iiAX"uuilar'
XZJm Nebraska. Independent
pace e
O tt Trr Tf 7 f
Letters From The People
0 O V V V O Q V V v. v V V V .. V.. ij.dww..(v'.'wVwVwwiw
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LigHt for Mr. Obenchain
Chicago, III, October 9 To the Editor of
Tin- In lepeii leaf. Capitalism, says Mr. Oben
chain In liU luHt letter, 1m Hie goal we ure all
trying to muli. Some of uh. Mr. Obenchain, art
content to earn tt good, honest interest on our
lalor rather than try our luck at handling capi
tal in business. I have known nu n who couhl
earn five or nix per cent on $50,000 an employes,
who could not succeed In business, ana I suspect
that many of our railway managers, who earn
tlx per cent on 100,000 or $'.100,000 much prefer
lo remain workmen rather than to become capi
talist. Will Mr. Obenchain deny that these men
hiu wAnetanierB? And In passing I might Bay
that (ho statistics on which the socialist founds
bis theory generally take Into consideration only
a certain range of low-salaried workmen. 'They
take no account of the general manager with a
Hillary of $.ri0,ooo a year, of the singer who re
celvcn $1,000 it night, of (be paluterwho receives
$50,ooo for his picture, of the sculptor, architect,
enxlneer, or other expert, who I paid a big price
for his work.
On the other hand thousands of workmen ure
capitalists. Among this skilled workmen of any
city you will Hint hundreds who own stocks in
various concerns, joint stock companies and rail
ways. To such an extent has It become true that
the people Invest In Ntocks that It Is very doubt
ful whether wealth Is us concent rated today as It
wim thirty years ago. There are, for example, 6,
Ooo.ooo holders of railway stocks nnd bonds. It
Is the control that is concentrated und therein
lies the danger, mid It Is the duty of the state
to deal with this danger. My own opinion Is
that the proportion of cnpital.sts to the whole
population Is greater today than ever befcie.
Llko all socialists Mr. Obenchain dwells tear
fully upon the terrible struggle for existence.
Will there be no struggle for existence under
HoclallMii? Always, of course, 1 am presuming
Hoclnllsm to be practicable, which 1 do not be
lieve. The struggle for existence Is not as hard
us It was fifty years ago, uor Is it more pre
carious. Mr. Obenchain asks why, if the productive
efficiency of labor has Increased sixfold, sub
sistence should not be obtained with one-sixth
the effort? It should be If there were no Increase
In the demand for goods, but Mr. Obenchain neg
lects to take any note of the increased demand.
Mr. Obenchain usks nie If I do not think that
some of the envy and hate born of a struggle
that compels the bringing of these traits to the
front would disappear under a Bystem where
men would not have to fluht euch other. Yes.
That will be In heaven. The very fact, however,
that lust, Intemperance, sloth, disease, desire for
revenge, aye. and envy, would not. vanish under
any economic system would mean the wrecking
of the socialistic state.
Mr. Obenchain says that five-sixths of the
labor of production is performed by machines.
That Is true in certain industries only. How
much does a machine do In growing an orch
ard? On the other hand if the world
were limited to hand production nowadays It
would starve because the demand has Increased
to such an extent that rapid means of produc
tion by machinery are necessary. As civllia
tiim advances man s wants Increase. The native
of Central Africa does not want telephones, tele
graphs or railwavs because he knows nothing
of these things. Me can supply his wants by hand
production. I pointed out in my first letter that
railways, telegraphs, telephones, eleo'r'cal and
steam (tower as applied to many Industries, and
many other inventions and discoveries had sup
plied now fields of labor and productiveness.
Mr. Obenchain always reverts to his unten
able assertion that because fourfiffbs of the
profit of labor no to capitalists, there'ore wen Mi
is. neeesni ily and ipso facto, centrali'.lnu into
(he hand of n few. Mr. Obenchirn overlooks
many thiiiux when be makes this usst'i'M-m. He
falls to consider that the capitalist must draw
four fifth, or about that proportion, from the
business In Older to keen the htisinesa eotns;.
Here ate some of his evens-: l!aw "u'eilaN,
ItM'Hiiu's f'sicbittes fund, rent, advert Hint;.
tiixiliaiKV. byttiiin;. beat ill?, ind wvi
for uii. inductive ,ih well in productive bihor
ur.icbs on the poorest laud in use for that pur
ahly contend that there is still a surplus. If so,
he 'will ask, where does it go? He must not
fail to consider that the productive laborer must
supply the unproductive laborer, and in the lat
ti r class niiphi be mentioned municipal, county,
state and national ofilcials, educators, domestic
Kervants, railway employes, waiters and street
cleuuers and many other engaged on public works.
There are those who produce for the world and
who keep the world in repair mentally, physi
cally and morally. For example, we will say that
the man In the factory produces $5 a day and re
ceives $1 for his labor. Outside the factory the
street clearer must receive his $1 a day although
he produces no wealth. From whom does the
street cleaner obtain his wages. From the capi
talist through taxation.
Socialism is founded on the theory of sur
plus value. Labor creates all value, is the so
cialistic way of expressing the idea. Labor does
not create till value. 1'sefulness, denand aud
lal or create value. To illustrate: A ship is load
ed with logs cut. on some Pacific isle. These
logs are taken to Europe. At a European port
more will be paid for the mahogany logs than
for the pine logs. Why? Because there is a use
for the mahogany logs that the pine logs will
not fill. And yet the same amount of labor was
required to obtain the pine logs. Again: A man
might make a pair of gloves from glass or a pair
of boots from cardboard, but there would be no
use for them and, therefore, no demand, and con
sequently no value. A man might build a ship
on Pikes peak, but it would be worth nothing.
It should be evident, therefore, that labor does
not create all value. Again: A laborer has a
family. There are four dependents on the aver
age to every workman. It is evident that he
must produce not only for himself, but for others.
As civilization advances the proportion of un
productive laborers increases. Take, for example,
the men required on the railways or city
transit lines. They produce nothing, but they
create a vast demand, which adds to consumption
and thus aids Industry.
Mr. Obenchain bases his entire argument up
on the theory for it is merely a theory that
labor derives only one-fifth of the profit of pro
duction, while four-fifths goes to capital. Many
years ago Marx propounded the same theory,
predicting that as a result of the concentration
of wealth and the increasing pauperization there
would come the universal collapse of society be
fore the close of the nineteenth century. Hls'ory
refuted Marx and will answer Obenchain. There
has been no Increasing pauperization in
spite of this preposterous law whicn soc'alists
are so fond of propounding, but which unon in
vestigation turns out to be a law or chaff. So
doubtful Is the law even among socialists them
selves that Bernstein opposed this view. The
gist of what he says is this: Neither the small
tradespeople nor the peasantry are on the noint
of disappearing, nor is it true that in civilized
countries there is an Increase of miserv. servi
tude and decadence. On this point Eneles has
this to say: "It is not correct to assert that the"
misery of the proletariat is increasing. The
growth of organization will, perhaps, restrain the
growth of misery; one thing is certainlv crowing,
the insecurity of the proletarians' existence."
Mr. Obenchain calls attention to mv s'nte
ment that SG per cent of the entire pop ilaMon
are toilers and he immediately converts this into
an assertion that iG per cent are wage-earners
and that, therefore, only four per cent are cani
talists. A moment's consideration would have
shown Mr. Obenchain that 96 per cent of the
lMioubition could not be waee-enrners. I merely
wished to Indicate that practicallv all men w.-re
workers. Comparatively few of the women and
chY.it n in the world are wnire-carners and ve
most of thetn are toilers. The children toil at
school and the women at home. Moreover a
a biip percentage of the aertc-iit.Kts'g are
raiitalit)is. H. B. MAXWELL
Correct! Mr. Alexander
New York, Oct. 3. To the Editor of The In-dem-ndetit:
Mr. Alexander, reidvmit to Mr. Mean
to'eak uf rent as bem: shifted to cor-sn'ocrs"
TbiM is misleading for it implies that rent is added
to the price of Boodx. Kent Is included In the
price paid for most eoii'miMptlcs. lt (lllf.s ))ot
leant add to the price. For rent H rhe measure
of he Mvtnc; in col o: production tn some one
p'-.M-e f l.iml. i.v,.,- ij, Ilf ,,,rntt j.,.n.,r
Hut. graiitiim all thl. Mr. Obenchain would prot
pose. And as articles are pxeb .:.
resents general saving in prod;:.
For example: The price of
by what it costs to produce ,
land in use for potato grown
say, will for ordinary effort, yi: ;
acre. Potatoes grown on land 1
amount of work will Rive iiii.
acre will sell for the same j.i
Suppose the price $1. The b -
clter!.
wh. V si
ATll na ,
'' I"'1' iivheL
:a:i nili
rrJ,-a f,..., KooVilt, .U i '1!T1
will be rent. But if the rent
terms of money, the price of a
i a Dusnei, men out oi tne d:i,u for sl)cj
potatoes as are grown on the b'; bn, mi
t'. which
beiBj
l"'U'llrS I,
will be rent. Thus the rent w;li
co'i'if out o! tie
price paia ror potatoes, wnnout iicum aij,.j
it. In this simple illustration, tin- ( u:niKs facri
of transportation and retailing arc purposely
Sometimes rent arises or innvasi'3 because
poorer land has to be taken into use and pr
duction becomes more costlv; then prices rise anj
rent represents scarcity. At other iinp rent in.
creases because of increase in rroilucive pi
generally tnrougn invention; men pnops will
create despite the greater sum of rent. Both
tendencies are usually at work, to sow mm
counterbalancing" each other, though our present
treasure of prosper'ty 's no doubt due in trreat
pnrt to the enormous increase in productive er
that rent has not vet overtaken.
If rent goes into private hands, land spet
lotion and monopoly is encouraged, tl'p total m
of rent will be larger, and prices w 11 W hiaher
then would be the case if rent wte for
puli'c u?es. Prices will be hii'lux. ' bat is as
sumins other things equal; no cliance in money
standard or supply, for example, winch is a sepa
rate question.
A. ('. Pl.F.YDELL
How Rates Are Raided Secret'y
Manley, Cass Co., Neb., Oct. 7-To V Eri'or
of The Independent: I would like to sav some
thing about, the raising of freight and .ww
raes as I was an asent for Hi- IVnnsvlvania
ra'iroad in Ohio until a short ti'i'P an and I
know to a certainty that rates were ra!sel on
manv ar'icles in such away tha' it was s"a
posed the public would not notice it or ltnn
anvthine about it. We will take carbon oil for
one ar'icle which had been in the third class
and wis put in the second wh'ch raised it over
2 cents per hundred pounds fro"i Cleveland 'o
mv station, and many other artioUs were thunad
from lower to higher in this way.
About the same time the express companies
raised their rates in a sin' bit manner. TlfV
have what is called a graduated rate and by
ctmiug out a part of that graduated ra'e it made
the rates 30 cents per package. It had been
25 cents piaVing a raise of 5 r-en's on each
ptckas-e which made the express comnanies
thousands of dollars. I know the Pacific Express
company did this.
I am glad to know that vour anti-miss ptiblk
tions are bearing their fruits and Inst voit wll
continue the good work, and I tMnk we s'tU
raise a crttsde against the half-rate that is given
to all preachers. That is as much of a bribe
as the pass is and I think anyone that accepts
the permit sells himself, bodv an 1 soul, to rail
ways as much as the one that accents die "flss-
W. 1!. ES3ICK.
Railway Extortion
Chippewa, Falls, Wis., Oct. 3 To the Editor
of The Independent: Referring to the
fiht that the railroads, aided by the r.'putdtcan
party, have been making airaitt government
uwnorshln a nnrepls nost svstetll all 1 everytnir?
else that will have a tendency to l-cn
ernsn on the neonle. allow me to ?at'' "i s
incident. ,
I recently paid the Union Pa--'" ra:.nw
one dollar freight on a book in a steal! t"1
weight eight pounds and thirteen " " .
Crni.tov rVW..,tn In VI lavnrl h Wi-rnU-'U 'M
when I wrote to the general freiu.
E. II. Wood, at Omaha, sendine hi n
lading ami expense bill, he verv t"
me that, "the charge was correct!'.
robber on the street would have I
polite after holding me up.
1 also have an expense bill b r
of books of less than seven if e"
which I paid in Bellinehani. Wa-
recent trip there. Khlpped from ' '
struck mo us beine about "all tb'
bear," nslnR the luneince of
rcHMlptibi'or. This tovernmetit ( '
paid millions of dollars for bui-l -and
arc now leini? robbed of n ' '
them. Let us have govertuii' tit ,l '
railroads.
.IK.- - '
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lUillt. ,r'
he bill
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