thev could not afford to hire a clerk, so they took turns in " keeping store " in the even- 40 PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMT. ings. It was shut during the day. The scanty stock of groceries was soon sold. Its proceeds bought a larger stock. This went, and the next, and the next, and so on. By buying their goods directly from the producers, they got them so cheaply that they could sell them below the usual prices, pay all the store expenses, and declare a small dividend on the capital. In 1845 their capital- fund was $910. Their membership was seventy-four. Soon they rented a larger room and hired a manager. In 1846, they began to sell meat ; in 1847, dry goods; in 1852, boots, shoes and clothing. In 1852 they opened a wholesale department. From the start, the weavers have kept on weaving. This co-operative store is man- aged by persons they employ, but it does not interfere with their work. The main building of the Society is now the most con- spicuous structure in Rochdale. Its top-floor is a plain, comfortable hall, where the monthly meetings of mem- bers are held, lectures delivered, and parties given. On the floor below are the reading-room and the library. The latter has about ten thousand volumes. There are eleven branch reading-rooms in the town. The Society maintains schools for its members and their children. It has a collection of scientific instruments which it loans for two or three cents an evening to members who wish them for their own instruction or for the entertainment of their friends. The two lower floors of the building are divided into the different stores the Society owns, and the basement is devoted to packing and storage. There are branch stores in different jjarts (jf the town, — among them eleven butcher-shops and thirteen groceries. The Society manufactures tobacco, and has invested some of it? spare funds in corn, cotton and woolen mills. These are pro[)erly examj^les of productive co-operation, how- ever, so that we will not discuss them here. In Decem- ber, 1 87 1, the Society began to build homes for its members. It now sells them coal. Almost from the beginning, it has been their savings bank, receiving de- posits at any time and ])aying interest upon them. PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECO.XuMT. 41 Mr. George Jacob Holyoake, an English journalist, scholar and co-operator, has written a " History of Co- operation in Rochdale." We quote this passge from it: "These crowds of humble workingmen, who never knew be- fore when they put good food in their mouths, whose every din- ner was adulterated, whose shoes let in the water a month too soon, whose new coats shone with ' devil's dust,' and whose wives wore calicoes that would not wash, now buy in the markets like millionaires, and, as far as pureness of food goes, live like lords. They arc weaving their own stutfs, making their own shoes, sewing their own garments, grinding their own corn. 'I'hcy buy the purest sugar and the best tea, and grind their own coffee. They slaughter their own cattle, and the finest beasts of the land waddle down the streets of Rochdale for the consumption of flannel-weavers and cobblers. . . . The teetotalers of Roch- dale acknow ledge that the Store has made more sober men since it commenced than all their efforts have been able to make in the same time. Husbands who never knew what it was to be out of debt, and poor wives w ho during forty years never had sixpence uncondemned in their pockets, now possess little stores of money, sullicient to build Ihem cottages, and go every week into their own market, witli money jingling in their pockets. And in that market there is no distrust and no decep- tion; there is no adulteration and no second prices. The w hole atmosphere is honest." The official report of the Society for the three months ending June lo, 1873, states the amount of sales for that time at {1360,985. This enormous business has been built up, and is now controlled, by men who work for daily or weekly wages. The Equitable Pioneers' Society is organized in this way : Anybody who is api)roved by a majority of the Executive Committee and of the members can join the Society, He must subscribe for five shares of $5 each, pay an admission fee of 25 cents, and pay 9 cents a week until his five shares are all paid for. The money re- ceived in this way is the share-capital of the Society. There is also a loan-capital, formed by deposits by mem- bers. Interest is paid on these deposits and they can be withdrawn at any time. While the Society has them, it uses them to extend its business. They are, therefore, part of its capital. All goods are bought and sold for cash. 42 PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOM2'. This rule is not proved by its exceptions, because it has no exceptions whatever. ' The Society sells its wares at about the market rates, sometimes a trifle lower. The profits are divided in this way : The expenses of management and the guaranteed interest of 5 per cent, on the loan- capital are paid; then a dividend (never above 5 per cent.) on the share-capital is declared; then 25^ per cent, of the remainder is allotted to the educational fund (this amounts to over $5,000 a year) ; and the rest is di- vided among all the patrons of the Store in proportion to their purchases. If one person has bought %2q> worth of goods, and another %\o worth, the first gets twice as much of this dividend on purchases as the second. A non- member gets about half as much as a member would. In the quarter ending June 10, 1873, the dividend on pur- chases was 1 21^ per cent. A member who had bought $100 worth of goods would then get $12.50 back, and a non-member who had bought as largely would get $6.25. The members of the Equitable Pioneers' Society therefore get back part of the price they pay for every- thing at their store, get dividends on their shares, get in- terest on any savings they deposit with the Society, have the use of reading-rooms, books, schools, etc., and get pure, good, unadulterated wares. Adulteration can be prevented only by making the interests of buyer and seller identical, and this can be done only by distributive co-oi)cration. As an example of co-operative production by employ- ers and workmen together, we will take the Briggs Brothers' Coal-mining Company, in Yorkshire, England. The Briggs brothers owned and worked two collieries. They were in constant trouble with their men, who were a drinking, uproarious, careless set. The men had a rough saying, "All coal-owners is devils, but Briggs is the prince of devils." This shows how great the ill- feeling was. Strikes were frequent. The men took holidays, too, on the slightest pretext. A boy, by toss- ing up his cap and shouting " Let's stop work for to- PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 43 day ! " could, it is said, induce the whole crowd of boys and men to spend the day idly. The cost of taking care of the two mines, pumping the water out of them, etc., was $i,ooo a day, whether mining was carried on or not. Every day, then, that the men did not work was a clear loss of at least $i,ooo to the Briggs brothers. They only made about 6 per cent, on their capital on an average. In i860, Prof. F'awcett, a great English statesman and politico-economist, ])ublished a sketch of a plan for co- operation between masters and men. In 1866 the Briggs brothers resolved to try this plan. They formed a joint-stock company and issued 9,770 shares, worth $50 each. The men were allowed to buy some of these shares, paying for them in installments. Very few of them have done this, however. Only 264 shares are now held by the workmen. At the same time the Briggs brothers announced that the profits would thereafter be divided in the following way: First, a dividend of 10 per cent, would be paid on all the shares; second, the remainder of the profits would be divided into two equal parts. One of these parts would be used to pay an extra divi- dend on the ca])ital stock, and the other would be divided among all the workmen, whether shareholders or not, in proportion to the wages each had earned during the year. If A had earned $200 and B $100 during the year, A would get twice as much as B of this dividend on labor. The results of this were remarkable. The men, hav- ing a promise of half the profits over 10 per cent, on the stock, did all they could to raise the profits above that figure. They worked steadily. They were careful of the wood and tools used. When a man found a broken tool, or anything of the sort, instead of kicking it aside as he would once have done, he picked it up and took it to the office to be repaired, saying " That's so much towards the 'divvy.'" "Divvy" is their pet name for dividend. It became the interest of all that each should 44 PRIMER OF POLiriCAL ECONOMY. work. They acted as overseers for each other. This saved a good deal. Public opinion, which before favored dissipation, now opposed it. Idleness, drinking and riot- ing were frowned upon. They became far less com- mon. The best of good feeling sprang up between the Briggs brothers and their men. All questions about wages, hours of work, etc., were settled by friendly talks or by arbitration. At the end of the first year, under the new scheme, the Briggs brothers and the sharehold- ing workmen got a dividend of lo per cent, and $8,500 besides, while another $8,500 was divided among the workmen. The second year, the dividend to labor was $17,500. The plan has now (1875) been in operation about eight years. The Briggs brothers, who, before 1866-7, got an annual profit of 6 per cent, on their capi- tal, are said to have cleared a yearly profit of from 15 to 17 per cent, ever since. Meanwhile, their workmen, whether shareholders or not, have had annual dividends on their labor, and part of the profits have been used in supporting a library and schools for the benefit of the miners and their families. There has been a very noticeable advance in the morality, intelligence and thrift of the whole body of employees.* Co-operation thus prevents strikes, promotes good-will, causes honest work, checks wastefulness, saves the ex- pense of overseers, offers the workman an opi)ortunity to invest his savings at a profit, encourages thrift, morality and education, and increases the profits of all the co- operators, f Therefore, the best way to produce wealth is by co-operation. • Since this passage was written, a tnido-iinion to which the miners employed by the \\t\^v,>, brothers lielongcd has compelled them to l>rcak up this industrial partnership. This action on the part of the union was a piece of V)arbarous itupidity, without excuse. The reason for it is unknown. ■t .Mr. Charle.1 I'radlaugh informs us that in his opinion distributive co- operation has been proved a complete success in England, and that product- ive co-operation, although tried as yet only in a few cases, promises well. PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 45 PROPOSITION XXII. Trade-union funds can be best used in promoting co-opera- tion. These funds are now used in two ways. First, in help- ing members of the particular union to live while they cannot find work, and in making up their losses by fire, theft, etc. Second, in supporting them while on strike. The first use is a good one. The second is apt (Prop. XIX) to merely waste the funds. It is rarely advisable. The wealth wasted in supporting a set of strikers for some weeks or months would often be more than enough, if loaned to the men by the union, to enable them to buy an interest in their employer's business, or even to set them up in business for themselves. In 1874, the journeymen shoemakers of Chicago, after a long and useless strike against a reduction of wages, started a co-operative shoe-manufactory. It failed for want of capital. But the wealth furnished by the trade- union and unproductively consumed by the shoemakers while on strike would have been more than enough capital for their manufactory. If it had been loaned to them for this purpose at the beginning, and if any of them had had sufficient skill to manage the business, they could have had both the wages of their labor and the profits on it for themselves. As it was, they con- sumed the wealth unproductively, cleared no profit on it, and had to go back to work at the lower rates offered by their old employers. Some of them could not get work at all, because the vacant places had been partly filled with shoemakers brought from the East. These unfor- tunates had to go to the expense of seeking employment in other cities. Trade-unions should use their funds in this way. As soon as a union accumulates a few hundred or thousand dollars above the amount it needs for the relief of tem- porary distress among its members, it should loan this surplus, with proper precautions for its repayment, to the 46 -PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. set of its members which would pay most for the use of it. These men should then employ it in productive or distributive co-operation. By the former they could raise their wages in money, and so in purchasing power. By the latter, they could raise them in purchasing power by cheapening the prices of the necessaries of life. They would gradually repay the loan out of their extra profits. Meanwhile, the trade-union would accumulate another surplus, and loan that in the same way. This would be repeated again and again, until at length all the members of the union would become small capital- ists as well as laborers, getting profits on their capital and wages on their labor. At present, trade-union funds do only temporary good to the members of the union. Under the system here proposed, the funds would do the members permanent good. Therefore, trade-union funds can be best used in pro- moting co-operation. PROPOSITION XXIII. Wealth, when produced, is divided into rent, profits and wages. We have seen (Prop. I) that three things are needed to produce wealth, — natural agents, capital and labor. Each of the three must be paid for, except (Prop. II) the natural agents which are practically unlimited in quantity, and therefore are not wealth. Rent* is the portion of the product which pays for the limited natural agents ; profits, the portion which pays for the capital ; and wages, the portion which pays for the labor. Suppose A rents an iron-mine and the land on which his smelting works stand for ^i 0,000 a year. He pays wages of $70,000 a year. The annual product of his works is 100,000 bars of iron worth $1 apiece. Then • Notice the difference between this meaning of "rent" and it> ordinary aaeaning. PRIMEH OF POLITICAL ECONOMY 47 the $100,000 of wealth produced will be divided into rent of $10,000, wages of $70,000 and profits of $20,000. If A has had .charge of the business, the $20,000 will be partly profits, and partly his wages as general manager. The real profits are usually smaller than the apparent ones, because the portion of the product allotted to the capitalist is usually partly composed of his wages. His mental lalior has as much right to reward as the mental or bodily labor of his employees. It is not correct to in- clude the wages he earns in the profits his capital earns. Since there can be no production (Prop. I) if any one of the three factors does not aid the other two, it is right that every one of the three sliould be rewarded for its aid. Thus capital has as much right to its profits as labor has to its wages. The limited natural agents, capital and labor, are all wealth. Therefore (Def. 4) something can be got in ex- change for them. And hence, since all three are used in producing wealth, the owners of each get something in exchange for it from the wealth produced. Therefore, wealth, when produced, is divided into rent, profits and wages. PROPOSITION XXIV. Wealth is sometimes shared between three classes, and sometimes between two, and is sometimes absorbed by one. When the land, the capital and the labor used in pro- duction are furnished by three different persons, or sets of persons, the first gets the rent; the second the profits, and the third the wages. But when one class furnishes any two of these three productive powers, the wealth is shared between two classes. For if one man owns the land and the capital, he gets both the rent and the profits. The other per- sons, who furnish the labor, get the wages. If some 48 PRIMER OF POLTriCAL ECONOMT. agricultural laborers rent a farm and cultivate it, they will get the profits and wages, and the landowner will get the rent. If a landowner borrows some capital to use on his land and does the necessary work himself, he will get the rent ahd the wages, and the part of the profits earned by his capital, and the lender of the rest of the capital will get the rest of the profits. When one man owns the land, the capital and the labor (his own or that of slaves), he gets rent, profits, and wages. A market-gardener may own a piece of land and the cai)ital used in cultivating it, and may do all the necessary work himself. Then he gets rent, profits and wages. That is, all the wealth produced by his land, his capital and his labor belongs to him. Therefore, wealth is sometimes shared between three classes, and sometimes between two, and is sometimes absorbed by one. PROPOSITION XXV. The first law of supply and demand fixes the proportion of rent, profits and wages to each other. If there is a great deal of land seeking employment and a comparatively small demand for land, then (Prop. VI) the price paid for its use will be small, and therefore the rent will take but a small part of the product. If the supply of land does not equal the demand for it, then (Prop. VI) the rent will be a larger i)art of the product. In the same way, the ratio of demand to supply will decide what part of the product shall be u.sed to pay profits, and what part to pay wages. Therefore, the first law of supply and demand fixes the proportion of rent, profits and wages to each other. DEFINITION 12. Value is purchasing power. The value of a thin;^ is its power of purchasing other things. If a yard of velvet will buy two yards of broadclotii, or three yards of linen, the value of velvet is twice that of broadcloth PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 49 and thrice th:it of linen. If a pound of tea will exchange for three pounds of coiYee, the value of tea is thrice that of cofVee. The value of a thing is always found by comparing it with other things. DEFINITION 13. Price is value expressed in money. For the sake of convenience, one universal standard ot value has been taken. This standard is money. It is a common de- nominator of values. Instead of saying that the value of a pound of tea is three times the value of a pound of cofiee, we say that tea is worth 90 cents and coffee 30 cents a pound. "When the value of a thing is expressed in money, it is called its price. PROPOSITION XXVI. There cannot be a general rise or fall in values. Suppose there were only two things in the world, one named A and the other B. There could not be a gen- eral rise in their value. For the value of a thing (Def. 12) is its power of purchasing other things. If A rises in value, it must buy more of B. Then it will take more of B to buy A. B's value will therefore be less. Thus,. if A rises in value, B must fall in value. And if B rises in value, it must buy more of A. That is, A must fall in value. Since each must fall in order that the other may rise, in value, they cannot rise together. What is thus true of two things is equally tnie of three, four and all things. In order that one may rise in value, others must fall. And so, if one falls in value, others must rise. For the one will then have less pur- chasing power. That is, it will 1 iv less of other com- modities. The others, then, will buy more of it. They will therefore have more value. Suppose one pound of tea will buy three pounds of coffee or four pounds of sugar. Their values, compared with each other, cannot all rise together ; for if tea grows so dear that one pound of it will buy four pounds of coffee or five pounds of sugar, then the value of coffee 4 60 PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. and sugar has fallen. It takes more of each of them to buy a pound of tea. Thus, in order that one thing may rise in value, others must fall. And vice versa. Therefore, there cannot be a general rise or fall in values. PROPOSITION XXVII. There may be a general rise or fall in prices. One thing may rise in value, but in order that it may do so, other things (Prop. XXVI) must fall. If money rises in value, it will take less of it to buy other com- modities. Therefore, general prices will fall. If money falls in value, it will take more of it to buy other com- modities. Therefore, general prices will rise. If tea has been selling for 90 cents, coffee for 30, and sugar for 221^, a pound, and a scanty supply (Prop. VI) forces their prices up to $1.80, 60 and 45 cents a pound, the value of money, so far as they are concerned, will have fallen. A dollar will not exchange for as much of them as it used to. There has been a general rise in their prices, but there has been neither rise nor fall in their values, compared with each other. For a pound of tea, before the rise in price, would have bought three pounds of coffee or four of sugar, and it will buy pre- cisely the same amount now. Therefore, there may be a general rise or fall in prices. PROPOSITION XXVIII. The value of a thing depends upon the cost of its production. No commodity will be produced unless there is a de- mand (Def. 6) for it. Neither will a commodity be pro- duced unless those who want it are willing to give in exchange for it something of equal value. For, since it PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 61 always costs something to produce a commodity, the producer will not be willing to exchange it for less than it cost him. This cost is called the cost of production. Since the article will not be exchanged for less than its cost of production, its value (Def. 12) must depend upon this. The cost of production consists of the limited natural agents used up, the mental and bodily labor expended, and the capital consumed, in the production. Both the labor and the wages paid for it are to be reckoned, for the first is the sacrifice or cost of the laborer, and the second is part of the sacrifice or cost of the capitalist. The cost of production fixes the intrinsic value, that is, the value at which the article can be exchanged without loss. Its market value is somewhat greater than this, because the capitalist sells it at a profit. If he made no profit, he would not care to use his capital in producing the commodity. Intrinsic value is fixed. Market value varies with supply and demand (Prop. VI). It may sometimes even fall below intrinsic value, but if it does so for any length of time, production (Prop. VII) will slacken and the consequent diminished supply (Prop. VI) will send up the market value again. Therefore, the value of a thing depends upon the cost of its production. PROPOSITION XXIX. In every fair bargain, both parties gain. One man's gain cannot be another man's loss, in trade, except in cases of ignorance or deceit. If a man in England exchanges steel for cotton with a man in America, each is a gainer. The value of the steel is equal to the value of the cotton, or the exchange would not be made. Each now has what he wants, whereas each before had what he \vanted to part with. 52 PRIMER OF POL/rrCAL ECONOMT. The Englishman wanted the cotton more than he did the steel. The American wanted the steel more than he did the cotton. Each has his greater want gratified. So both have gained. What is true of the Englishman and the American is true of the New York merchant and the Iowa farmer, or of a million Englishmen and a million Americans. Therefore, in every fair bargain, both parties gain. PROPOSITION XXX. The first method of exchange, barter, is unfit for use in a civilized community. Barter is the exchange of one thing for another with- out the use of money. This was the first method of exchange. It is the way in which all buying and selling is still carried on in some barbarous communities. If a savage has more food than he can eat, he exchanges the surplus for something he needs, — a skin or a bow and arrows. This method of exchange is inconvenient. It would not be practicable among civilized people, A tailor has only clothes to sell. If he wanted a loaf of bread and barter still prevailed, he would have to offer a baker some article of clothing, a coat for instance, in exchange for bread. But probably the baker would have all the coats he needed. He might say he wanted a stove. Then the tailor would have to find a stove- maker who was willing to exchange a stove for a coat; get a stove in this way; and then give the baker the stove for the bread. If he could find no such stove- maker, he would have to hunt for another baker. " He might starve before he could find any person having bread to sell who wanted a coat ; besides, he would not want as much bread at a time as would be worth a coat, and the coat could not be divided."* •John Stuart Mill." PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 53 What is true of the exchange between the tailor and the baker is true of all other exchanges. It is easy to see, then, that barter hinders trade. Therefore, the first method of exchange, barter, is unfit for use in a civilized community. PROPOSITION XXXI. The great instrument of exchange is money. The impossibility of carrying on trade in civilized countries by barter made the introduction of money a necessity. Money is the great medium of exchange. Whoever has enough money can buy whatever is offered for sale. The tailor mentioned in the last proposition could get the bread he wanted of the baker if he had money. It is by means of money that the lawyer exchanges his legal ability for his food, clothing, rent, etc., and that a teacher exchanges his learning for rent, groceries, clothes, etc. The teacher first sells his learning for money, and then he sells his money for groceries, clothes, fuel, the use of a house, etc. The same thing is true of all civilized men. Take the case of a shoe-dealer. His wealth is in shoes. Through the medium of money, he exchanges his shoes for what- ever he wants. He sells his shoes for money, and then sells the money for leather, or bread, or a ticket to a con- cert, or anything else. Therefore, the great instrument of exchange is money. PROPOSITION XXXII. Money is the measure of values. Lengths are measured by inches, feet, yards, etc.; weights by ounces, pounds, etc. ; time by minutes, hours, days, and years ; and values are measured by money. Money may therefore be defined as the medium of exchange and the measure of values. 54 PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMT. If there were no measure of values, it would be diffi- cult to tell at any time how much of one commodity should be given in exchange for another. It would be impossible to know how much any man was worth with- out naming all the things he owned, one after another. When the tailor wishes to let his customer know the value of a coat, he expresses that value in money. When a man wishes to tell how rich he is, he expresses it in money, too. Therefore, money is the measure of values. PROPOSITION XXXIII. Money in specie is like all other commodities. Money in specie is gold or silver money. Paper money is not specie. Specie money is a commodity like all other commodities. Gold and silver, whether coined or not, are commodities, just as iron and lead are. The value of specie depends upon the cost of pro- duction, as the value of all other commodities does. The value of specie money is the value of the metal com- posing it, and the cost of coining it. The value of the metal depends upon the cost of producing it, that is, the cost of getting it out of the mine and of freeing it from impurities. The value of specie is affected by demand and supply, just as all other values are. If the stock of gold greatly increases, an ounce of gold will exchange for less food, clothes, or anything else. If the stock of gold decreases, an ounce of it will exchange for more food, clothing, etc. All the other natural laws affecting commodities apply to gold and silver. Therefore, money in specie is like all other com- modities. PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 55 PROPOSITION XXXIV. Gold and silver make the best money. The thing which is to serve as money should — (i) have large value in small space and weight, be- cause otherwise nobody could carry about with him enough to buy what he needed, from time to time ; and if he bought on credit, much time and labor would have to be spent in finally taking a large, heavy substance to the stores in settlement of the bills ; (2) be steady in value, because something which changes its own value continually cannot measure the values of other things; (3) be durable, for if it continually wasted away its value would diminish every day and every minute; (4) be indefinitely divisible, for otherwise it could not represent small values, and change could not be made ; (5) be capable of receiving and retaining delicate marks, in order that the different pieces of money should be readily recognized, even after they have been used for a long time; (6) be easily distinguished even from similar sub- stances, for otherwise counterfeits will be put in circula- tion by bad men ; and {7) be recognized as money by the civilized world, because it has to be used to make exchanges between citizens of different nations as well as between those of the same nation. Gold and silver fulfill, better than any other known substance, these seven requisites for money : (i) They have large value in small space and weight. No other substance, which exists in sufficient quantity to be used as money, contains as much value as gold does in equal space and weight. (2) They are steady in value. Since history began, there has been only one considerable change in their value. This was after the discovery of the South Amer- ican and the Mexican mines. Even then, the change was 56 PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOM2'. not at all sudden. It took a great number of years to accomplish it. All other commodities have undergone repeated and sudden changes in value. It costs just about as much now to extract an ounce of gold or silver from the earth, purify it and coin it as it has cost for very many years. Since the cost of production is steady, the value (Prop. XXVIII) must be steady. (3) They are very durable. Coins buried for ages have been dug up in Egypt which retain their former color and designs almost perfectly. (4) They are indefinitely divisible. They lose noth- ing, too, by being divided. An ounce of gold is worth just as much, no matter into how many pieces it is divided. If a large diamond were quartered, it would lose 99 per cent, of its value. (5) They can be easily coined, and they retain the forms and designs given them for a very great number of years. (6) They cannot be easily imitated. Counterfeits of them, though made with cunning care, can be readily detected. The " ring " of gold and silver cannot be produced by any baser metal. (7) They are the only substances recognized as money by the whole civilized world. Therefore, gold and silver make the best money. PROPOSITION XXXV. Paper money, not convertible into specie at par, is an evil. The measure of length must have length ; the measure of weight must have weight ; the measure of values must have value. Paper money has only a sham value, unless it is convertible into specie at par. If you can get a gold dollar by presenting a paper dollar at, the bank which issues it, then paper is as good as gold, because everything is worth what it will exchange for. Paper is more convenient to carry than gold. This PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 57 is the reason it is used by communities whose paper- money is convertible into specie. Inconvertible paper money has a sham value, because the value at which it exchanges does not depend upon its cost of production. It costs only about one mill to produce a paper dollar. The reason it exchanges for more than one mill is because the bank or government issuing it promises to redeem it in specie some time. The chance of its being worth par in gold some time makes it worth something in gold now. But since its value depends upon this chance, it must change with the chance. The chance changes from day to day, and so the value of paper money changes. This changing value makes it unfit to measure values, just as a stick which was 30 inches long to-day and 25 to-morrow and 27 the day after, would be unfit to measure length. If it cannot measure values accurately, it cannot be a good medium of exchange. Suppose the tailor is willing to sell a coat for $20 in gold, he will not take $20 in inconvertible paper for it, because the value of such money changes from day to day, and so the $20 bill may not be worth as much as a $20 gold piece to-morrow. If %\ in paper is worth that day 50 cents in gold, he will charge about 1^45 for the coat. The $40 will equal the $20 gold piece,- and the extra $5 will be a protection against his losing very much if the paper loses any more value. If a paper dollar is worth, the day after he sells the coat, only 40 cents in gold, then his $45 is worth only (45X40 cents = ) $18, and he has then exchanged the coat for %2 less than its value, despite his extra charge of ^5. If he had not made this extra charge, what he got in exchange for the coat would be worth only (40X40 cents = ) $16. Then his loss would be $4. When the money.used by a nation changes value in this way, all dealers make this extra charge to protect them- selves against loss in case the paper loses any more value. They sell their wares for as much paper money as 58 PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMT. will buy, that day, the gold which the wares are worth, plus sometliing more as an insurance against loss by the depreciation of the paper. The wholesale dealer charges this increased price to the retailer; the retailer charges \i,pliis his own increased price, to the consumer. The consumer therefore finally pays all these extra charges, all of which he would escape, if the currency used were gold or silver, or paper convertible into specie at par. Poor people usually buy their goods of the last of a long line of wholesale and retail dealers. Each one of the line has charged this extra price. The poor therefore suffer most, in this as in other ways, from the use of in- convertible paper money. Such money has a large (sham) value in small space and weight, but if the chance of its being some time re- deemed in specie ceases to exist, then its market value falls to the level of its intrinsic value (see explanation of Prop. XXVIII), and every note, whether for one or one thousand dollars, is worth about one mill. Incon- vertible paper money is very unsteady in value. The greenback dollar has varied in value all the way from $i to 35 cents in gold. Such money is not very durable. It can, to be sure, be divided indefinitely. The stamps on it soon wear away. It can be counterfeited with comparative ease. It circulates as money only within the country of the government issuing it. When a bank issues it, it circulates only near that bank. It forms no part of the world's money. Therefore, paper money, not convertible into specie at par is an evil. PROPOSITION XXXVI. The worse currency drives out the better. When there are two legal sorts of currency in a country, the worse will drive out the better. Gold and greenbacks are both legal mediums of exchange in this PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMT. 59 country now (1875), but the greenbacks, which are the worse currency, have driven out the gold. Suppose a shoe-manufacturer borrowed $100 in gold when we had a gold currency, and must repay the loan now (1875), when a gold dollar is worth $1.12 in green- backs. His shoes will sell for %2 a pair in gold, and about $2. 50 a pair in greenbacks. If he pays the debt in gold he will have to part with fifty pairs of shoes. If he pays it in greenbacks he w-ill have to part with only 40 pairs. It wall therefore be cheaper for him to use greenbacks. The creditor w'ill lose by it though, because he lent $100 in gold and he gets "back $100 in green- backs, which are worth only about $89 in gold. It is one bad result of a double currency that debtor can thus defraud his creditor. When a debtor has to pay his debt, and can pay it in a bad and cheap or a good and costly currency, he will use the cheap currency. Every debtor will do this. There will therefore be no demand for the good cur- rency, and it will disappear from the market. Therefore, the worse currency drives out the better. PROPOSITION XXXVII. Credit is not capital. Capital (Def. 4) is wealth saved and used in production. Credit has not been saved. When a bank or a government issues a note of $100, no capital has been created. The note, if convertible into specie, represents specie and is as good as specie, but issuing it has not created the specie it represents. That existed already. Issuing the note has merely changed the owner of the specie. A has $ioo in gold. He gives B in exchange for food, clothing, etc., his promise to pay $100. The total capi- tal of the two is still only $100, plus the food and clothing unconsumed, but now B owns the $100 instead of A. B can claim it from A at any time. There has therefore been no creation of capital by creating credit. 60 PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMT. Credit is not in itself capital. It is a lease of capital which enables a man to get the use of capital for a time, just as a lease written on a piece of parchment, which is not land, enables its holder to occupy and use land, for the time. The creation of credit transfers the use of capital. A has $ioo. He lends it to B, taking in return B's written promise to pay him (A) $ioo, with interest, at some future time. Thus A's giving B credit has transferred the use of A's money to B. It has not created any more money or wealth. But if credit were capital, the world's wealth would now be increased by $ioo, since all capital is wealth. If there were no credit, there could be no lenders, and therefore no borrowers. Only those who could use capital for their own purposes would accumulate it at all. Credit, by transferring the use of wealth from those who would not use the wealth productively to those who will, makes the wealth capital. But it is not itself capital, because it is not wealth that has been saved. Therefore, credit is not capital. PROPOSITION XXXVIII. A commercial crisis is caused by the destruction, that is, the unproductive consumption, of wealth. There are times when credit ceases; when prices suddenly fall ; when merchants fail ; when manufactures slacken ; when wages decline and great numbers of la- borers are thrown out of emi)loyment ; and when bankers cease to loan money, and are unable to pay back the deposits which have been made at their banks. When this state of things exists, there is said to be a commercial crisis. Let us see what causes all this. It is at the banks that a crisis first shows itself. We will best understand what a crisis is, therefore, by beginning to study it at the banks. PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMT. 61 Banks gather up the savings which are made by one clasb of the community and loan them to another class to be employed in the production of wealth. Every $i,ooo loaned by the savings banks is said to give em- ployment, on an average, to one laborer. Let us sup- pose that one thousand persons each deposit $i,ooo in a bank for safe-keeping. If it is left on deposit long enough, the bank will pay the owner 4 or 5 per cent, interest on it. but the bank must make more than 4 or 5 per cent., by loaning the deposit. If it did not, it would lose money. It therefore loans its deposits at 8 or 10 or 12 per cent, to persons employed in the produc- tion of wealth. Its profit consists in the difference be- tween the interest it pays and the interest it gets. Let us suppose that the $1,000,000 deposited by the thousand persons is loaned out to build a railroad. Then this amount of capital takes the form of a railroad. If the railroad was wanted, the company that built it will be repaid by the receipts from freights, fares, etc. The company can therefore repay the banker, and the banker his depositors. But if the railroad has been built where it was not needed, so that no use, or very little use, is made of it after it is built, then the company will receive nothing or almost nothing from freights, fares, etc. It will therefore be unable to pay the banker, and the banker therefore cannot pay his depositors. What is the consequence of this .'' The depositors run to the bank. The bank cannot pay them. It closes. The railroad company can get no more loans. It Ixas to stop work. The labor employed in taking care of the part of the road already built, and in building the other part is thrown out of work. There is now less demand for rails, locomotives, cars, etc. The manufacturers of these things dismiss some of their hands and slacken work. But if less railroad iron is wanted, fewer men will be wanted to work the iron mines and to carry the ore from the mines to the places where it is made into rails, locomotives, car-wheels, etc. This 62 PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. has all happened because a railroad was produced which was not needed, that is, because $1,000,000 of deposits was consumed unproductively, or destroyed ; for unpro- ductive consumption and destruction are the same. The unproductive consumption of the $1,000,000 has had several bad effects : i) It caused the bank to close; ) It made the depositors lose their money; (3) It threw railroad employees out of work; (4) It stopped the iron works where railroad iron was being manufactured; (5) It diminished the demand for iron at the mines; (6) It threw out of employment a number of miners, ore -carriers and iron-workers ; (7) It slackened all kinds of business, for the laborers thrown out of employment could not buy of the grocer, dry goods merchant, shoemaker, etc., as before ; (8) Consequently, the retail grocer, shoemaker, etc., were unable to buy of the wholesale dealers in groceries, boots and shoes, etc. (9) Therefore, the wholesale dealers stopped buying, and the demand for all these articles was less, and con- sequently the production of them diminished. All these evils, then, felt throughout the whole com- mercial body, have resulted from the destruction of the §1,000,000 worth of capital. The dollars themselves have not been consumed, but the food and clothing of the laborers they hired, and the wood, rails, bridges, rolling-stock, etc., which they bought have all been spent without producing wealth. Thus, although the dollars themselves are still in existence, $1,000,000 worth of capital has been destroyed. Now we have only to suppose that a great many millions have been consumed unproductively in a great many other ways in order to account for all these effects on a greater scale. But when these things happen on a great scale, we have a commercial crisis. Therefore, a commercial crisis is caused by the destruc- tion, that is, the unproductive consumption, of wealth. PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY 63 PROPOSITION XXXIX. The effects of a commercial crisis can be removed only by the production of wealth. The destruction of wealth (Prop. XXXVIII) causes a crisis ; the production of wealth, therefore, by removing the cause, must remove the effect, — that is, the crisis. As wealth is produced, it is deposited in banks for investment, or it is used in production without being first put in the banks. Then the laborers thrown out of work by the crisis are employed again. They are there- fore able to buy again of the grocer, baker, shoemaker, etc. The latter buy fresh stocks of goods from the wholesale dealers. The wholesalers in turn give orders to the producers. Thus business revives and times are said to be good. Wealth is produced and the effects of the crisis disappear. Therefore, the effects of a commercial crisis can be removed only by the production of wealth. DEFINITION 14. A tax is a sum of money collected by a government from persons or property within its domin- ions. DEFINITION 15. Duties are taxes on imported goods^ that is, on goods brought from other countries. DEFINITION 16. A tariff is a law fixing duties. There are two kinds of tariffs, — revenue and protective. A revenue taritY is one the only object of which is to raise money for the needs of the government. A country which has a revenue tariff' is said to enjoy " free trade." Its government does not interfere with its trade with foreign countries except for the sake of raising needed revenue. A protective tariff is one which fixes duties in such a way that the home manufacturer can afford to produce and sell a commodity more cheaply than it can be sold after it has been imported, and the duty on it has been paid. The home manu- 64 PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. facturer is then said to be " protected " against the competition of his foreign rivals. A revenue tariff is for the benefit of the government. A pro- tective tariff, while it yields some re\-enue to the government, is mainly for the benefit of the manufacturers. PROPOSITION XL. A tariff should be for revenue alone. A protective tariff is an injustice and a hardship. An illustraiion will suffice to show what is meant by this. Suppose a man wants to buy cloth with which to make a coat. England manufactures some of the best cloth in the world. He says he will buy English cloth. It is better and cheaper. Now if trade were free, he might buy the cloth, we will say, for %\ a yard when imported here. American cloth of perhaps not as good quality is selling for $1.50 a yard. To keep him from purchasing the English cloth, and to compel him to buy the Ameri- can, the government adds to the price of the English cloth, say 60 cents, as an extra duty. It is now worth $1.60, which is more than the buyer can afford to pay. He therefore buys the American cloth for $1.50. Now, who has been the gainer by this.'' The Ameri- can manufacturer. The buyer has lost 50 cents on each yard. And as the manufacturers are few, while those who use cloth are many, the whole country is made to pay out large sums by a protective tariff for the benefit of the few. This is why a protective tariff is an injustice and a hardship. There are other reasons why trade between different countries should be free. When it is free, each country produces those things for which it is best adapted, that is, which it can produce cheapest and best. France can produce very good and very cheap silk. England is not adapted to the cul- tivation of the mulberry-trees on which the silk-worms feed, and therefore cannot well produce good silk. But PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMi'. 65 it can produce very good and very cheap tutlery. It is best then that it should produce good cutlery and ex- change it for good French silk. If each country had to produce its own silk and its own cutlery, the result would be that France would have some verj^ poor but very dear cutlery, while England would have some very poor but very dear silk. Both countries would suffer, and only the few engaged in the manufacture of the poor but " protected " articles would gain. The government has no right to tax one man to benefit another. It should treat all men alike. A man has a right to buy wherever he can buy best and cheapest ; but this right he cannot have when trade is not free. It is claimed that a protective tariff benefits a country by stimulating its manufactures, and so making it inde- pendent of other countries and by securing employment for its workpeople. But there is no more reason why a country should buy nothing from "other countries than there is why a man should buy nothing of other men. Suppose a man had to produce and manufacture his own food, clothing, house, shoes, books, church, and everything else. He would not produce nearly as much wealth in a year (Prop. X) as if he should make one thing, shoes for instance, and sell them for money, and then sell the money for his food, clothing, house-rent, books, pew, etc. So a country, by manufacturing the things which it can manufacture best, produces more wealth than if it were to try to manufacture everything. It can then exchange its surplus wealth for the special products of other countries, just as the shoemaker ex- changes his surplus shoes for the products of the tailor, farmer, etc. A protective tariff does not increase the number of workmen employed. It does not increase the capital in a country, and it therefore cannot (Prop. V) increase the amount of labor employed. It is true that if the " protected " commodities were produced abroad and im- 5 66 PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMT. ported, as some of them would be under a revenue tariff, they would not be produced at home, at least in such quantities as they are when "protected." At least part of the labor now employed in producing them at home would therefore be no longer employed hi that way. It would, however, be employed in another way. For, in order to pay for the goods imported, we would have to export other goods. Therefore there would have to be a greater production of the latter. The labor hitherto employed in jjroducing at home the goods now imported from abroad, would now be employed in producing the goods exported to pay for these imi)orts. A high tariff " protects " only the manufacturers. The higher profits they make must be paid, of course, by the men not engaged in manufactures, — the ministers, lawyers, teachers, doctors, journalists, grocers, farmers, bakers, laborers, etc., etc. The number of persons, em- ployers and employees, engaged in every sort of manu- facture in this country in 1870 was only 2,707,421. The number of farmers alone was 5,922,471. Thus the many are taxed by a protective tariff for the benefit of the few. Moreover, the persons engaged in manufactures all pay higher prices for the manufactured articles they con- sume than they would were there no protective tariff. Thus the few who gain directly also lose indirectly. Again, the manufacturers of the protected commodi- ties get a higher profit than they otherwise would on what they sell in the home-market, but they are restrict- ed to this market by a protective tariff Such a tariff shuts them out from the markets of the world. American axe-manufacturers, for instance, used to sell their wares over the whole world. Now, they cannot compete with the English manufacturers. For a high tariff has made some of their raw materials, their machinery and their labor cost so much that they can no longer produce good axes as cheaply as the English can. They are therefore undersold in all foreign countries, and can sell nothing outside of tlie United States. Their higher m PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 67 profits in the home market are often much more than counterbalanced by their loss of the profits they could make, were there only a revenue tariff, by foreign trade. Suppose the reader, when he next sits down to break- fast, should think how much has been added to the cost of the things in the room and on the table by the pres- ent protective tariff. The table on which the breakfast is served is taxed 40 per cent., the table-cloth 42 per cent., the dishes, plates, cups and saucers 46 per cent., the plated spoons 35 per cent., the knives and forks 60 per cent., the plated coffee-pot 46 per cent., the china tea-pot 38 per cent., the salt 60 per cent., the carpet on the dining-room floor 75 per cent., the stove 45 per cent., the wall-paper 47 per cent., the glass in the windows 60 per cent., and the chairs 34 per cent.* If there were a revenue tariff, all of these articles could have been im- ported and sold at prices much less than we have to pay now. The American capital and labor now employed in producing some of them would then be used in the production of the wealth sent abroad in exchange for them. Thus, as much capital and labor would be employed and we should have to pay less for many necessaries. A protective tariff tends to keep foreign articles out of the market. Americans produce similar articles and sell them at rates just below the cost of the foreign pro- duct, plus the duty. Thus a protective tariff yields the government much less money than a revenue tariff would. It merely gives high profits to a few, and makes the many pay much more for the necessaries of life than they otherwise would. Therefore, a tariff should be for revenue alone. * These figures are taken from the tariff of 1875. A Summer in Norway. With Notes on the Industries, Habits, Customs and Peculiarities of the People, the History and Institutions of the Country, its Climate, Topography and Productions ; also an account of the Red-deer, Reindeer and Elk. BY JOHN DEAN CATON, LL.D. Ex-Chief Justice of Illinois. 8vo. 401 PAGES. Illustrated. Price, $2.50. The Tribune says: "Judge Caton is a veteran traveler. He is a man of acute observation, and from long experience as well as natural capacity, is apt to learn something more, and to understand and find out more, than the ordinary traveler. * * Of all this he has made a readable and entertaining book — a book which is apt to create in the reader a strong desire to make the same journey in person." The Times says: "The author of ^A Summer in Norway' has accomplished what but few able professional writers are capable of under the circumstances. He has given to the public a volume of travels which will hold its own with any of like kind. The style in which it is written is concise, terse and cheerful. The information is solid and interesting, and a vein of genial humor pervades every page. Throughout it is generously sprinkled with harmless, amusing incidents, deli- cately told." The Inter-Ocean says: "Judge Caton has given us a work possessing all the best qualities of a perfect book on Summer Travel. It contains neither too much nor too little ; it is written in an easy, confidential style, without strain or affectation. As the writer sails along by coasts and lakes and rivers, and lingers in quaint Nor%ve- gian towns, he gives us here and there just sufficient scraps of history to awaken interest in this ancient and warlike but now peaceful and industrious people. He has the strong, bold touch of masculine force and observation, united to a graceful narrative style. The book from beginning to end reads like a story told by the Judge at the head of his own table. Carlyle sits in his den at Chel- sea, poring over ' Sagas ' and ancient manuscripts ; our stalwart traveler, accompanied by his ladies, mingles with the people, makes friends with the ' Lapps,' watches salmon fishing in the pools, sleeps in Norwegian beds, and indulges in a little wholesome rhetoric over their narrowness and discomfort. His book is as fresh as the mountain breezes, while his observations are full of that kindly and appreciative feeling which can only come from a liberal mind and a generous heart." Mailed, post-paiii, on receipt of price by the publishers. JANSEN, McCLURG & CO., CHICAGO. A New and Cheap Edition of MEMORIES: A Story of German love. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN By Geo. P. Upton. ibmo. Red edges: flexible covers: with nezv designs. Price, $i.oo. Tlie great fuvor with which our Holiday Edition of this remarkable book was received, and the very large sale of the same, has induced us to issue an entirely new and beautiful edition at the low and popular price above named, with the hope that it may reach the hands of every lov^r of pure and meritorious literature. From the New I'ork Tribune: " The touching story of ' German Love,' whose tender pathos lacks only the liarmonies of verse to make it one of the most exquisite poems in the Ger- man language, is here reproduced in an English costume of chaste and delicate beauty." From I he Advance, Chicago: "This is, in every respect, an exquisitely beautiful and charming book. * * The perfection of elegance and simplicity. The story itself is one of the purest, sweetest and most fascinating that we have read for months. * * A prose poem rather than a novel." From the Home Journal : "The work is an admirable illustration of the richness, tenderness and depth of German sentiment, an endowment in which that people is distinguished from all others. Seldom has the dawn, the rise and the setting of the sun of passion been depicted with such sympathetic insight and such sweetness and refine- ment of color." From the Chicago Tribune: " This is one of the most charming little books we have ever read. We know of only one other story to which wc can compare it — -the exquisite tale of Paul and Virginia, by Bcrnardin de Saint-Pierre. It were difficult indeed to say which of these two little books is the more admirable. They are both gems of love stories, and those who are acquainted with the French one can have no higher assurance of the excellence of the German than that it is not its inferior in interest or poetic elevation." " Memories" is also issued in Small Quarto, tinted paper, red border, gilt edge ; making it a beautiful gift. Price, $2.00. Sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of price, by the publishers. JANSEN, McCLURG & CO., CHICA GO. POEMS OF THE FARM AND FIRESIDE. By EUGENE J. HALL, AUTHOR OF "A WINTER'S NIGHT," ETC., ETC. One Volume, 8vo, with 33 Illustrations, - I'rice, $1,75 The same, rull Gilt, . . . _ . it.'^S " In vigor and pathos they are certainly equal — we should say superior — to Carleton's Farm Ballads ; in humor scarcely inferior to the Biglow Papers." — Interior. " The book will be widely read, and will kindle a kindlier sentiment and cheerier view of life about many a fireside. The Chicago publishers have issued it in sumptuous style, with numerous illustrations." — The Advance. " There is a nobility of mind even among the toilers of the land too often overlooked, and for this reason we like the flavor of these poems, because they smell of the field and forest, as well as portray the inner life of society at the fi reside . ' ' — Pittsbu rgli Commercial. '• A volume of short poems on familiar themes, wrought in fresh thought, and in a language whose graceful beauty is its simplicity. * * They are full of pathos, with a sprinkling of humor. It is not too much to say that some of them m.-ike the reader think that Carleton's double lives in Chicago." — Chicago Post and Mail. " This is one of the books which we like to commend for its intrinsic merits, and for the pure, wholesome influence it will exert in the family, for it will ' kindle a kindlier sentiment and a cheerier vein of life ' in evcrj' home where it finds a place. The publishers have issued it in splendid style, so that it makes a volume to be prized, for both its interior and exterior merits." — yournal of Education. " We find so much to admire in the author's fresh and vigorous style, his thorough knowledge of all that concerns the farmer and the fireside, his keen sense of feeling, and artistic idea of how to use it. that we have read his poems with genuine pleasure, and cordially recommend them to our readers. * * Mr. Hall possesses the power of touching the feeling of his readers without apparent effort. His poems express in many ways the wants and desires of the com- munity, and cannot fail to brighten an evening by the crackling logs, or to while away the hours when work is done." — Inter-Ocean, Mailed, post-paid, on receipt of price by the ptiblishcrs. JANSEN, McCLURG & CO., CHICAGO. TRUTHS FOR TO-DAY. BY PROF. DAVID SWING. A beautiful volume, containing a choice selection of the finest discourses of this eloquent preacher. i2mo, tinted paper, 325 pages. Price $1.50. from the Neiu York Tribune: "• The preacher makes no display of his rich resources, but you are con- vinced that you are listening to a man of earnest thought, of rare culture, and of genuine humanity. His forte is evidently not that of doctrinal disctission. He deals in no nice distinctions of creed. He has no taste for hair-splitting subtleties, but presents a broad and generous view of human dut}-, appealing to the highest instincts and the purest motives of a lofty manhood. In his view, the ethical element holds the rightful supremacy in our nature." From Dr. Powers in the Alliance^ Chicago: '* As sacred compositions, they captivate by a sweetness that is as natural to them as tints to the rose or flavor to the strawberry'. They are logical with- out a display of argumentation, and poetical without any sacrifice of directness and sincerity. While one's reason is appealed to all along, the language of the appeal comes up all blossoming and fragrant with the heart. It would be hard to find in the same compass so much real poetry and logic in vital union as in these discourses. And here is the secret of their power." From the Independent, Nev.' Tork: "So far are these sermons from being hostile to true Christianity that they cotutitute a most powerful defense of all that is powerful and permanent in our religion. • • The American pulpit has sent forth few volumes of sermons richer in thought, more devout in sentiment, more admirable in statement, or fairer in outward fashioning, than this volume of sermons of Mr. Swing." From the Adzvnce, Chicago: " Such is the glow of his rhetoric, such the beauty of his illustrations, such the generous tone of his sentiments, that the reader is soon brought into admir- ing sympathy with the author." Sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of price by the publishers. JANSEN, McCLURG & CO., CK ICAGO. This book is DUE on the last date stamped below iM^ 1 9 \SZk APR Z 6 I93tf Form L-9-15m-7,'32 AA 000 549 974 4 ../ '*' ^^:^W^^'^^^''1'*