Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

heavily, he is encouraged to develop these forms of property. If, as stated above, the taxation of location values of land enables the public to raise enough revenue from this source, and thereby to eliminate the taxes on all other things, this will tend to stimulate business and production in general. This argument is based on the repressive character of other forms of taxation than the land tax.

It is probably true that if the incomes of landowners which come to them in the form of rent or location value were cut off, more would be left to divide among others; that if land values were taxed away, a few owners would be forced to use land which is now idle; and that if a heavy tax were put on the location value of land, the taxes on other things could be greatly reduced, thereby stimulating production. The combined result of these three things would be to the profit of the nonlandowning classes. The unskilled laborers and other poor people would probably gain a fraction of this general advantage, along with all other nonlandowning classes, such as merchants, bankers, manufacturers, professional men, and skilled laborers; but that it would greatly alleviate poverty is a proposition which may be regarded as very doubtful.

Putting idle talent to work. A fourth argument, not usually brought forward by single taxers, may be added to this list. In so far as certain owners of valuable land are enabled to live on the rent which comes to them because of its location value, and to remain idle instead of doing productive work, the community loses the productive power of these men. This is more important than all the land kept out of use for speculative purposes. If such persons were deprived of their incomes and thereby forced to do productive work, the community would gain by this addition to its list of productive workers. This would make for national prosperity.

CHAPTER XLIX

CONSTRUCTIVE LIBERALISM

What the liberalist believes. A liberalist in economics is one who believes in the freedom of the individual rather than in compulsion, either by the mass or by a despot. He relies mainly but not exclusively upon individual initiative. He believes that individuals will, without compulsion and under freedom of contract, do whatever is necessary to provide for the needs of the community. He believes that it is not necessary continually to impose upon the individual the authority either of a benevolent despot or of a well-meaning majority. In somewhat extreme cases, such as can be covered by the criminal law, laws for the enforcement of contracts and other obligations, and laws for the standardization of various aspects of business, compulsion is necessary and helpful. He believes that the interests of the public are expressed quite as accurately on the market and through the price lists as through the ballot box and the statute books. He even believes that poverty and most of the social ills can be eliminated under the system of voluntary agreement — freedom to accumulate, to own, and to operate private property — and without subjecting individuals to the necessity of becoming government employees.

Freedom versus compulsion., There are only two ways of getting men to do what is necessary for their own maintenance and that of the public; one is to induce them by the offer of a reward either of a material or of an immaterial kind; the other is to compel them by authority. For example, an army can be recruited and men led to fight for their country either by the volunteer system or by conscription. The one is the method of freedom; the other is compulsory so far as the individual is

concerned, whether the government be despotic or democratic. In the case of despotism a despot exercises compulsion over the individual; in the case of a democracy it is the mass which exercises the compulsion. On general grounds popular government is very much better than despotism; but so far as the conscripted individual is concerned, he has no more choice as to whether he will fight or not in one case than in the other. Industries may likewise be recruited on the volunteer system or by conscription. Men may be induced to work on the farms and in the factories and mines by the offer of wages, profits, etc. or they may be directed by authority to do so.

If no one were allowed to accumulate capital or to own a farm, or a factory, or a mine, we should have much less freedom to choose our own occupations and to direct ourselves than we have under a system of free private enterprise and voluntary agreement. Even in an army the higher officers are not conscripted, though there is a story of a man who went into hiding until the government should begin to draft captains. Under a régime of complete government ownership and operation, men would have to be chosen by authority for the higher as well as for the lower positions in the industrial system.

Opposed to socialism. That there would be less freedom under universal government ownership than under private ownership will be clear to anyone who will stop dreaming long enough to think about it. No one could begin farming on his own initiative under that system, but would have to be placed in charge of a farm, or told to work under a boss, according as those in authority should decide. Under a liberalistic system anyone who can handle a farm successfully can become a farm manager and ultimately a farm owner, as thousands have already done. By serving an apprenticeship as a farm hand under a free contract with another free man, if the farm hand is a success he can always, after a few years of experience, become a share renter. Again, making a

contract with another free man, if he can make a success of this he can in a few more years become a cash renter. Again, if he is successful he can become a mortgaged owner, and finally a free owner.

Every stage of this advancement is conditioned upon his making a success of the next lower stage. If he can, it is, according to the philosophy of liberalism, economical of the human resources, as well as of the farms, that he should be advanced until he finds his level. If he cannot make a success in any one of these stages, it is a sign that he has reached or passed his level, that he has risen as far as, or farther than, it is economical that he should rise. It would be a waste of both human and material resources to advance him farther. If, for example, he can succeed as a farm manager, it would be wasting a good manager to leave him in the position of a farm hand. In the interests of the community he should advance. But if he would make a poor manager, it would be wasting other labor, as well as material equipment, to have them placed under his management. Under the system of free contract each man tends to find the place in the industrial system in which he can best fit. This is the method of trial and error. Each individual tries himself out and does not have to wait for the consent of someone else. Under the system of universal government operation the would-be farmer would have no better chance to test himself, or to advance on his own initiative, than he now has in the army or in the civil service.

The liberalist believes that, in general, the volunteer plan is better than the compulsory one. There are, of course, occasions when compulsion becomes necessary. These are usually occasions of acute and instant necessity, when there is not time for the market to adjust itself and to organize a volunteer system.

In time of war compulsion takes the place of freedom. Socialists are in the habit of saying that in time of war nations turn to socialism. It is true that in time of war compulsion

is generally, or at least to a considerable degree, substituted for freedom; but the whole business of war is compulsion. Our dealing with foreign enemies is necessarily on a compulsory rather than on a voluntary and contractual basis, and the whole organization of society may have to be changed from freedom to compulsion in order to carry on the compulsory business of war.

There are a multitude of minor forms of compulsion besides war itself. Taxation is a compulsory payment of money to the government. Conscription is compulsory military service. Forced loans are compulsory in a high degree. The censorship of the press is merely compulsory regulation of the business of selling talk for private profit. It may be necessary, in order to prosecute a war successfully, to resort to compulsion in recruiting munition factories and even farms. Rationing the population in time of food scarcity may be necessary.

In a régime of universal compulsion some must necessarily be treated better than others. Even though conscription be carried out without personal favor, the result works to the disadvantage of those drawn by conscription as compared with those not drawn. Those on whom the lot falls act as shockabsorbers for the rest of the community. There is nothing particularly democratic about this, though it may be the best possible way of meeting a national crisis. Under such conditions, when the life of a nation is at stake, it does not stop for the niceties of social justice. Necessity knows no law. It is probable, however, that as a result of several years of this compulsion there will be so much dissatisfaction and sense of unfairness as to provoke a strong reaction against compulsion and in favor of the volunteer system, not only in the work of fighting but in business and industrial pursuits as well. We may consider ourselves fortunate if this reaction does not carry us too far in the direction of license and impatience with all restraint.

Dangers of freedom. Freedom of trade- freedom to buy and sell, to offer and accept rewards is a part of the program of

« AnteriorContinuar »