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It is sometimes necessary, from their point of view, to use a good deal of persuasion, and this persuasion is sometimes of a rather severe nature and often virtually amounts to compulsion.

The strike. The strike has become one of the drastic methods through which an organization of laborers may enforce its control over the labor supply. Theoretically the strike is merely the suspension of work by the laborers of a given trade or group of trades. If there were no waiting list and no available mass of laborers from which to fill the shops which they have vacated, a mere quiet suspension of work would be all that would be involved in a strike. This, however, is seldom the situation. There is generally such an oversupply of labor, especially of the unskilled kinds, as to force the strikers to do something else besides the mere suspension of work. They must manage somehow to keep others from taking their places. This may take the form of peaceful picketing and persuasion; it may take the form of threats; and, in extreme cases, it may even take the form of violence and terrorism. It is to be remembered, however, that threats, violence, and terrorism are only necessary, even from the laborer's point of view, when there is an oversupply of labor available for the jobs of the strikers. The ultimate cure for this situation is that which was suggested earlier in this chapter, such a thinning out of the number of laborers, especially in the unskilled occupations, as to reduce the number of men to an approximate equality with the number of jobs.

In justification of the strike, even when accompanied by threats and violence, it is sometimes euphemistically stated that the laboring man has a right to his job and no other laboring man has a right to take it away from him. Or, as it is sometimes put, the labor unionist's eleventh commandment is, Thou shalt not steal thy neighbor's job. This, however, is not quite complete; it really should read, Thou shalt not steal thy neighbor's job unless he is a nonunion man, and in that case thou shalt go after it with a club.

Numbers make for weakness in bargaining but for strength in fighting and voting. One large fact which complicates the whole problem of the organization of laborers and their methods is that those who, because of their numbers, are weak in the bargaining process become, by virtue of those same numbers, strong in the making of public opinion and in the election of candidates for office. Roughly speaking, one may say that the more people there are of a certain individual type, the weaker they are in the process of individual bargaining but the stronger they are in making public opinion and controlling elections. It is pretty certain, therefore, that they will use their strength in controlling public opinion and politics to compensate for their weakness in the bargaining process. Whatever our views on the purely ethical aspects of such questions as the closed shop, the strike, picketing, threats, and violence, we must realize once and for all that in a republic, where majorities control, there is absolutely nothing to be done about it. Those who realize that they are weak in the process of peaceful individual bargaining but strong in other ways can be depended upon to use that strength to their own advantage. On the other hand, those who, because their numbers are few, are very strong in the process of peaceful and individual bargaining, must realize that politically they are very weak, since they have very few votes. It would be as futile, therefore, to expect that, when there is an oversupply of labor, the laboring men will go on indefinitely, bargaining individually for jobs and accepting the disadvantages under which they labor and refraining from using the strength of numbers in their own interests, as to expect that the tides should cease to rise and fall or the winds to blow.

When a numerous class realizes that its numbers count against it in bargaining but for it in fighting and voting, it is pretty certain, sooner or later, to try to win back, by fighting or by voting, what it has lost in bargaining. Therefore there are two very good reasons why we should try to maintain a

balanced population. By a well-balanced population is meant a population in which, among other things, each occupational group is no more numerous than is necessary to combine with other occupational groups. If, for example, there are no more spinners than are needed to supply yarn for the weavers, no more of both than are required to combine satisfactorily with other groups, no more unskilled laborers than are necessary to work in combination with the skilled laborers, no more of both than are necessary to work in combination with salesmen, accountants, managers, etc., the population is well balanced so far as these groups are concerned. When this is the case, no group will be at a disadvantage in the bargaining process. That is one reason. The other is that no group would have the motive or the power to win back, by fighting or by voting, what it was losing by bargaining. Such a balancing of our population would eliminate the more acute phases of our labor problem.

CHAPTER XXXIV

THE RENT OF LAND

Rent the price paid for the use of land. The rent of land originally meant the price paid for its use during a given period of time. Its meaning is now extended to cover the income which the owner derives from it, whether he uses it himself or lets it out to someone else. The selling price of land is the price paid as a lump sum for its permanent possession, which includes its use through all future time. Its value is the present estimate of all its future utilities, whether they are sold or kept by the present owner and his heirs. There is thus a very close connection between the value, or price, of land, on the one hand, and its rent, on the other. The rent is the value, or the price, of the flow of utilities which it yields during a given period of time, such as a month or a year. Both the value and the rent of land come under the general law of value; both are determined by utility and scarcity, as is the case with all forms of value.

Why rent is paid. The utility of land is of various kinds and degrees. In some cases land yields its utilities directly, and thus is a consumers' good, or at least resembles consumers' goods in this respect. Parks, pleasure grounds, and residence sites yield their utilities in this way instead of yielding tangible products. In other cases land yields its utilities indirectly; that is, it produces or helps to produce tangible products which are themselves useful. In these cases the utility of land, like that of all producers' goods, is a derived utility. Its utility is derived from that of its products.

There are great differences in the utility or desirability of different pieces of land, whether they are used for one purpose

or for another. In the chapter on land it was pointed out that these differences are mainly in location and fertility. The other qualities which make land usable, such as extension and solidity, all land possesses in equal degree, so that these qualities do not make one piece more desirable than another; but in the qualities of location and fertility there are great differences, and these differences powerfully affect its desirability and its value.

Differences in the desirability of land. The problem of rent may be approached in several ways. In the first place, we may concentrate our attention on the differences in rent or the differences in the desirability of different pieces of land. There is always land somewhere the use of which can be had free of charge. Nevertheless, men will be found paying high rents for other land which is more desirable than that which can be had free of charge. The fact that it is more desirable than the free land is what makes it command a rent. In the case of land which is useful for production only, its desirability is of course determined by its productivity. He who secures the use of a superior piece of land can either produce more at the same cost than would be possible on the kind of land which is free or he can produce the same amount at lower cost. This difference in productivity gives its owner a rent when he cultivates or uses it himself, and enables a tenant to pay rent, in case the land is worked by a tenant.

Location as an element in desirability. That the location of a piece of land will affect its productivity will be clear to anyone who will consider that the cost of transporting goods to market is a part of the cost of production. If one farm is so badly located with respect to railroads and markets that it costs ten cents a bushel to haul the wheat to the nearest railroad, while another farm is so well located that the hauling costs only two cents a bushel, it is evident that if the two farms are equally fertile, the former will be worth considerably less than the latter. The difference of eight cents a bushel in the

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