30. THE PURCHASING POWER OF "WAGES"

Hence when the worker comes to spend his wages in buying some of the things which he and other workers have made, and for which they received wages to only half the market value of their work, he can buy with his wages only about half what they should purchase. Stated in other words, the working man when considered as a "producer" receives, in the form of wages, only half the value of what he produces; and when considered as a "consumer" of the products of himself and other labourers, he is able to purchase with his wages only about half their actual equivalent in commodities. The net result is that the purchasing power of the labourers, as a class, is contracted to about one-fourth of what they produce.

Now, since the labouring class constitutes far the greater part of the purchasing public, or the "market" for the things it produces, it is inevitable that, during times of business activity, production should gain rapidly on consumption, until a crisis arises. The very rich few cannot possibly, with all their wastefulness, consume the surplus products which the labourers have to deny themselves. The rich few are unable to consume the products, though able to purchase them; whereas the many poor are able to consume but unable to buy them.

The result is that the "business world," after a long period of "prosperity," is one day awakened suddenly, to the fact that there is a glut of commodities on hand; the disappearance of profits frightens the manufacturers into a sharp curtailment of output; the banks, knowing from bitter experience what is about to happen, refuse to lend money, since no "interest" can be paid them by borrowers unless profits are first earned; and thus a "panic" is brought about. Of course, the capitalist must cease making goods when there is no profit in making them; and thereupon, quite naturally, he discharges workmen and reduces wages, until the surplus stocks of goods on the market are disposed of in some manner. This brings about one of the financial and industrial panics, and the periods (more or less prolonged and severe) of business depression which follow them, and which, in every manufacturing centre, are marked by the presence of large numbers of workmen unable to secure employment, and for whom indeed there is none.

There is no "civilized" country on earth that has not, at this present writing, its "unemployed" problem; and it may be remarked that this problem only arises in those countries where our boasted modern civilization has made its way.

To what result, then, are these giant industrial forces tending? That they are working up to a world-wide crisis of some sort, is patent to every one who gives to the situation a moment's serious consideration. The forces now developing and concentrating into

A NEW SOCIAL ORDER IMMINENT definite lines of effort are becoming uncontrollable, and are threatening soon to burst through all existing governmental, social, and moral restraints. A new social order of some sort seems inevitable, and that at no distant day. But the question to which we are seeking an answer is this: What kind of an economic system is to take the place of the existing social institutions, after these shall have been demolished?

What is happening before our eyes, in this economic field of human activity, is the separation of mankind into two classes, and the widening of the gulf between them. One class owns, and is ever tightening its hold upon, the means of production and distribution of that wealth which is the supreme object of human aspiration and effort. The other class, which has only its labour to sell, and can find a market for that only when the capitalists can use it to their own advantage, is being ever more rigidly held down to wages which (under the steadily increasing cost of living) afford but a bare, and at best precarious, subsistence. Wealth, and the power it wields, are being concentrated into fewer and fewer hands. But along with this concentration of wealth is the fact that the labouring class is constantly gaining force numerically, as well as gaining power through the more intelligent comprehension of the unfairness of existing conditions. Unless a solution of the growing antagonism between these two classes be found, a clash between them is inevitable. Such, at least, is the openly-expressed opinion of intelligent and competent observers of social phenomena. Which side will prevail? And will the result be the absolute Despotism of Wealth, or will it be Socialism?

SOCIALISM

As we look abroad upon the tremendous efforts which men are making to better their condition through the manufacture of "things," and as we take notice of the very unequal distribution of the things which result from these efforts, we would naturally inquire what remedies are being canvassed for the cure of this great and manifest evil. The answer to such inquiry would be that there is at present only one remedy now before the people for their consideration, and which offers any hope of escape from this gross injustice. That proposed remedy is the untried system called Socialism. Apparently the "sovereign people" have only the alternative of continuing with the present system of "Capitalism," or displacing it by some form of "Socialism."

This system challenges our closest attention for various reasons:—

I. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM

Socialism is the only human system which offers a new social order to replace that now in existence. It

THE SOCIALIST STANDPOINT thus stands alone in proposing a solution of what is recognized as the great problem of the age.

It is proper at this point to let a moderate Socialist speak of the conditions which Socialism proposes to remedy, in order that our readers may see just how the social problem is viewed from that standpoint. The following quotations are from Mr. H. W. Laidler, in Wayland's Monthly. Mr. Laidler states the social or economic problem from the point of view of an American Socialist.

"Every age presents for solution some mighty problem. Now the religious, now the political, now the social question demands undivided attention. In the age in which we live that which is uppermost in the minds of men is the social or economic question—the question of the just distribution of the products of mankind.

The reason for this is not far to seek. The last one hundred years have witnessed the industrial revolution of the ages; the progress from individual production to social production, thus making possible the creation of ten-twenty-one hundred-fold more wealth with the expenditure of the same amount of energy. That this increased productivity has taken place is indisputable, but that the mass of the nation's workers have been materially benefited by this industrial revolution is a matter of serious dispute—and the attempt of the worker to obtain a larger and juster share of the product of labour constitutes the modern Labour Question."

We would call the reader's attention to the statement that the mighty problem of this age is "the just distribution of the products of mankind." This obviously is of the nature of a religious problem as well as an economic problem, and its very existence heralds the advent of a system which shall be both religious and economic.

"It was Henry George who said that if a man of the eighteenth century—a Priestley or a Franklin—could have seen as in a vision this marvellous progress in industry, 'his heart would have leaped, and his nerves would have thrilled, as one who from a height beholds, just ahead of the thirst-stricken caravan, the living gleam of rustling woods and the glint of laughing waters. He would, in the sight of his imagination, have seen new forces lifting the very poorest above the possibility of want.'

"And with reason would such high expectation be aroused; but sadly the present-day facts of civilization dash them completely to the earth. For along with this evolution from individual to social production has come a transfer of ownership of the tools and machinery of production from the mass of workers to a few immensely wealthy