Online Library of Liberty: Economics, vol. 2: Modern Economic Problems

American colonies and many of the newly settled states may consist almost entirely of self-employed owners of land. Bulgaria, before the Balkan wars called the peasant state, presented this organization (though of course with some wage payment), as did also its neighbor Serbia. But, given the institution of private property with competition (freedom to buy and sell), let manufactures and commerce develop to any extent, and inequalities of fortunes increase while an increasing number of persons work for wages. It is noteworthy that as this goes on (as it has done in America at an increasing rate since the middle of the nineteenth century) it is the agricultural and rural hand industries that continue to be mainly worked by owner-managers and workers, while it is the manufacturing, transporting, and large commercial enterprises in which the labor is done for wages. The acceptance of the wage system thus far has been the inevitable price to be paid for manufacturing and industrial development.

References.

Brooks, J. G., Labor’s challenge to the social order. Pp. 441. New York. Macmillan. 1920. An able description and analysis of the aims and accomplishments of the different labor groups.

Cooley, C. H., Human nature and the social order. N. Y. Scribner. 1902. Ely, R. T., Competition: its nature, its permanency, and its beneficence. A. E. Assn. Pubs., 3d ser., 2; 55-70. 1901.

Ely, R. T., Property and contract in their relation to the distribution of wealth. N. Y. Macmillan. 1914. (2 vols.)

Gladden, Washington, Tools and the man. N. Y. Houghton. 1893. (One example of a large number of American books appealing for the application of Christian ethics to social questions.)

Gleason, A., What the workers want. A study of British labor. Pp. 518. New York. Harcourt, Brace and Howe. 1920.

King, W. I., The wealth and income of the people of the U. S. New York. Macmillan. 1915.

National Bureau of Economic Research, The income of the U. S. New York. Harcourt, Brace & Co. 1921.

Parker, C., The casual laborer and other essays. Pp. 199. New York. Harcourt, Brace & Howe. 1920. Study of the psychology of the laboring element that makes up the bulk of the I. W. W.

Spahr, C. B., Present distribution of wealth in the United States. 1896. Watkins, G. P., Growth of large fortunes. N. Y. Macmillan. 1907. Williams, W., What’s on the worker’s mind? N. Y. Scribner. 1920. A first hand study of the problem of industrial unrest.

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