{"1": {"fulltext": "HB\\n.D5b", "height": "3606", "width": "2343", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0001.jp2"}, "2": {"fulltext": "4C CC C\\ncxg cTcc c\\nC CO cc\\ncccc \u00c2\u00abcc\\nSC CC\\nC C CC cc\\nr C cc c cc\\nccc cc c c\\nC CCc CC C C\\nC CCv cc C c\\ncc c\\n:c cc\\nC C C\\n\u00c2\u00abc cr c c\\nC c i\\nCCc C C\\nCC cCSCCc\\nc ccccc\\ncc ccccc\\nCc C Cc\\n\u00c2\u00abC CCCCCCC\\n\u00c2\u00abac cc ccccc\\n_IL cC O-CCC\\nccc\\nccc\\nOLA ccc\\nCCc:\u00c2\u00abi.C\\nCXL5 C\\nc\\nCCk,C\\nCc cu,\\ncc vk r\\ncc_\\nt cc\\nCC k\\nccC\\nC CC\\nc cc\\nc cc\\ncc\\ncc\\nc\\ns c\\n^c\\nc\\nc:\\n_ v- c\\n_-c,. c;\\nc\\ncc c\\nf c c\\nc. Ccc CC.\\nCCC cc\\nCcc c c\\ncr r c c\\nCC c cc\\ncc 3 (X\\nt cc c cc\\ncc cc\\nCcCC CC\\ncc C cc\\ncc c\\ncc c\\ng cc\\nCC C: C\\nc cc c c c\\nI C O cC\\nc cc cc c\\nLIBRARY OF CONGRESS.\\nChap, Copyright So.\\nSheldffli J *L\\nUNITED STATES OF AMERICA.\\nC c c c\\nc C\\nC C C C\\nc C CC\\nfcc\\nC C CTC\\nC C 2C v\\n2 c\\nccc\\n|L CC c\\nP CC\\nC CC c\\nK cc\\nccc\\nc\\nCC\\nCC\\nCC;\\nCC\\nC Cr\\nI\\nc\\nc\\nc\\nc\\nC dC;\\nCCC CC CC\\ncc 4\\ncc i\\nCT^\\nc rc\\nK c ;c\\nc cc\\nCCCCC\\ncccc\\nc c crc\\ncccrc\\nCCC\\nuCC\\ncccc\\nO CC\\nCCCC\\nfc c5cf", "height": "3369", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0002.jp2"}, "3": {"fulltext": ";cc_\\n^CC_\\n\u00c2\u00abL c\\nc C L\\nCc c C\\nc cc\\nr c c c\\nsTC c c\\ncc_\\nccr\\nc e\\nCc c\\nCG ex\\n\u00c2\u00abCC_ O\\nCC cl\\nClC\\nCcCC\\ncrcc c\\n*m\\nC^cl\\nccc\\nCcar; 4\\nc c:cc:\\nc c\\nc t\\nc r\\nIf\\nc cc c c\\nc ex CC\\nCC c cc\\nc c c cc\\ncC C CC\\nCC CCC\\nX(CC\\nc g c \u00c2\u00abK\\nCCC CC\\ncc( ex:\\nc c cc\\ncccc\\nc c cc\\nc CXI ^C^CCC\\nc cc c c ^x \u00c2\u00ab*r cc c c\\n:Cc-c cCcccc\\nc cc c c: ^cccV^ V\\nc \u00c2\u00abK 9 cccce c\\n\u00c2\u00ab3^ c c rv\u00c2\u00ab4C^\\nc ^^JCOTC cf\\nCE5 cc ccog-\\n\u00c2\u00abCI^ i v*.c ce\\n^CC CCfOir^C\\n^CCCyvCCC 3\\nCCC c c J3KTc^-\\n,.cc carcase c^\\n-CC C CCHTcc\\nc c c cr or\\nC C C CCC\\nCC\\ncC\\nccSdc\\nr c\\nc\\n3 ccc\u00c2\u00abc \u00c2\u00abc\\nc #c c\\nc\\n\u00c2\u00ab-\u00c2\u00ab5 51\\nK \u00e2\u0096\u00a0mr C\\n\u00e2\u0082\u00ac7C\\nc\\nc c s^\\nE cC\\nrf C\\ncc c;\\ncc cr\\nccT c\\nS?^P C\\ncc C.\\nS c 5 c\\nc J^-\\nCi ^Ccc\\n:f!\u00c2\u00a3S\u00c2\u00a7\\ncc", "height": "3606", "width": "2343", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0003.jp2"}, "4": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3420", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0004.jp2"}, "5": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0005.jp2"}, "6": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3420", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0006.jp2"}, "7": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0007.jp2"}, "8": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3420", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0008.jp2"}, "9": {"fulltext": "The\\nSolution\\nof the Social Problem\\nBy C. E. DIETRICH\\nTHE ARIEL LIBRARY SERIES. No. 22. April, 1900. Published Quarterly\\n$1.00 per year.\\nSCHULTE PUBLISHING CO.\\n323-325 dearborn st.\\nChicago.\\nPrice, 25c.", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0009.jp2"}, "10": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3420", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0010.jp2"}, "11": {"fulltext": "THE SOLUTION\\nOF THE\\nSOCIAL PROBLEM\\nBy C. E. DIETRICH.\\nChicago\\nTHE SCHUIyTE PUBLISHING CO.\\n323-325 Dearborn St.", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0011.jp2"}, "12": {"fulltext": "[i-ibpar-y of\\nTwo Copies\\nOeliv fc;t )d to\\n72826\\nCopyright, i9oo, C. E. Dietrich,\\nALL RIGHTS RESERVED", "height": "3420", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0012.jp2"}, "13": {"fulltext": "PREFACE.\\nThe social problem, which now interests all\\ncivilized nations, is a mooted question of long\\nstanding. We know from history that as far back\\nas Aristotle s time learned men of influence tried to\\nsolve the riddle, but failed.\\nThe economic evil is one of the problems of\\npolitical economy. Since political economy is the\\nscience that treats of our own doings and there is\\nnothing supernatural in it, the riddle is certainly\\nsolvable. I venture to say that any one who will\\nread this pamphlet with an honest desire to learn\\nthe facts in the case will become convinced that the\\nsolution is now an accomplished fact.\\nThere are men who would put under ban any\\nknowledge that might affect the present social\\norder. But there are, and for centuries have been,\\nothers who have sought the cause of the evil for the\\nsole purpose of removing it, regardless of conse-\\nquences. That they have failed, proves that the", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0013.jp2"}, "14": {"fulltext": "cause lies where it is least expected, that the facts\\nrun against preconceived opinion. Hence, in order\\nto reach that cause, my argument must run counter\\nto general views otherwise I would fail as others\\nhave failed.\\nThere are statements in this pamphlet which\\nmake it necessary to inform the reader that it was\\nwritten twenty years ago.\\nThe Author.", "height": "3420", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0014.jp2"}, "15": {"fulltext": "CONTENTS.\\ni.\\nTHE HIRING OF MONEY\u00e2\u0080\u0094 CAPITAL.\\nII.\\nBUSINESS.\\nIII.\\nOUR MENTAL CONDITION.\\nIV.\\nMONEY.\\nV.\\nVALUE\u00e2\u0080\u0094 OUR SYSTEM OF EXCHANGE\u00e2\u0080\u0094 BASIS OF\\nEXCHANGE\u00e2\u0080\u0094 RIGHT OF POSSESSION.\\nVI.\\nTHE REPRESENTATIVE OF LABOR STRIKES-\\nSTAGNATIONS OF BUSINESS\u00e2\u0080\u0094 THE ORIGIN\\nOF THE ECONOMIC EVIL.\\nVII.\\nTHE LAND QUESTION\u00e2\u0080\u0094 STATE AND GOVERN-\\nMENT\u00e2\u0080\u0094CONCLUSION.\\nAPPENDIX.", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0015.jp2"}, "16": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3420", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0016.jp2"}, "17": {"fulltext": "I. THE HIRING OF MONEY\\nThe inequality of men has been a riddle for\\nthousands of years. Back to the time of Aristotle\\ngreat and wise men have seen that this inequality\\nhas some unnatural cause; and, having the welfare\\nof the people at heart, they have used their mental\\npowers and their influence toward remedying the\\nevil. But they have failed. Wars and rebellions\\nhave been the outcome of this evil monarchies have\\nbeen overthrown, and, vice versa, republics have\\nbeen turned into monarchies all in vain; the evil\\nhas kept on growing.\\nWhile but forty years ago only one millionaire\\nwas known, there are now hundreds in every large\\ncity. Poverty and misery increase at the same rate.\\nEverything works naturally. Whenever logical\\nreasoning will not solve a question it is because we\\nreason from false premises. The principal error in\\nthe social problem is the belief that brainwork,\\nmoney and property are productive, and that hence\\nmen of intelligence and those who own property to\\nsome extent can exist without performing manual\\nlabor, without rendering any service whatsoever.\\nIf such were the case, the inequality of men\\nwould therein find an explanation, for our mental\\nabilities are unequal, and this fact would bring", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0017.jp2"}, "18": {"fulltext": "8 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nabout inequality of our outward circumstances. But\\nbrainwork can only produce ideas, designs, plans;\\nand these leave the thing unproduced.\\nI do not underrate the value of brainwork. I\\nonly say it does not consummate, it does not give\\ncorporeal existence to any of the necessaries of life.\\nBrains furnish food for the mind, but the social\\nproblem is one of food for the body.\\nBrains direct every motion the hands make in\\nproductive work, but money and property can not\\nproduce anything, can not even aid in production.\\nGive the most intelligent man a thousand acres of\\nthe best land and a million dollars of money, and\\nisolate him, so that he can get none of the products\\nof other men s labor, and he will soon work or starve,\\nthus furnishing the actual proof that all men are de-\\npendent on manual labor for their existence.\\nNature does not oblige A to produce the neces-\\nsaries of life for B any more than it obliges B to\\nproduce them for A; and since nature can not be\\ncheated out of a living\u00e2\u0080\u0094 nature demands the labor\\nin advance everybody must, by right, produce to\\nthe amount of his consumption.\\nHe who does not produce as much as he con-\\nsumes subsists on the products of others; and if he\\nobtains such products without the knowledge and\\nconsent of those who have produced them, he exists\\nthrough some sort of cheating.\\nSince the civilized state requires also unpro-\\nductive labor, there are exceptions to this rule, but\\nof these I will not speak now.\\nHow much labor does nature demand of us for\\nour existence? It simply requires us to produce", "height": "3420", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0018.jp2"}, "19": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 9\\nwhat we consume; no more, no less. If we still\\nproduced independently, that is, if every family\\nproduced what it consumed and consumed what it\\nproduced, independent of others, every man would\\nknow from experience how much labor it requires\\nto support his family. But the times of dissocialed\\nlabor lie far behind us.\\nThe people early comprehended that the neces-\\nsaries of life can be produced more easily, in better\\nform, and in less time, when the individual engages\\nin but one thing or class of things; and gradually\\nthey took up the mutual mode of producing. This\\nmode hides the amount of labor required by the in-\\ndividual. We no longer know it from experience,\\nbut we can find it by calculation.\\nAsk the weaver, tailor, farmer, shoemaker, how\\nmuch labor, as regards time, is required to produce\\nyour annual supply of cloth, to produce shoes, etc.,\\netc.; with things that last for years, as household\\nfurniture and the like, figure the annual consump-\\ntion by the time they will last add up all the items\\nand you will find that a man s labor, without the aid\\nof machines, produces more in one hundred days\\nthan the average family consumes in three hundred\\nand sixty-five days.\\nHence, to support his family, a man must work\\none hundred days in the year, which averages two\\ndays a week or three hours each day. The man who\\nlabors ten hours every day hardly consumes one-\\nthird of his product. Since the other two-thirds are\\nnot consumed, nor given away, nor possessed by\\nhim, what becomes of the product?\\nAnother, a correlative question, may bring us", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0019.jp2"}, "20": {"fulltext": "io THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nnearer the solution. There are many who do not\\nperform productive labor, they are not commis-\\nsioned, they render no service whatsoever. Still\\nthey have superfluity and they get richer 1 every\\nyear. How do they get wealth? Evidently their\\nmeans of existing and of accumulating consist in the\\ntwo-thirds which the laboring men daily miss.\\nBy cheating we understand the willful acts\\nor tricks of appropriating to one s self that which\\nbelongs to others. In the case of labor, suspicion of\\naim and intent is excluded by the fact that neither\\nthe cheated nor the cheaters know how the cheating\\nis effected. Hence cheating is not the proper\\nname for the operation. I only call it thus for want\\nof a more appropriate word.\\nNobody can cheat or be cheated without some\\nmeans being applied, and those who will not touch\\nthe means the cheater can not reach. Since the\\nlaboring men everywhere, at all times, and without\\nexception, have been deprived of a large part of\\ntheir product, the means through which they are de-\\nprived consists in something of which all laboring\\nmen do make and always have made use. That\\nsomething is money, for anything else through\\nwhich all laboring men can and always could be\\nreached does not exist.\\nSince nobody intends to cheat, since neither\\nparty knows how those two-thirds slip away from\\nthe laboring men and into the hands of non-pro-\\nducers, it is evident that we are dealing with an un-\\nknown, but universal and never-failing system of\\nrobbery a system which nobody ever intended, but\\nwhich nevertheless exists.", "height": "3420", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0020.jp2"}, "21": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. n\\nSuch a system has grown out of the practice of\\nhiring money. Proof that that practice is not as in-\\nnocent as it is generally taken to be, lies in the fact\\nthat the rate of interest is restricted by law harm-\\nless doings need no restriction. But a stronger\\nproof lies in the fact that we mean to restrict it but\\ncannot. While the law of Illinois, for instance,\\nprohibits a higher interest than ten per cent, twenty,\\nthirty per cent and even higher rates are drawn\\nby professional money-lenders (the manner in which\\nthe law is evaded is too well known to need explana-\\ntion here), and thousands have been deprived of\\nhouse and home in that way.\\nStill, if the hiring of money did not have fur-\\nther bearing, it would be a matter of the borrower\\nand the lender only; the poorer classes, because\\nthey are not trusted with loans, would not be affect-\\ned thereby.\\nA direct consequence, however, of the hiring of\\nmoney is the investing of money. Through this\\neverybody, down to the poorest, is reached. Let\\nus see how. The wool-grower, for instance, has so\\nmany thousand dollars invested in land, stock, etc.\\nHis investment must bring interest, and the only\\nway to get it is to add it to the price of the wool.\\nHere the reader may say, he cannot do this, he\\nhas to sell his wool at market price. This is true, but\\nfurther on we shall see that interest makes the\\nmarket price.\\nThe railroad company which forwards the wool\\nto some manufacturing center has so many thou-\\nsands or millions of dollars invested, and the law\\nprescribes how much interest the stockholders may", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0021.jp2"}, "22": {"fulltext": "[2 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\ndraw on their investments. The manufacturer of\\nthe cloth, the wholesale dealer, the retailer all have\\nmoney invested; and since the interest is added by\\npercentage, it becomes compound interest with\\nevery addition. Buying the cloth at, say, one dollar\\nper yard, we pay about thirty or thirty-five cents\\nfor product, and sixty to seventy cents interest.\\nHere again the reader may ask, Does the\\nauthor expect the capitalists to furnish railroads and\\nfactories free of charge? No, I must beg the\\nstudent to read all before passing judgment on any\\npart. After he has read the book through, he will\\nknow that I do not expect any such thing. The\\nseveral parts of political economy are closely inter-\\nwoven, but cannot all be explained at the same time.\\nTherefore, if the reader finds statements which run\\nagainst his opinion, I ask him to make a note of\\nthem and read on. He will be apt to find the re-\\nquired explanation\\nAnother, an indirect consequence of the hiring\\nof money is rent. Being out at least sixty cents on\\nevery dollar they buy with, keeps the masses poor,\\ndeprives them of the means to buy or build houses\\nfor themselves. Consequently, they must rent.\\nRenting to laboring men is like supplying the spring\\nwith water. The very ones who build the houses,\\ncreate all wealth, (God s creations are no wealth),\\nare the ones who pay the rent. The laboring men\\npay rent for their own bona fide property.\\nThe worst of all the consequences of the hiring\\nof money is demoralization. Moral law teaches us\\nto help the poor. Interest makes the poor the\\nhelpers, forces them to help where no help is needed,", "height": "3420", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0022.jp2"}, "23": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 13\\ncompels them to make the rich richer. Since in-\\nterest makes money the means of consuming with-\\nout producing, piling up values without creating any,\\nit creates that insatiable greed of gain, avarice,\\nwhich stimulates and drives to all sorts of foul\\nmeans to get money.\\nThe big frauds, the wholesale swindles are not\\ncommitted because of need, like most of the small\\nthefts, but for the love of money. For they are\\ncommitted by rich men. That the thief gets not\\nonly the sum stolen, but, in the form of interest,\\neven an annual premium on the theft this is too\\ntempting.\\nThis interest system demoralizes even to self-\\nrobbery. Few of the rich enjoy the comforts riches\\nafford. Instead they will economize and strain\\nevery nerve to get richer. It is common to read of\\ncases of men who died in poorhouses and left riches\\nin their coffers.\\nContentment is said to be the climax of earthly\\nhappiness. The interest system makes content-\\nment the exception. In fact, it makes it almost an\\nimpossibility. Here is an example from life, which\\nI have witnessed myself. A farmer who had some\\nwork done at a shoemaker s grumbled at the\\ncharges, which resulted in the following dialogue:\\nFarmer In such hard times you ought to work\\ncheaper.\\nShoemaker A man who, like you, is clearing\\nfrom three thousand to four thousand dollars a year\\nhas no reason to complain of hard times.\\nFarmer And do you suppose that three\\nthousand dollars pays me for my work", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0023.jp2"}, "24": {"fulltext": "i 4 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nShoemaker It would satisfy me very well.\\nFarmer You yes, because you work with\\nalmost nothing, but look at the capital I am working\\nwith.\\nHereupon the farmer took his pencil and began\\nfiguring up the value of his land, buildings, stocks,\\nmachines, etc., and showed the sum of thirty-one\\nthousand dollars invested.\\nNow, look at it/ he continued three thou-\\nsand dollars does not even pay the interest on the\\ninvestment, much less afford returns for my work.\\nI keep close account. Last year, after I had taken\\nout my interest, it left me just forty cents a day for\\nmy work. I am willing to pay you at that rate, but\\nyou won t accept it. I cannot hire a tramp for less\\nthan a dollar a day, but I I must work for forty\\ncents.\\nReader, pause a moment. All of the things the\\nfarmer put a valuation on are used by himself.\\nSince he has not rented or hired out any of them,\\nwho is owing him interest? Nobody.\\nWhat does the farmer give in return for the\\nthree, or four thousand dollars he pockets every\\nyear and calls interest Nothing.\\nConvince the farmer that nobody is owing him\\ninterest and that all he makes he has for his work,\\nand you will, perhaps, make him contented and\\nhappy.\\nSince now every acre of land, every building,\\nship, article of storegoods, animal, etc., is an invest-\\nment and must bring interest, what an enormous\\nsum is there to be paid every year without anything\\nin return for it! And who pays it? As we have", "height": "3420", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0024.jp2"}, "25": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 15\\nseen before, the consumer. With him, though, it is\\nnot interest, but tribute he pays to capital for he\\ngets nothing for it. Investment interest is simply a\\npremium on wealth.\\nSince all consume, all pay that tribute. But\\nonly the poorer classes are actually tributary. The\\nbooty is divided among the investors in proportion\\nto their investments. He who has the most invest-\\ned draws the biggest share, while the poor, because\\nthey have nothing invested, are left out of the dis-\\ntribution. Not even every investor becomes a\\ngainer by the operation, but only those who draw\\nmore interest than they pay tribute. The turning\\npoint is where interest drawn just covers tribute\\npaid. A man who lives in his own house and has\\nmoney enough hired out or invested to bring him\\nas much interest as he pays tribute gets along in\\nthis world just as everybody would if money had\\nnever been hired.\\nThat interest system not only rewards cheating\\nand theft, it actually punishes honesty. A man may\\nrefrain from taking interest and rent, but that will\\nnot relieve him from paying tribute. He must rob\\nothers to come out even. If Satan himself had been\\ncalled on to help get up a never-failing and self-\\nsustaining system of robbery he could not have\\nstudied out a more perfect one than the one that\\nhas grown out of the hiring of money.\\nMoney seeks investment, but nobody will invest\\nunless it pays the interest. As long as houses, for\\ninstance, rent high enough to pay a good interest\\non the investment, building will go on; but as soon\\nas the rent falls short of that, building tenement", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0025.jp2"}, "26": {"fulltext": "[6 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nhouses will cease. The lumber may rot, masons\\nand carpenters lie idle, but nobody will invest in\\nhouses until the rent has come up to a figure which\\nwarrants the interest.\\nAs with building, so with everything. Convince\\nanyone that the investment he intends to make will\\nnot pay the interest, and he will not make the in-\\nvestment. This suspends your law of supply and\\ndemand; through governing the supply, interest\\nmakes the price. Look to prices the world over,\\nand you find the prices to correspond to the rate of\\ninterest everywhere. Where interest is high, prices\\nare high where interest is low, prices are low.\\nBut interest can not govern demand hence,\\nwhile interest makes the price, demand causes the\\nfluctuation. Demand can raise the price, but a\\nlower price than that which interest has made can\\nnot change, save in stagnations of business when\\ncapital does not get full interest.\\nThe system which robs labor is after all very\\nsimple. In spite of all the misery it causes, that\\nsystem has existed before everybody s eyes for\\nmany centuries without being seen. How can this\\nbe accounted for", "height": "3420", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0026.jp2"}, "27": {"fulltext": "II. CAPITAL.\\nCapital presents some queer features. It is\\nloved and hated at the same time and by the same\\nindividuals it is made party to a war, namely, the\\ntongue and pen war of labor vs. capital those who\\nhate it the most make war on it, love and desire it\\nthe most; they would like to make it their captive\\n\u00e2\u0080\u0094not to punish it, much less to annihilate it, but to\\npossess, love and cherish it. This sounds strange,\\nbut is it not a fact?\\nCap tal is from the Latin Capitalis, which is\\nan adjective and means first in importance. As a\\nnoun Capital has no root in the ancient languages.\\nThe noun idea is but a few centuries old and origin-\\nated with banking. The facts respecting capital, as\\nI found them in my studies, run straight against pre-\\nconceived opinion, so that stating them here would\\nproduce a wrong impression. However, since but\\na few centuries ago no such thing as capital was\\nknown and since writers on political economy are\\nunable to define or limit capital, I venture to say,\\nthat capital is an abstract idea which denominates a\\nproperty of the money, which property though, as\\nwe shall see hereafter, the money does not have.\\nFor the present I shall speak only of a part of\\ncapital, namely", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0027.jp2"}, "28": {"fulltext": "1 8 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nBUSINESS CAPITAL\\nWhich, according to common belief, is money\\ninvested. Consulting Webster s Dictionary, we find\\nthat invest is from the Latin investire, which\\nmeans to clothe, to put garments on. We never do\\nsuch a thing with money, the idea is ridiculous.\\nThen what is meant by investing money\\nWhen John gives Peter two hundred dollars for a\\nspan of horses, they say John invests two hundred\\ndollars in horses. According to that, giving money for\\nsomething else is investing it. If money is invested\\nbecause it has been given for something else, any\\nother thing that has been given for something else\\nis invested. If not, please give the reason why not.\\nIf John has his money in the horses, Peter has his\\nhorses in the money. If John is still entitled to the\\nuse (investment interest) of the money which is now\\nPeter s, why should Peter be deprived of the use of\\nthe horses\\nThe total amount of money existing is by\\nvarious authors estimated at eight billion to twelve\\nbillion dollars. Let it be ten times that sum. If\\nyou will figure up all that comes under the head of\\ninvestment you will get a sum many thousand\\ntimes larger than that of all the money existing.\\nNow, can a man invest a thousand dollars when he\\nhas but one If not, how did the people manage to\\ninvest many thousand times more money than they\\nhad?\\nAlthough according to our belief the people\\nhave invested even more money than there is in ex-\\nistence, there are, not minding the amount in circu-", "height": "3420", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0028.jp2"}, "29": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 19\\nlation, millions and millions of dollars lying in bank\\nvaults uninvested. How is this possible?\\nThe following illustration will explain that mys-\\ntery. A gets in five thousand dollars, which he had\\nhired out, and invested it in groceries, which he\\nbuys of B, B, who thus comes into possession of\\nthat money, invests it again by buying out C, the\\ndry goods man, C, who now owns that money, buys\\nout D, the druggist. Which one has now that\\nmoney in his business? None of them. The money\\nis now D s, the druggist, who is out of business.\\nAfter that same money has been invested three\\ntimes it is still out of use and ready to be invested\\nagain or hired out at interest.\\nAh, says my opponent, these are only\\nchanges of property, they are the same investments\\nfirst and last.\\nThis is the very thing the illustration is meant\\nto show that sales and purchases are only changes\\nof property and that the money is only the medium\\nof exchange, the instrument by the help of which\\nchanges of property are effected. The sales and\\npurchases in our illustration are not any different\\nfrom all other sales and purchases. Since these are\\nnot investments, none are. The fact that B, C and\\nD each had a stock of goods on hand does not alter\\nthe case, because the same money may have bou. ht\\nthese goods before and can buy them again.\\nStill, you say, they are investments first and\\nlast. Please state where the investment takes its\\nbeginning what act establishes the investment?\\nA, B and C, each claims that his investment\\nmust bring him interest. Whereon is interest due", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0029.jp2"}, "30": {"fulltext": "20 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM\\nthem on the goods that they keep for their own\\nespecial benefit, or on the money which is no more\\ntheirs?\\nThe farmer we met at the shoemaker s, bought\\nhis land thirty-five years ago at five dollars per acre.\\nHe values it now at sixty-five dollars per acre, and\\nclaims that interest is due him on that amount, be-\\ncause there is that much money in it. When or\\nhow did he invest the balance of sixty dollars per\\nacre\\nMoney wherewith goods are bought becomes\\nby that very act the property of another, the seller,\\nand has consequently no further connection with\\nthe buyer nor the goods bought. As the auger is\\nan instrument to bore holes, money is the instrument\\nof exchange. As the same auger can bore many\\nholes of the same size, the same money can\\nexchange many stocks of goods of the same amount.\\nAnd as the auger does not remain in the holes\\nit has bored, the money does not remain in the\\ngoods it has exchanged. All the money existing\\nis partly in circulation, and the rest stored away.\\nNot a cent of it is or can be invested.\\nSays my opponent: Nobody believes that the\\nmoney is within the goods bought, but it required\\nthe money to get the goods. If the goods did not\\nbring the interest which otherwise the money\\nwould, nobody would invest his money. He would\\nhire it out and that would kill business.\\nThis is making one crime the excuse for\\nanother. We have seen before, that the hiring of\\nmoney is the foundation of a system of robbery\\nwhich has its chief effect in investment interest.", "height": "3420", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0030.jp2"}, "31": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 21\\nMoney does not produce anything, conse-\\nquently it required something else to get the goods,\\nnamely, labor. The money was only required to\\nexchange the goods.\\nYou make losing the money interest the excuse\\nfor the investment interest. But the money keeps\\non drawing interest, for the seller who receives the\\ninvested money will hire it out. The goods bring\\ninterest without being hired out (remember that\\ninterest makes the price). Thus the invested money\\nand the goods invested in both draw interest, but\\nthe labor which produced both the goods and the\\nmoney is left out in the cold.\\nStop the investing and you stop the hiring of\\nmoney, for money is always hired to be invested.\\nDo you see the fallacy of your argument?\\nSince the money is not in, or in any way\\nconnected with the buyer or the goods bought,\\ninvestment interest is simply a premium on wealth.\\nWhether the purchase is large or small the\\nnature of it is the same. We buy things everyday,\\nhence know from experience that the money we\\nhave bought with is gone for good, and that there\\nis no longer a connection between us and the\\nmoney we have expended. In spite of our daily\\nexperience to the contrary, we take the investing\\nof money for a fact. We actually believe what we\\nare convinced is untrue. Does this not look as if\\nsomething disturbed our brains in the exercise of\\ntheir functions", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0031.jp2"}, "32": {"fulltext": "22 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nBUSINESS.\\nIn order that we may live, we must consume,\\nand in order that we may consume, we must produce.\\nIf we could live without consuming, or consume\\nwithout producing, no one would be busy; busy-\\nness, or business the noun is derived from the\\nadjective would not be known. Consequently,\\nbusiness is production, or, with terms reversed,\\nproducing the necessaries of life is the business.\\nWhether we shall produce them independently or\\nmutually, as we now do, is optional. Nature does\\nnot dictate to us in the matter.\\nIndependent production I call it when every\\nfamily produces what it consumes, and consumes\\nwhat it produces independent of others. That\\nmode, because the product does not go out of his\\nhands, secures to every producer the full amount\\nhe produces; but it keeps the mode of living down\\nto simplicity. Each man can enjoy only what he\\nis able to produce himself.\\nMutual production is the mode of producing\\nthings for one another. This mode, because the\\nindividual devotes his ability and energy to the\\nproduction of but one class of things, creates the\\nmechanic, the artist. It thus enables us to produce\\nthe necessaries of life better, in a greater variety\\nand by less toil. The different vocations or divisions\\nof business are called trades.\\nA man s trade is his special business he de-\\npends on his trade for a living- This makes all\\nproducers dependent on one another. The shoe-", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0032.jp2"}, "33": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 23\\nmaker, for instance, depends on the tailor for his\\nclothing, on the farmer for his produce, on the\\ncabinetmaker for his furniture, etc., while the tailor,\\nfarmer and cabinetmaker depend on the shoe-\\nmaker for their boots and shoes. Thus, every labor-\\ning man is producer and consumer, business man\\nand customer all in one person. Since that de-\\npendence is reciprocal, the trades work harmoni-\\nously, like so many wheels in a machine. The one\\ncarries the other the one exists through the others;\\nthey are as necessary to one another as they are\\ndependent on one another. When one of them is\\ninjured or destroyed, a large class suffers, since it\\nloses thexapacity of patronizing the other classes.\\nAll suffer more or less in consequence.\\nTraffic is not one of the business divisions,\\nbecause it does not produce anything. The dealer\\nstands between producer and consumer and hands\\nover the products. He performs the office of a\\nservant. A servant is a necessary adjunct as far\\nas service is needed, but anyone forcing himself\\non another, or on a community as a servant, is an\\nintruder.\\nAs far as we wish to make use of things which\\nwe cannot raise or manufacture at home, and\\nwhich, therefore, must be brought from other\\ncountries, some transporting and exchanging\\nmedium is required.\\nWhether or not traffic in its present form is the\\nproper agency may find its explanation in another\\nchapter. At present we shall consider only that\\npart of traffic which but forty years ago was not\\nknown, namely, traffic in the products of the", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0033.jp2"}, "34": {"fulltext": "24 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nmechanic. Of this we still remember that the\\npeople got along as well, nay, better without it.\\nThe mechanic is not bound to locality; he can\\nproduce anywhere. Consequently, dealing in his\\nproducts is uncalled for. Such traffic is a sort of\\npilfering, because, while there is no need of it, it\\nraises the prices of the articles without increasing\\ntheir value and\u00e2\u0080\u0094 the dealer is not commissioned\\nit does it without consent of producer and consumer.\\nIs a suit of clothing, for instance, worth more\\nbecause it went through the hands of dealers? It\\nmay have become shopworn, motheaten, faded,\\nwhile in the dealers possession, but that does not\\nadd to its value. If the suit is worth what the dealer\\nsells it for, it was worth it ere he got it. Conse-\\nquently, the producer of the suit has been cheated\\nto the amount of the dealers profit. If the pro-\\nducer has received the value of his product, the con-\\nsumer is taxed to the amount of the profit. Whether\\nthe producer or the consumer is the victim is, col-\\nlectively, of the same import, because every pro-\\nducer is a consumer.\\nSuch traffic has now forced itself into every\\nphase of business. The annual booty pocketed by\\nsuch dealers amounts to millions in every city, and\\nto thousands in every village.\\nBut this is not all. Under the mutual mode of\\nproducing, the individual is skilled only in his trade,\\nand, since the chance of returning to independent\\nproduction is for him cut off, his trade is his only\\nmeans of maintaining existence. Destroy the\\ntrades, and you make the mechanic a mendicant, or,\\nat best, a wage serf.", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0034.jp2"}, "35": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 25\\nAnd this is what such traffic is doing, or, rather,\\nhas done already. Glancing back into the time\\nwhen no such traffic was known, we behold cities\\nand towns full of life, full of business. The clap\\nof the loom, the tick and whiz of tools in general\\nis heard in every street. There are hatters, tanners,\\nfurriers, locksmiths, coopers, dyers, saddlers, in\\nshort, mechanics of every kind. Producer and con-\\nsumer stand in close touch and provide each other\\nwith genuine articles, which they exchange direct;\\nand the farmer finds a ready home market for\\nalmost anything he may raise.\\nTrue, they were tributary even then, for the\\nchimera, capital, existed but, since the millions\\nnow pocketed by uncalled for dealers remained in\\ntheir own possession, they could afford to pay the\\ntribute and support a family besides. If work and\\nwages are all the laboring man asks for to make him\\nhappy, we may call him a happy people.\\nNow look at the present state of things. The\\ncountry town is dreary, still, dead. There is\\nperhaps a wagoner mending a broken wheel a\\nblacksmith shoeing a horse sometimes a tailor or\\na shoemaker, patching up store goods. Only stone-\\nmasons and carpenters are occasionly found in\\nnumbers, because our enlightened age has not\\nyet enabled us to deal in ready-made stone walls\\nand houses.\\nInquire in the business part of the town, and\\nthey will point you to a cluster of storehouses. The\\nreal business men, those numerous mechanics\\nwhere are they In the factory. Are they now the\\nhappy people of forty years ago Judging from", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0035.jp2"}, "36": {"fulltext": "26 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nthe way they obey the whistle which commands\\nthem to go to work, and from the abject submission\\nthey show to superiors, I should rather call them\\nslaves. Are they still mechanics? The workman-\\nship in the things we now buy shows sufficiently\\nthat the mechanic is gone and that the bungler takes\\nhis place. (Exceptions do not make the rule).\\nThey are factory hands. This tells it all\\nIn order that the people can derive a benefit\\nfrom producing for one another, the different trades\\nmust be among one another, so that the products\\ncan be exchanged without difficulty and without\\nheavy expenses. Whenever the expenses of ex-\\nchanging the products exceed the gain in mutual\\nproduction, the object of the latter is frustrated.\\nAnd this is what uncalled for traffic has accom-\\nplished. It has turned the mechanics into crowds\\nof wage-serfs, each class to itself and away from the\\nothers. In consequence of this, the different things\\nwhich constitute a family s needs are now brought\\nfrom all parts of the country, and, since they go\\nthrough the hands of a number of investors, we\\npay three times as much for the exchanging of the\\nproducts as we pay one another for producing them.\\nWhat excuse is there for such traffic? None\\nwhatever. It is carried on because money seeks\\ninvestment.\\nBut does not wholesale manufacture necessitate\\nsuch traffic and such unnatural grouping of the pro-\\nducers Yes. But is wholesale manufacture neces-\\nsary? Does it promote the welfare of the people?\\nThe clamor for work and wages, the periodical stag-\\nnations of business, and the impoverishment of the", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0036.jp2"}, "37": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 27\\nmasses prove the contrary. For thousands of years\\nthe people have produced all they needed (even\\nmore than they needed) without the help of steam\\nengines. They are as capable now.\\nStill, the more we produce the better we ought\\nto be supplied; the faster we produce, the more\\ntime ought to be left us for recreation and enjoy-\\nment. If machines enable us to produce twice as\\nfast, they ought to reduce the hours of toil fifty per\\ncent.\\nBut experience has taught us, that the more we\\nproduce the less the producers have to enjoy the\\nfaster they produce, the more steadily they must\\ntoil to get a living. What accounts for such unnat-\\nural results\\nMoney invested. The investments swallow\\nup more than is gained by using the machines. The\\nraw material is shipped to the manufacturing place;\\nthe ready-made articles are sent back to where they\\nare wanted. The dealers who attend to the shipping\\nand re-shipping, as well as the transfer companies,\\nhave money invested the machines, the build-\\nings, the steam plants, the stock, each and all is an\\ninvestment.\\nIf all the expenses, including investment inter-\\nest, were added to the prices of the articles manu-\\nfactured in an open way, the price of the machine-\\nmade article would be higher than that of the hand-\\nmade. But this, machine producers dare not do be-\\ncause hand-made articles are generally preferred.\\nSo the matter is doctored up or adjusted by means\\nof forgeries, adulterations and miserable workman-\\nship. This brings about the cheap, but poor. If", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0037.jp2"}, "38": {"fulltext": "28 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\na machine-made article is sold ten per cent, cheaper\\nthan a hand-made, it is one hundred per cent, poorer,\\nfor all that investment interest has to come out of\\nthe consumer s pocket in some way.\\nBut this is not all. Wholesale manufacture de-\\nfaces and defiles even God s creations. It disfigures\\nthe bank of the river and pollutes its water it\\nblackens and poisons the air it exhausts the mine\\nit annihilates the forest; it impairs health, maims\\nlimbs and destroys lives. And all this, just because\\nmoney seeks investment.\\nWho or what is responsible for that corruption\\nof business? Rings? Monopolies? Corporations?\\nParty legislation Not any of these. Although\\nthese are sores on the body politic, they are but\\neffects they are not original causes. Those rings\\nso much complained of are simply investors, who\\ncling together for the purpose of securing a good\\ninterest on their investments something that every\\nlaboring man would do if he had the chance or\\nmeans.\\nThe investor pockets the booty, but he is\\npassive. He simply waits for the sheep to come to\\nbe shorn. It is through our own mismanagement,\\nthrough our patronizing him, that he becomes our\\ntormentor. We pass the door of the mechanic to\\nget our supply from some dealer. Why? To get it\\ncheap. What is cheap? Does adding to the\\nprice without increasingthe value make thingscheap?\\nIs it because they get things cheap that so many of\\nthe laboring men are at the brink of starvation\\nTraffic produces nothing, money produces\\nnothing. Every cent meddlers make has to come", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0038.jp2"}, "39": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 29\\nout of labor. If the dealer actually could sell\\narticles for less money than the mechanic can make\\nthem for, it would only prove that the producers of\\nthe articles have been robbed.\\nIf we had never patronized meddlers, neither\\npernicious traffic nor wholesale manufacture could\\nhave become possible none of your cliques or\\nrings could have come into existence those pitiful\\nslaves, the factory hands, would today be independ-\\nent mechanics, and the millions now pocketed by\\nmeddlers would still remain with the producers.\\nBut now the producer has become a mere tool\\nin the hands of the investor, and as befitting this\\ncircumstance, producing has lost even the significa-\\ntion of business. The meddler has assumed that\\npredicate. The mechanic has betrayed his trade,\\nsurrendered the last remnant of his economic inde-\\npendence and made a slave of himself. And after\\nall this bitter experience, we patronize meddlers\\nmore than ever. How can this be accounted for?\\nI do not mean to say that labor-saving machines\\nrhould not be used under any circumstances. After\\nthe system of robbery, called investing money shall\\nhave been rendered impracticable (which we shall\\nsee further on can be easily done), a new order of\\nthings will step in, and machines, as far as they will\\nbe practicable under the new order, will become as\\nmuch of a benefit to the human family as some of\\nthem now prove to be a detriment.\\nWe believe that we are ever so much wiser than\\npeople of former days, but our management of\\nbusiness is no proof of it. The fact is, we suffer in\\nconsequence of ignorance. The individual strives", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0039.jp2"}, "40": {"fulltext": "3 o THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nto improve his lot, and it is our common interest to\\nameliorate our condition as a whole. Hence, any-\\nthing that deteriorates the condition of the masses,\\nbut is nevertheless used and commonly patronized,\\nexposes general ignorance, and that, too, if it did\\nrequire skill to bring it about.\\nThe horse is a powerful animal. If he were not\\nignorant of the fact, he could not be tamed, could\\nnot be compelled to do hard work. The wronged\\nand suffering masses constitute a powerful majority\\nof the body politic. They may be aware of the\\nfact, but why do they not improve their condition?\\nBecause they do not know how. They suffer be-\\ncause they are ignorant of the de facto situation.\\nSo long as the laboring men, who produce the\\nnecessaries of life, create all wealth and constitute\\na powerful majority with any people, suffer want,\\nwhile nature yields abundantly, they have no claim\\nto intelligence. Does that seem harsh? It is the\\ntruth, and The truth will make you free. No one\\ncan make you free but you yourselves; and you\\ncannot acquire freedom without knowing the bare\\nfacts in the case, be they what they will. So long\\nas prejudice and self conceit prevent you from\\nlearning the facts, you will remain slaves.\\nThe economic evil does not rest with the\\ninvestors any more than with their victims. The\\ncorruption of business, as well as the fallacy of\\ninvesting money, gives evidence of some mental\\ndefect which is common to all of us. That defect\\ncannot be mere ignorance, much less stupidity or\\nimbecility, because there is system in the corrup-\\ntion. What can it be?", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0040.jp2"}, "41": {"fulltext": "III. OUR MENTAL CONDITION.\\nThe chapter I now begin will, I fear, hurt the\\nreader s feelings. I should much rather avoid this,\\nbut in order to remove the economic evil we must\\nknow the bare facts. Intelligence, we believe, has\\nreached the top of the ladder, but our management\\nof political economy is no proof of it. All peoples,\\nat all times have had the same opinion of them-\\nselves.\\nSelf conceit is a great obstacle in the way of\\nstudy. He who thinks he knows it all no longer\\nrecognizes the need of study and the worst of it\\nis that he who knows the least, feels surest that he\\nknows it all.\\nI have several times pointed out the fact\\nthat our actions expose lack of judgment and the\\nreader will have noticed that we always meet that\\nmental defect in connection with money. When\\nwe glance at science and see its work, that it makes\\nnatural forces subservient to the will of men when\\nwe consider the extent to which it has watched and\\nexplained the movements of the heavenly bodies\\nwhen we examine the inventions of the last cen-\\ntury, etc., we must admit that the human mind is\\nclear and penetrating.", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0041.jp2"}, "42": {"fulltext": "32 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nBut when we study the political and economic\\nfields and see people suffering want in the midst of\\nabundance of everything when we find that the\\nvery ones who produce the abundance are the poor,\\nthe sufferers, and have to confess ourselves unable\\nto see the cause of it or devise a practical remedy,\\nwe cannot help admitting, to the contrary, that the\\nmind is very dull.\\nNow mark the difference. Science operates\\nindependent of money, but political economy is\\ninterwoven with money from beginning to end.\\nThis shows that mental debility is not a fault com-\\nmitted or a defect left by nature, for it is limited to\\nmoney. Misconceptions, corrupt ideas respecting\\nmoney, which have been inherited from generation\\nto generation, have taken possession of the mind.\\nThey interfere with the brain in the exercise of\\nits functions. Hence the fact, that, independent\\nof money, we accomplish almost everything so\\nfar the mind is free but, with or against money,\\nwe accomplish nothing, because so far the mind is\\nencumbered.\\nThis, perhaps, will be news to you, and your\\npride will rebel against such an idea. But keep\\ncool, please, and try your mental strength with\\nsome direct money questions.\\nWhat is the difference between gold, money,\\nand dollar? Is the medium of exchange a public\\ninstitution, or private property? If a public insti-\\ntution, what right has the individual to hire it out\\nand put the spoils or interest in his own pocket? If\\nprivate property, what right has the lawmaker to\\nmeddle with it What causes the rise and fall of\\nmoney value", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0042.jp2"}, "43": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 33\\nWhen, at the close of the civil war, the legisla-\\nture of Illinois made ten per cent, a legal interest\\n(six per cent, was the rate before), A and B, as I\\nwill now call them, got into a controversy about\\nthat act. A called it a robbery on the poorer or\\nmiddle classes, while B contended it was the best\\nact that honorable body had passed. In defense of\\nhis views he said\\nMoney, like other commodities, is cheap\\nwhen it is plenty, and its value rises when it gets\\nscarce. A scarcity of money in our state has been\\nfelt for some time consequently it has gone up.\\nWe can no longer get it as cheap as we used to. In\\nthe eastern states money is plenty, and hence\\ncheap. It can be had at five per cent., while further\\nwest fifteen to twenty per cent, is paid for it. The\\nlawmaker has confronted a necessity. The higher\\ninterest will draw money from the east, while under\\nthe old conditions, even the money we have in the\\nstate now would go further west, where higher\\ninterest is paid for it. This would have made hard\\ntimes for us. Times are always hard when money\\nis scarce.\\nLet us now observe cause and effect in this\\nmatter. At that time a minister of the gospel\\noccupied a house which he rented from a member\\nof his flock at the legal interest on its value. The\\nhouse had been bought for eight hundred dollars,\\nand, as interest was then six per cent., the minis-\\nter s house rent amounted to forty-eight dollars\\nannually.\\nSince interest makes the price, the nigher inter-\\nest affected rents and prices in general, but, under", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0043.jp2"}, "44": {"fulltext": "34 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nthe existing contract, it affected the minister s rent\\nmore directly. The landlord stuck to the contract.\\nAn investment must bring its interest, said he,\\nand, since there is wear and tear and taxes to be\\npaid, renting the house at the bare interest is\\ncheaper than even a minister ought to expect.\\nThus, the additional four per cent, interest raised\\nthe minister s rent from forty-eight dollars to eighty\\ndollars.\\nThe rate of interest had been raised because\\nmoney went up, but it looked now more as if\\nmoney had gone down, for it required more of it to\\nprocure the same commodities a fact to which the\\nminister can testify. Interest had been raised to\\nprevent hard times, but it looked rather as if harder\\ntimes had been forced on the public, for, while it\\nraised prices and, consequently, expenses, it did\\nnot raise wages. What are the facts in the case?\\nLet us, for an illustration, assume that six per\\ncent, is the cardinal interest, and that under that\\nrate one dollar is worth one dollar even. Then if\\nmoney should go up, say ten per cent., one hundred\\ndollars hired would become worth one hundred and\\nten dollars, and the six dollars paid for interest\\nsix dollars and sixty cents. Thus, if all money\\nshould go up alike, the rise of the interest money\\nwould always pay the corresponding interest on\\nthe rise of the money hired, and changing the rate\\nof interest would never become necessary. But\\nwhy is it that when money goes up interest money\\ndoes not go up also?\\nEverything works naturally. Money is a thing\\nof our own make, and there is nothing supernatural", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0044.jp2"}, "45": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 35\\nin it. Since it has been in use for two thousand\\nyears, it ought to be understood by this time. Ev-\\nerybody ought to be able to answer any and all\\nmoney questions. If you cannot explain them, you\\nwill have to admit that with money your under-\\nstanding is paralyzed.\\nAnother proof of this fact is the belief in\\nMONEY POWER.\\nThere are powers which are unexplainable,\\nelectricity, for instance, but the existence of\\nsuch powers can always be proven. If I were to\\nprove the power of electricity, I should have the\\ninquirer touch a live wire. He would soon be con-\\nvinced of the existence of that power. But I defy\\nanybody to prove power of money.\\nWell, said a critic, it seems you have never\\nnoticed the power of money in business, legislation,\\njurisdiction everywhere. You don t know that\\npetty thieves are imprisoned, while those who steal\\nmillions run at large. If I were a rich man, I could\\nsoon convince you of that power but as it is, I\\ncan t do it. But if you will keep your eyes open\\nyou will see that power every day. Is not the rich\\nman preferred in society? Just look at John B.\\nHe is rude and silly, but is he not received with\\ncourtesy wherever he goes Does not everybody\\nmeet him with an extended hand and a How do\\nyou do, Mr. B.? Now, if it is not his money and\\nhis farms that cause this, what is it? Why, if he\\nwere poor nobody would look at him\\nI have no doubt you could cite many such in-", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0045.jp2"}, "46": {"fulltext": "36 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nstances, but they do not prove the power of money.\\nWhenever a cause is removed, the effects cease. If\\nsuch demonstrations were effects, or power of\\nmoney, they would cease when the money, the\\ncause, is removed. But take the poorest man out\\nof the poorhouse, dress him in good clothes and\\nintroduce him as the railroad king, Vanderbilt, and\\nyou will observe the same How do you do and\\nthe same extended hand, although the man may\\nnot have a cent of money. On the other hand,\\nintroduce the genuine Vanderbilt as a poor but\\nhonest man who needs a little pecuniary assistance,\\nand the same individuals will turn their backs on\\nhim. His money will not be of the slightest effect.\\nSince such abject demonstrations will appear and\\nfail to appear contrary to the presence or absence\\nof money, they are simply effusions of a sick brain.\\nThis shows the very thing that it is not the\\nman the people bow to, but the money. They\\ndon t know but the money is there. Hence the\\ndemonstration.\\nThis is saying that the cause need not exist it\\nwill be of effect if you only believe it to exist. This\\nis too absurd for me to waste words over it.\\nHow do you account for the existence of rail-\\nroads, tunnels and the like great constructions?\\nSince such enterprises cannot be accomplished\\nwithout money, the power to execute them is cer-\\ntainly in the money.\\nIn this case, you mistake a system of robbery\\nfor power of money. Money is required to build\\nsuch things, but that money represents performed\\nlabor, labor of which the laborers have been", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0046.jp2"}, "47": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 37\\ndeprived and which others have accumulated and\\nstored up in the form of money. In building a rail-\\nroad, for instance, pre-performed labor is exchanged\\nfor labor to be performed. Labor creates the\\nmeans, labor builds the railroad, consequently all\\ncredit is due to labor, brain and brawn. The capi-\\ntalist does not even deserve the credit of a thief,\\nbecause he does not do the stealing himself. Our\\neconomic system steals for him.\\nSuppose the government issues a hundred\\nmillion dollars of paper money for the purpose of\\nbuilding a railroad. Will that money represent\\npre-performed labor? And will the railroad come\\ninto existence through a system of robbery, or\\nthrough the power of that money\\nIt will come into existence through the power\\nof the government. We, the people, are the gov-\\nernment, and we, the people, are able to build a\\nrailroad without stolen labor. In this case, the road\\nis built on public credit and is then public property\\nthe only proper way to build one. But with rail-\\nroads built by individuals, a system of robbery is\\nthe source of the means. Whether built by the\\ngovernment or by individuals, the money does not\\nperform any part of the labor it is only needed to\\nexchange labor. (The particulars of this will be\\nfound further on in this book.) The idea that money\\ncan build railroads, or exercise any power what-\\never, is simply ridiculous. The mere fact that\\nmoney is inanimate, ought to be sufficient proof for\\nany rational being that money power is a phantom.\\nI do not claim that money by itself can exer-\\ncise power, but in the hands of men, money is a", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0047.jp2"}, "48": {"fulltext": "38 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\npowerful instrument. The rich control everything,\\nand they exercise their control through money.\\nHow do they use that powerful instrument?\\nThe only use that can be made of money is that of\\na medium of exchange the only misuse to hire it.\\nNeither the use nor the misuse affects anybody\\nexcept the respective parties in a transaction, and\\nno power is thereby exercised, because each party\\nexercises free will. Money does not become a\\npower until it is invested, and since the investment\\nis a deception, money power begins just where\\ncommon sense ends.\\nA ragman who died in a Paris poorhouse left\\nover fifty thousand francs in money and bank stock\\nin his trunk. I have known a millionaire (Thorn-\\nton, St. Louis), a bachelor who spent the best part\\nof his life in a one-window back room in one of his\\nnumerous houses; wore shabby clothes, sponged his\\nliving as far as possible, and at one time attempted\\nsuicide because he had lost a few hundred dollars\\nthrough poor speculation. Does this look as if\\nmoney were a powerful instrument in the hands of\\nthe man Does it not look more as if the man\\nwere a plaything in the hands of money You will\\nsay, these are exceptional cases. Only the degree\\nor intensity is an exception. As a rule, few of the\\nrich enjoy the ease and comfort riches afford. Al-\\nthough they possess more than they can ever use,\\nthey exert themselves continually, even resort to\\nfoul means, to get more. However, they never\\nreach their object. The object moves further away\\nfaster than they draw near. Their efforts are not\\nonly vain, but vile and stupid.", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0048.jp2"}, "49": {"fulltext": "1HE HIRING OF MONEY. 39\\nFour or five thousand years ago Israelites made\\na calf of gold now gold makes calves of us.\\nPerhaps my critic will now comprehend that\\nthe cause of the corruption he sees everywhere is\\nnot power of money but mental incumbrance.\\nAs said before, money power is a phantom.\\nBy phantom I do not mean an apparition, but\\nmental aberration. Whenever misconceptions be-\\ncome fixed in the mind they become premises,\\nstandpoints to reason from. Consequently, we can\\nno longer reason correctly on the respective sub-\\njects. Believing something that does not exist\\ncreates a bare phantom believing some existing\\nthing to be what it is not creates a concrete phan-\\ntom. Ghosts and witches were bare phantoms\\nmoney power is a concrete one. This renders it\\nmore formidable and mysterious it cannot be\\ndetected as easily as a bare phantom, because its\\nconcrete (money) hides it.\\nIf witchcraft had been concrete, with feathers,\\nfor instance, with all the mischief that phantom has\\ndone, the observer would only have seen the\\nfeathers, for phantoms are invisible he would have\\naccredited the effects of the phantom to the feath-\\ners and probably called it feather power. So in\\nour case. With all the corruption this phantom\\nbrings about, the observer sees only the money,\\nattributes the effect of the phantom to the money\\nand calls it money power.\\nGhosts and witches have brought fright and\\nterror to the people. Money power has demoral-\\nized mankind. It has kept and still keeps the ma-", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0049.jp2"}, "50": {"fulltext": "40 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\njority of the people in poverty and misery it has\\ndriven millions to despair and suicide.\\nWhen the Germans found out what ghosts are,\\nthe ghosts disappeared. When the Puritans found\\nout what witches are, the witches ceased to exist.\\nLet us find out what money is, and money power\\nand capital, like ghosts and witches, will be things\\nof the past.", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0050.jp2"}, "51": {"fulltext": "IV. MONEY.\\nThe historian is older than the pen, and we\\nhave records of important happenings of thousands\\nof years ago. It seems, therefore, somewhat strange\\nthat we do not have a separate history of money.\\nThe question when, where and by whom was money\\nestablished, is still an open one with most people.\\nWe would suppose that establishing a world-\\nwide institution, like the medium of exchange,\\nwherein every nation, nay, every individual, is\\ndirectly interested, would have required proposi-\\ntions, plans that it would have necessitated na-\\ntional and international conventions, final ratifica-\\ntions and the like. But of such history knows\\nnaught. This proves that a formal establishment\\nnever took place.\\nMoney is from Moneta, a surname of the\\nGreek idol, Juno; dollar is from the German\\nthai (dale), particularly St. Joachim s thai, a valley\\nin the silver regions of Bohemia. These words\\nwere originally adjectives used with coin, as\\nMoneta coin, St. Joachim s thaler coin. The latter,\\nbeing too long for convenience, was abbreviated to\\nThaler, dollar. When finally the noun (coin)\\nwas dropped, the adjectives became arbitrary\\nnames. Hence these words disclose nothing save\\nthat coin is older than these names.\\n41", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0051.jp2"}, "52": {"fulltext": "42 THE SOL UTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nThe Bible, mentioning money the first time\\n(Gen. XXIII, 16), does not present it as something\\nnew, but as current with the merchants. Passages\\nlike Gen. XLII, 35, Exod. XXII, 17, seem likewise\\nto show thai: money was a common thing in Moses\\ntime. Exod. XXI, 21, shows that even the delusion\\nof investing money existed. A delusion is younger\\nthan its parent. Since Moses calls a man s slaves\\nhis money, as if it were a self evident fact, we must\\nsuppose that the delusion was common, and that\\nconsequently money must have existed a long time.\\nExod. XXII, 25, Levit. XXV, 37, and Deut. XXIII,\\n19, are prohibitions of usury. Usury is misuse of\\nthe medium of exchange. Public institutions are\\nnot established for misuse the misuse creeps in\\nafterwards and gradually. Since usury was prac-\\nticed to such an extent as to cause Moses to forbid\\nit, we must again suppose that money is much\\nolder than Moses. Judging from the Bible, we\\nmight suppose that God himself created the me-\\ndium of exchange along with the world. This,\\nthough, is not at all likely, for He would not have\\nmade it a puzzle.\\nSince savage tribes do not have money, civilization\\nis certainly the mother of it. Searching for its birth,\\nlet us begin with a time when no such thing as civ-\\nilization existed, follow up the natural course of\\ndevelopment, and see whether we shall discover the\\nevent.\\nPrior to the mutual mode of producing, we\\nfind tribes of people scattered over the country,\\nliving in huts or caves, or simply in the woods.\\nFree gifts of nature constitute the main part of", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0052.jp2"}, "53": {"fulltext": "7 HE HIRING OF MONEY. 43\\ntheir few necessities of life, and since there is no\\ncapital to be fed, the work they have to do is very\\nlittle.\\nStill, the fish will not come out of the water of\\ntheir own accord; game must be caught, dressed,\\nand perhaps cooked the hides must be tanned and\\nconverted into clothing or covering, etc. To\\naccomplish this the savages have need of some\\ntools and utensils, and these must be produced.\\nSince nature qualifies men differently, one\\nmakes a good bow and arrow, but is not able to\\nmake a good net; one makes a cutting instrument,\\nbut cannot produce a cooking vessel, etc. This\\nleads to propositions like these You make my\\ntomahawk, and I will tan your hides. I will make\\nyour moccasins if you will make my canoe, etc.\\nThe propositions are accepted, and with this, mutual\\nproduction takes its beginning.\\nThis is the dawn of civilization.\\nSkipping a long space of time, we find mutual\\nproduction established. Tools have been improved\\nand new ones invented, and a large variety of\\narticles are produced the producer has become a\\nmechanic, and is dependent on his trade for his liv-\\ning, consequently exchanging products has become\\ninevitable. This causes difficulties. The chance to\\nget what a man wants in exchange for the article or\\narticles he produces himself will not always present\\nitself; and when it does, one of the parties often\\nhas to sacrifice a part of his product to effect the\\nnecessary exchange. This condition of things calls\\nfor a means or medium to facilitate the exchange.\\nUncivilized and half-civilized peoples are fond", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0053.jp2"}, "54": {"fulltext": "44 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nof tinsel. Gold is the first metal found (this is an\\nhistorical fact), and its luster is captivating. This is\\nmade use of. By offering a piece of gold for it, the\\ndesired article is obtained by adding a piece of the\\nshining metal to the article of less consideration or\\nvalue the exchange is effected. Through this gold\\nbecomes their select article, that is, the article by\\nthe help of which other articles are exchanged-\\nWith the select article we have arrived at an\\nhistorical time therefore we will drop the hypo-\\nthetical discourse, and see what we can gather from\\nhistory.\\nAs to the original population of the globe, our\\nknowledge is dependent on revelation. Historic-\\nally, it is known that wandering tribes have found\\none another who did not before know of one an-\\nother s existence and they have found one another\\nin a higher or lower state of civilization. Hence, it\\ncannot be supposed that civilization took its begin-\\nning with a single tribe of people and in a single\\nlocality. But, no matter with how many tribes civ-\\nilization may have taken a beginning, all had to go\\nthrough a course similar to that described in our\\nhypothesis all had to resort to a select article.\\nThe requirements of a select article are demand,\\ndivisibility and durability. It must be in demand,\\nthat anyone will accept it; it must be divisible, or\\nexist in different sizes, that any value difference can\\nbe balanced it must be preservable, that people\\nwill accept it even when they have no immediate\\nuse for it. The article which best answered these\\nrequirements with a nation became the select\\narticle of the nation. Thus, tea, salt, codfish, sea-", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0054.jp2"}, "55": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 45\\nshells, furs and a number of other things have at\\ndifferent times and with different nations served as\\nthe select article.\\nAll agricultural and pastoral tribes have ex-\\nchanged through animals. Since agriculture and\\nherding is and has been carried on in all inhabitable\\nparts of the globe, animals became that select article\\nwhich had the widest circulation and which\\nserved for the longest space of time. Since animals\\nmust be fed and otherwise attended to, having to\\nkeep them on hand for exchange purposes was cer-\\ntainly very inconvenient to anyone but a herder\\nor a farmer. But think of the burden of having\\nto take along a herd of animals on a trading tour\\nIt was the trader who first sought for a more\\nconvenient medium of exchange. The old Phoe-\\nnicians are accredited with having made the first\\nmove in that direction. They conceived the idea\\nthat things can be exchanged by means of repre-\\nsentation. They made tokens of bronze, each of\\nwhich bore the picture of the animal it was to repre-\\nsent. Provided with such, tokens, the trader could\\nnow make his tour unhampered by animals, trade as\\nfar as his credit was good, and then ship the ani-\\nmals, just the kind and number traded for, by the\\nmost direct route.\\nThose tokens were called pecunia, which, ren-\\ndered into English, is animal token. Pecunia is\\nfrom pecus, cattle. Since the select article included\\nall kinds of animals, pecus acquired also the sense\\nof animals and since wealth consisted of and\\nwas expressed in cattle or animals, pecus became", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0055.jp2"}, "56": {"fulltext": "46 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nalso synonymous with property, wealth, in which\\nsense, though, it took the form of pecitlium.\\nWith other nations and tongues the equivalents\\nof pecus, cattle, as fe, fio, fie and other variations of\\nthe word, became synonymous with wealth.\\nThose names were afterwards confounded with\\nmoney, and thus gave us our fee, peculation,\\npecuniary and similar words.\\nThe pecunia was an artificial medium of ex-\\nchange with a select article as its basis. If the state\\nhad taken the matter in hand, issued the tokens on\\npublic credit and as direct representatives of value,\\nthe artificial medium of exchange would have been\\nestablished. But the idea of such a medium had\\nnot yet matured, and the pecunia died as a private\\nconcern.\\nBut it taught the people that metal is more easily\\nkept and transported than animals, which brought\\nabout the bronze period. The Greeks made bronze\\npieces of different forms and sizes to make them\\nequivalent to d fferent animals. Some of these\\npieces, which have been excavated, weigh four to\\nfive pounds. Some bear the picture of an animal,\\nothers are destitute of any mark of designation. It\\nis supposed that the latter are of a later date made\\nafter the people had learned to express value in\\nbronze without the aid of pictures. The* Persians,\\nwho had two select articles, animals and dates,\\nmade dates of bronze, and used them exclu-\\nsively.\\nEvidently those bronze pieces were considered\\nan improvement on the pecunia, because the ani-\\nmals did not have to follow. But, in fact, it was a", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0056.jp2"}, "57": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 47\\nretrogressive step, because the idea of exchanging\\nby representation, which had been approached so\\nnear by the Phoenicians, was lost. They only had\\nchanged the select article from animals to bronze.\\nWhen that change was made, the values of\\nthings, which so far had been expressed in animals,\\nhad to be judged or computed in bronze. This was\\nleft to the people. Only the fines, which in the\\nRoman mulda (codex) ranged from one sheep to\\nthirty head of cattle, were computed by men of the\\nlaw. The old Latin for bronze is aes, and that valu-\\nation was called aes-timatio, which, by the way,\\nis the root of our estimation.\\nIn no case has the select article been a formally\\nestablished medium of exchange some commodity\\nbecame that medium by its own strength or merits.\\nGiving or receiving a select article for some other\\narticle was not different from exchanging things,\\nneither of which was a select article. There was\\nnothing in the select article which could have been\\nof interest to the historian, consequently we have\\nno history of the medium of exchange. Ancient\\nwriters mention the select article only perchance\\nand unaware of the fact that such mention could be\\nof interest to future generations. Homer, for in-\\nstance, who lived about nine hundred years before\\nChrist, narrates in his Iliad that a three-legged ves-\\nsel, which the Dana people judged worth twelve\\nhead of cattle, and a blooming and adroit maiden,\\nwho was worth four head of cattle, were put up for\\na prize.\\nUsury has always been the curse of civilization,\\nbut to that curse we are indebted for some histor-", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0057.jp2"}, "58": {"fulltext": "48 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nical information respecting the medium of exchange.\\nLicurgus, who lived eight hundred or seven hundred\\nyears B. C, trying to check usury, forbade the use\\nof gold and silver for exchange purposes, and or-\\ndered iron to be used instead. Plato, 430 B. C,\\ntaught that, to kill usury, the people need a medium\\nof exchange that has no value. Aristotle, 384 B.C.,\\ndeclared that the medium of exchange is only a\\ncreature of law.\\nWe deduce from the above, that in Licurgus time\\ngold and silver was used for a medium of exchange,\\nand that legislators began to consider that medium;\\nthat Plato made the first move toward an artificial\\nmedium, for, the people need a medium of ex-\\nchange that has no value, is equal to saying, the\\npeople need an artificial medium; and that in Aris-\\ntotle s time the artificial medium existed, for the\\nselect article, which in all cases has been a product\\nof nature and independent of law, could not have\\nbeen mistaken for a creature of law.\\nBut circumstances do not corroborate the sup-\\nposition. About 451 B. C., Tertullion caused the\\ntwelve tables to be written, which tables con-\\ntained the first written law of the Romans. About\\n268 B. C, the first silver was coined in Rome.\\nWhile written law existed\u00e2\u0080\u0094 at least with the Romans\\ncoin did not exist until a century after Aristotle s\\ntime. Since the artificial medium cannot exist\\nwithout legally issued coin or some token based on\\npublic credit, it is hard to see what sort of a medium\\nAristotle called a creature of law. If, however,\\nsuch a medium existed, it can only have been an\\nimperfect one. And it has not been perfected up", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0058.jp2"}, "59": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY.\\n49\\nto this day, as we shall see further on in this\\nchapter.\\nWhen we now take into consideration that\\nDavid, who lived in or before Homer s time, gave\\nsix hundred shekels of gold for a place to build an\\naltar (i Chr. XXI, 25), and that Abraham, who\\nlived long before Horner s time, gave four hundred\\nshekels of silver for a burying place (Gen. XXIII,\\n15, 16), we see that gold and silver were used for\\nexchange purposes long before the bronze period,\\nand even before the animal time. This shows that\\nas regards select articles there has been no such\\nthing as order of succession. Among different\\nnations different things have been used in the same\\ntime. While some nations have changed from one\\nthing to another, others have perhaps used gold\\nand silver from the first.\\nIt, is, therefore, not at all improbable that our\\nhypothesis is a statement of facts, true for some\\ntribe or tribes who lived where gold was found.\\nSince both the select article and the artificial\\nmedium are intervening agencies, both serving the\\nsame purpose, both are mediums of exchange.\\nNevertheless, there is an essential difference be-\\ntween the two.\\nThe select article has\\nbeen in all cases a product\\nof nature, and private prop-\\nerty.\\nExchanging for or against\\na select article is not differ-\\nent from exchanging things\\nneither of which is a select\\narticle.\\nThe artificial medium is\\na public institution.\\nThe tokens, which we call\\nmoney, represent the con-\\nsideration in the exchange.\\nHence the exchange is arti-\\nficial and complicated; a\\nsale and a purchase consti-\\ntute one exchange.", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0059.jp2"}, "60": {"fulltext": "5 o THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nIt is an equivalent to a\\nlarger or smaller amount,\\naccording to size or weight\\nand quality.\\nLegislation has no more\\nto do with it than with other\\nprivate property. Anyone\\ncan raise or produce of it as\\nmuch as he pleases and\\nput it in circulation; ac-\\ncept it or reject it, and han-\\ndle it as he pleases.\\nIts value is established by\\nthe markets; it affects the\\nexchanges on its own\\nstrength or value.\\nSince the tokens are but\\nrepresentatives, the size,\\nweight and quality of them\\nare immaterial.\\nIt is a creature of law.\\nThe tokens are issued by\\nstate authority and in pur-\\nsuance of law law sets the\\namount each token is to\\nrepresent; law protects\\nthem against disfigurement\\nand forbids private issues\\nand counterfeiting; law\\nmakes them a legal tender\\nfor debt hence law is their\\nstrength in the exchanges.\\nComparing the existing medium with the above\\nanalysis, we find that it is neither the select article\\nnor the artificial medium, but that in part it corre-\\nsponds to both. This shows that we still stand in\\nthe Phoenicians shoes. The artificial medium ex-\\nists now in law and in fact, but still has the select\\narticle basis. The medium is androgynous, which\\nrenders it unintelligible and mysterious. The select\\narticle is a natural medium and does not admit of\\nlegislation it becomes artificial as soon and as far\\nas the law-maker meddles with it.\\nAnything instituted through law is artificial.\\nThe law-maker has established the artificial medium\\nwithout realizing it, and, as his mind is encumbered,\\nhas made a fizzle of it. The select article is, the\\nartificial medium represents the consideration in the\\nexchange. By saying twenty-three and eight-\\ntenths grains of gold shall constitute (instead of\\nrepresent) one dollar, the law presents the tokens", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0060.jp2"}, "61": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 51\\n(which go with the artificial medium and without\\nwhich that medium cannot become operative) as\\nselect articles the very thing the same law abol-\\nishes.\\nAgain, while the law presents the tokens as\\nprivate property, it stamps them as visible marks of\\na public institution. Look at any one of them, and\\nit tells you, Render, therefore, unto Caesar the\\nthings that are Caesar s. If these tokens are pri-\\nvate property, every one of them bears a lie on its\\nface.\\nIf the law-maker had known what he was about,\\nand established the artificial medium of exchange\\nin proper and intelligible form, the people would\\nhave seen from the start that the artificial medium\\nis but an instrument, the tokens only transfer tick-\\nets the medium could not have become a puzzle,\\nand chimeras like money power and capital could\\nnot have originated.\\nThe name, money, is of Roman origin, about\\ntwo thousand years old, and a child of superstition.\\nThe name of the most exalted idol of Greeks\\nand Romans was Moneta Juno. Moneta is from\\nmonere, to warn, advise Juno from juvando, to\\nhelp, and the idol of that name was to the Romans\\nthe embodiment of advice and help she was the\\nqueen of the gods, and had a number of human af-\\nfairs in her special care. Of these only one is of\\ninterest here She was the patroness (creator and\\npreserver) of kingdoms and riches.\\nUsury is as old as the select article. Not know-\\ning that usury is that creator and preserver, but\\nseeing that the medium of exchange is in some way", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0061.jp2"}, "62": {"fulltext": "52 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nconnected with it, the Romans mistook the effects\\nof usury for the power of the idol Moneta; they\\nbelieved that the idol, as that patroness, operated\\nthrough the medium of exchange. In consequence\\nof this they manufactured coins in her temple, con-\\nsecrated them to the idol, and named them after\\nher, moneta. This is the root of the name, money.\\nCapital is of rather recent origin banking cre-\\nated it but money power, i. e. moneta-power,\\ndates back to the time of the ancient Romans.\\nThe ancient Hebrews knew nothing of that\\nidol, and their language has no equivalent for\\nmoney. The translators of the Bible have ren-\\ndered the words ketem, keseph (gold, silver) where\\nthey appear as select article, money. This ac-\\ncounts for the appearance of money in the Old\\nTestament.", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0062.jp2"}, "63": {"fulltext": "V. VALUE.\\nSince we exchange our products by it, every\\nproducer ought to know precisely what value is, for,\\nwithout knowing it, he has no means of knowing\\nwhether an exchange is equitable or inequitable.\\nAsk the question, and you will get the answer:\\nThe value of an article is whatever the article will\\nfetch in the market. This is an evasive answer.\\nWhat is value by itself, independent of markets?\\nThis is what the producer must know before he is\\nable to hold his own.\\nThe word value is from the Latin valerc y to be\\nstrong. We speak of intrinsic value and of nom-\\ninal value. Intrinsic means inward, inherent.\\nThe intrinsic value of an article is its property or\\nproperties which render the thing useful literally,\\nits strength in ministering to our wants; it is\\nsynonymous with usefulness, utility. The intrinsic\\nvalue of a thing is always the same that is, demand\\nand locality do not affect it. A loaf of bread min-\\nisters to the same want, satisfies hunger, no matter\\nwhere it is eaten or what the price of it may be-\\nIntrinsic value cannot be expressed in figures or\\nmeasured quantums, because we have no standard\\nof intrinsic value. It is not the value we exchange\\nour products by.\\nNominal value is, as the prefix says, nominal\\n53", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0063.jp2"}, "64": {"fulltext": "54 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nthat is, it exists only in name. Literally, the nom-\\ninal value of a thing is its power in the exchange,\\nits power to obtain. That power or value is what-\\never seller and buyer make it. The seller sets his\\nprice. He is at liberty to demand any price, and\\nthe buyer is free to offer any price. The sum seller\\nand buyer finally agree upon is then the nominal\\nvalue of the article sold and bought. Many and\\nrepeated bargains establish a medium or general\\nprice of the respective articles which is then called\\nmarket price, market value. In order to get a nom-\\ninal value, the article must have an intrinsic\\nvalue, because the intrinsic value of the article is\\nthe buyer s object. This brings the nominal value\\nof articles to correspond somewhat with the intrin-\\nsic. But there are exceptions. With one excep-\\ntion, the intrinsic value of so-called precious stones\\nis but that of common stones of the same size but\\na big price is generally paid for them. On the\\nother hand a horse may have great intrinsic value,\\nbut if there is no market for him, if nobody wants\\nto buy a horse, he cannot command a nominal value.\\nIn this case the horse is to be strong, but fails to\\nbe. Since the exchange itself establishes the nom-\\ninal values, independent of exchange nominal value\\nis simply nothing. What difference is it to you\\nwhether a bushel of potatoes which you have raised\\nyourself and which you consume yourself is worth\\nfive dollars or five cents?\\nSince nominal value is not self-existing, it is\\nnot and cannot be a basis of exchange, because\\nthe as much cannot be determined by it. And\\nyet this is the value we exchange our products by.", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0064.jp2"}, "65": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF 3I0NE Y. 55\\nExchanging by value is exchanging by nothing,\\nblindly. This is the fundamental cause of the econ-\\nomic evil.\\nBoth intrinsic and nominal values are naturally\\nindependent of law. Hence, all attempts on the\\npart of the legislator to fix or regulate prices of cer-\\ntain commodities have proven failures. Neverthe-\\nless, the law-maker has set the price of gold, and\\nfor that reason I speak of the value of that metal\\nseparately. Since there is no standard for it, in-\\ntrinsic value can only be told through comparison.\\nThe different and many uses iron is put to need not\\nbe enumerated. Gold cannot take the place of\\niron, because it is too soft. Tools made of gold\\nwould not cut; cooking-vessels would melt; rails\\nwould flatten under the pressure of an engine, etc.\\nTrue, gold has rare properties it is malleable, it has\\na pleasing luster, and is not corrosive just the\\nthing for jewelry and dentistry. But the amount\\nneeded for filling teeth is too small to cut a figure\\nas regards demand, and jewelry does not minister\\nto our wants. It may satisfy vanity, but never actual\\nwant. If the Creator would take the iron out of ex-\\nistence we should be sorely afflicted indeed, it\\nwould reduce our mode of living almost to that of\\nthe savage.\\nBut if He would take away the gold we should\\nhardly miss it the majority of the people would\\nnot even notice it; everything would go on as be-\\nfore. This shows that the intrinsic value of gold is\\nvery small\u00e2\u0080\u0094 much smaller than that of iron.\\nAt present it is not known what the nominal\\nvalue of gold would be, because the law sets its", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0065.jp2"}, "66": {"fulltext": "56 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nprice twenty-three and eight-tenths grains of\\ncoined gold is one dollar by law. The difference\\nin price between coin and bullion is the expense of\\ncoining it, and for that expense we have the metal\\na legal tender. Unless gold is demonetized, unless\\nthat law is repealed and the mind is cleared of its\\nencumbrance, a nominal value of that metal cannot\\nbe established.\\nIt will seem perhaps, to the reader, that there\\nis a power in gold besides that of law, for he feels\\nsure that if the law were stricken from the statutes\\nthe people would accept gold at the fixed price just\\nas readily.\\nYes, there is something of that sort connected\\nwith this metal, namely, mental aberration. Gold\\nis our idol. That the people would accept gold at\\nthe fixed price, or perhaps even at a still higher\\nprice, shows only that the phantom, money power,\\nis stronger than law. The wholesale swindles com-\\nmitted by rich men are another proof of this fact.\\nWhen we consider that the intrinsic value of\\ngold is less than that of iron, and that at the same\\ntime it has properties which make it captivating;\\nthat it is something the human family could easily\\nget along without, but that nevertheless everybody\\nwill accept it for what he has to spare, we might\\njudge that the Lord made it for the very purpose of\\na medium of exchange. But for the phantom con-\\nnected with it I would favor the continuance of that\\nuse of it. But the mind would regain its equilib-\\nrium much more quickly if that deceiving metal\\nwere demonetized.", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0066.jp2"}, "67": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 57\\nOUR SYSTEM OF EXCHANGE.\\nExchanging of products is the chief part of\\npolitical economy in fact, it is the political econ-\\nomy. The contents of all the voluminous books\\nwritten on this subject may be concentrated into\\nthe one idea, exchanging of products. If we could\\nand would return to independent production, so\\nthat no products were to be exchanged, all transac-\\ntions coming under the head of political economy\\nwould cease.\\nUnder independent production no economic\\nevil can arise, simply because the product does not\\ngo out of the producer s hands. Neither can such\\nan evil arise under mutual production so long as we\\nexchange the products equitably. So long as we\\nreceive as much product as we give product, and\\nvice versa, we exchange only the form of the prod-\\nuct; the amount remains with the producer, be-\\ncause he receives the same amount he gives. Since\\nno economic evil can arise under equitable ex-\\nchange, the present evil is a result of inequitable\\nexchange.\\nProducts are exchanged either immediately,\\nthat is, without the help of a medium or mediately,\\nwhich is by the help of a medium. The medium\\ncan be a natural one, a select article, and it can be\\nan artificial one but it cannot be both at the same\\ntime, because the natural medium becomes artificial\\nas soon as the lawmaker meddles with it.\\nExchanging through some select article is not\\ndifferent from exchanging without the help of any\\nmedium, because the select article is, or has been, in", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0067.jp2"}, "68": {"fulltext": "58 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nall cases a common commodity and private prop-\\nerty; it is exchanging product for product directly.\\nUsing the artificial medium, we exchange through\\npublic credit and power of law hence it is imma-\\nterial what the tokens are made of the exchange\\nis artificial and indirect; it consists in selling and\\nbuying.\\nSell and buy are from the languages of\\nthe ancient Goths and Saxons, and mean to give, to\\nreceive, i. e., exchange. We can now hardly com-\\nprehend selling and buying without using money,\\nbut the originals of these words were in use before\\nmoney existed.\\nAs we have seen, the present medium of ex-\\nchange is imperfect and unintelligible, in the\\ntokens, particularly in the gold pieces, we still\\nimagine the defunct select article. If you will bear\\nin mind that about ninety-nine per cent, of the\\nvalue of gold exists only in imagination, you will\\ncomprehend that the tokens, even if they are gold,\\nare naturally but transfer tickets.\\nA sale and a purchase constitute one exchange;\\nselling is the beginning, buying the completion of\\nit. The time intervening between sale and pur-\\nchase may be but minutes, it can be years. During\\nthat time the seller is neither in possession of the\\narticle sold nor of the value of it but he holds\\ntransfer tickets which represent that value, and\\nthrough which he can re-obtain it at almost any\\ntime and in the form desired. He who sells a\\nhorse, for instance, begins an exchange in buying\\na wagon be that in the same hour or years later\\nhe obtains the value of the horse in the form of a", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0068.jp2"}, "69": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 59\\nwagon. The exchange is completed. He has ex-\\nchanged a horse for a wagon. The wage-worker in\\nselling his labor begins an exchange. Instead of\\nthe product of his labor he receives transfer tickets.\\nIn buying food and clothes for his family he obtains\\nthe product of his labor in the form needed or de-\\nsired.\\nThe fact of having given for the article bought\\nthe same amount of money received for the article\\nsold proves nothing, because the medium is only an\\ninstrument; the exchange is only equitable when\\nthe article bought proves an as much to the\\nthing sold. Equivalents are nothing. The word is\\nfrom equus, equal, and valere, to be strong hence\\nit means equal-strong, equal-value. Since the ex-\\nchange itself establishes that value, any two articles\\nare equivalents so long as the exchanging parties\\nconsider them such.\\nWe see now that selling and buying are still\\nthe giving and receiving of old, only that we now\\ngive and receive by the help of a medium. The\\nman of our illustration gave a horse and received a\\nwagon.\\nSo far the system works all right, that is, the\\nexchanges are effected without difficulty. But it\\ndoes not afford equity, because we exchange by\\nvalue, which is blindly. To secure to every pro-\\nducer the amount of his product we must adopt\\nTHE NATURAL BASIS OF EXCHANGE.\\nProducing things for one another is performing\\nlabor for one another. Whether an article is raised,", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0069.jp2"}, "70": {"fulltext": "60 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nor manufactured, or dug out of the earth, or fished\\nout of the water, it is obtained through labor. Since\\nlabor is the natural and only condition by which\\nthings can be obtained originally, it is also the con-\\nsideration in the exchange. Value has nothing to\\ndo with it. Nature will not give us a thing\\ncheaper because it has but little or no value; if\\nwe want the thing we must perform the labor that\\nwill produce it; and since A is no more obliged to\\nperform that labor for B than B is for A, exchanges\\nare only then equitable when the labor is returned.\\nHaving found the natural basis of exchange,\\nwe are at once enabled to determine the as much.\\nWhen, for instance, the shoemaker gives a pair of\\nboots to produce which required two days labor for\\na table which also represents two days labor, the\\nexchange is equitable. Whether people call the\\nboots and the table worth five dollars or five cents,\\nor the one five dollars and the other five cents,\\nis of no consequence. The exchange is* equitable,\\nbecause it leaves each producer in possession of the\\namount he has produced.\\nLet us, for further illustration, assume that a\\nday s labor and one dollar are equals. Then, he\\nwho pays six dollars for a pair of trousers, for in-\\nstance, gives the labor of six days for the trousers.\\nIf the total labor which has to be performed to pro-\\nduce the trousers is that of six days, the transaction\\nis equitable; if it required more labor to produce\\nthem, he gets them cheap, that is, he gets some\\nof the labor of other men for nothing; but if two\\ndays labor has produced the trousers, he is cheated\\nout of four days labor while he gives six days", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0070.jp2"}, "71": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 61\\nlabor, he receives only two days labor in return.\\nPropose to any man that he shall work six days\\nfor you and that you will return the favor by work-\\ning three days for him, and he will laugh at your\\nproposition. Why? Because he sees inequity. He\\nknows that for a day s labor is due a day s labor.\\nTell him your labor is worth twice as much as his,\\nand he will leave you in disgust. But let him do\\nthe six days job and give him the six dollars, and\\nhe will give the six dollars for some article that has\\nbeen produced in three days without a murmur.\\nWhy? Because, as he exchanges by value, he does\\nnot know that he gives six days labor for three\\ndays labor.\\nSince there is hard labor and easy labor, and\\nsince capacity and industry differ with different\\nmen, it will be said that the labor basis will not af-\\nford equity.\\nIs it not a fact that now the hardest labor com-\\nmands the poorest pay? Then the labor basis can-\\nnot possibly make matters worse. The laboring\\nclasses do not suffer because of hard and easy labor,\\nor different capacities, but because they are de-\\nfrauded through increasing the prices of their prod-\\nucts while they are in the act of being exchanged.\\nThe labor basis renders such adding of price imprac-\\nticable, because it throws labor for labor out of\\nbalance, and thus exposes the fraud. With this\\nlabor has won the battle. If, then, a man should\\noccasionally lose some of his labor, he could afford\\nto lose it, he would not miss it. But he cannot af-\\nford to lose two-thirds of all his labor, as he now\\ndoes.", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0071.jp2"}, "72": {"fulltext": "62 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nBut the labor basis will afford equity in time.\\nThe labor required to produce a thing becomes the\\nprice of the thing; and since generally the same\\nthing is produced by the same amount of labor,\\nprices become stationary and commonly known.\\nSince in most cases it requires as much labor to\\nproduce a poor article as it does to produce a genu-\\nine one, the labor basis will have the good effect of\\ndriving the trash out of the market.\\nWe must not suppose that an evil of thousands\\nof years standing can be cured radically in one day.\\nMuch is to be learned from experience. At pres-\\nent, labor cannot compete with capital, because it\\nis enslaved. The labor basis liberates it. Then\\nfree competition will settle all difficulties that may\\npresent themselves in due time.\\nRIGHT OF POSSESSION.\\nAll real property is produced by labor, and\\nevery producer is the bona fide owner of his prod-\\nuct. Consequently, the producer, having made it,\\nhas the first right of possession. Things which\\nothers have produced become my property when I\\nreturn the labor for them, for returning the labor\\nmakes it equal to having produced them myself.\\nNothing can become the property of another so\\nlong as the producer of it will not part with it.\\nConsequently God s creations are not men s prop\\nerty. Since A is no more obliged to produce\\nthings for B than B is for A, it is self-evident that\\nnobody can accumulate more rightful property\\nthan the amount he produces and does not con-", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0072.jp2"}, "73": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 63\\nsume. Any property above that is stolen property.\\nI inherited $50,000, says a critic; is that\\nstolen property?\\nIt is what it was before you inherited it.\\nSuppose I find a precious stone worth $50,000.\\nWould that be stolen property?\\nIn reality such stones are not property at all,\\nbecause they have no intrinsic value. If you should\\nfind one, keep it and call it worth any sum you\\nplease. But the stone you cannot use. If some-\\nbody will give you $50,000 for it you are very apt\\nto get possession of stolen property. The fact\\nremains that nobody can accumulate more rightful\\nproperty than the amount he produces above his\\nconsumption.\\nIf the labor of some expert produces a value of\\nfive dollars every day, while his expenses, all told,\\naverage five dollars a week, he will have to keep at\\nwork continually for over seven hundred and sixty-\\nnine years to lay by the first million. You may\\nnow figure out for yourself how much rightful prop-\\nerty there is in the piles of the millionaires.", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0073.jp2"}, "74": {"fulltext": "VI. THE REPRESENTATIVE OF\\nLABOR.\\nMedium and representative are correlates. The\\nmedium represents, and the representative is a me-\\ndium through whom or which others act. Since\\nthe consideration in the exchange is labor, the\\nmedium of exchange is the representative of Labor.\\nHiring, buying and selling representatives is\\ntreason.\\nInanimate things cannot be guilty of treason,\\nneither do I make such charges against the men\\nwho do hire, buy and sell money. Since law and\\ndenomination of them present the tokens as repre-\\nsentatives of value and as private property, those\\nmen are not aware of the fact that they handle the\\nrepresentative of Labor. When we look at the prin-\\ncipal (Labor) and its representative (money) as de-\\ntached from persons, the following comparison will\\nthrow much light on the present situation of Labor\\nWhenever the representatives of a nation per-\\nmit themselves to be hired, bought and sold, the\\nrepresentatives become the lords and masters of\\nthe people, or the tools of such, and the people\\nbecome the victims of treason. If it pleases the\\npseudo-masters to tax the people to death to fill\\ntheir pockets, the people have but the alternative to\\ncast off the treacherous representatives, or keep on\\npaying the taxes.\\n64", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0074.jp2"}, "75": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 65\\nSo with Labor; its representative is hired bought\\nand sold. Labor is a victim of treason. The pseudo-\\nmaster, calling itself capital, taxes Labor to death,\\nand there is nothing left for Labor but to cast off\\nthe treacherous representative or keep on paying\\nthe tribute. (The manner of this taxation has been\\nincidentally explained before. It is profits, interest\\nand rent.)\\nAnything stamped and issued by the proper\\nauthorities for a medium of exchange is money.\\nWebster. As the private property of a Congress-\\nman has nothing to do with his duties as represent-\\native, so the value of the metal or material of which\\nmoney is made has nothing to do with its represent-\\ning Labor. As a poor man will represent the people\\nas well as a rich man, money made of lead or iron,\\netc., will represent Labor as well as that made of\\ngold or silver. It is the stamp that gives the tokens\\nefficacy. As a representative can only betray the\\nparty or body represented, so money, the repre-\\nsentative of Labor, can only betray Labor.\\nHe who sells the product of his labor, sells it at\\nmarket price, which is with interest added. The\\ndealer buys goods for the sole purpose of adding\\ninterest and profits to the prices of them. The only\\none who cannot add interest is the wage-worker.\\nHe sells the bare labor, but sixty to seventy per\\ncent, of the price of the things he buys is made\\nup of interest and profit. He gives one hundred\\nper cent, labor, but receives only thirty or forty per\\ncent, labor for it.\\nWhen a nation is betrayed, the people know it\\nor soon find it out. Labor has always been be-", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0075.jp2"}, "76": {"fulltext": "66 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\ntrayed, but has never found it out, because the\\nlaboring men themselves mistake the representative\\nfor the principal. That mistake must needs render\\npolitical economy topsy-turvy. All credit given\\nthe money is due to labor money only represents\\nlabor. Labor is now the hireling of its servant,\\nmoney; when it shall have gained its natural su-\\npremacy, Labor will hire its servants. The repre-\\nsentative affords luxury; the principal goes begging.\\nThe tax the treacherous representative imposes\\non Labor accounts for the inefficiency of\\nSTRIKES.\\nThe wage-worker s weal or woe does not rest\\nas much with high or low wages as with the relation\\nof wages and expenses. And it is the expenses that\\nrender that relation against him. If value were a\\nreality so that anything could be proven by it, it\\nwould show that in most cases he gets fair wages.\\nBut his wages consist in transfer tickets, and, as we\\nhave seen before, for his tickets he receives only\\nabout one-third of the labor they represent. It is\\nnot the employer who robs him, but the investor.\\nHence, striking for higher wages is trying to com-\\npel the employer to make up for the investor s\\nprofits.\\nThis is impracticable. To make good the em-\\nploye s loss the employer would have to triple his\\nwages. This would make him a bankrupt in a short\\ntime, if he were not to add correspondingly to the\\nprices of the articles manufactured and by making", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0076.jp2"}, "77": {"fulltext": "1HE HIRING OF MONEY. 67\\nthat addition if he could sell at such prices the\\nconsumer would lose what the producer gains.\\nHigher wages increase prices higher prices increase\\nexpenses, and the higher expenses induce or force\\nothers to strike for higher wages. After all have\\nstruck and every strike has been a success, the labor-\\ning men are worse off than before, because the\\nhigher prices have raised the investments, the very\\nthing that robs them.\\nThis will be seen more plainly when I illustrate\\nthe passing over of an article from manufacturer to\\nconsumer\u00e2\u0080\u0094 a pair of trousers, for instance. The\\nwholesaler s profits are generally moderate. The\\nretailer adds forty to eighty per cent to cost. To\\nmake the illustration simple I will average the per-\\ncentage at twenty.\\nThe manufacturer s cost of produc-\\ning the trousers we will set at $3.00\\nThe manufacturer adds 20 per cent .60\\nWhich makes the wholesaler s cost 3.60\\nThe wholesaler s addition, 20 per cent, .72\\nBrings the retailer s cost to 4.32\\nAnd the retailer s 20 per cent, .86\\nSwells the consumer s cost to 5.18\\nPaying $5.18 for the $3.00 trousers, the con-\\nsumer pays capital a tax of $2.18. Now, the tailors\\nhave a successful strike, in consequence of which\\nthey receive 50 cents more for making a pair of\\ntrousers. This brings the first cost of the trousers.", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0077.jp2"}, "78": {"fulltext": "68 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nTo\\nManufacturer s 20 per cent\\n#3oO\\n7o\\nWholesale cost\\nAdds 20 per cent.\\nRetailer s cost\\nAdds 20 per cent.\\n4.20\\n.84\\n5.04\\nI.OI\\nConsumer s cost $6.05\\nPaying $6.05 for the $3.50 trousers, the con-\\nsumer pays capital a tribute of $2. 55, which is 37\\ncents more than before the strike and he pays 87\\ncents more for the same article. The results are\\nProducer s gain 50 cents.\\nConsumer s loss 87\\nCapital s gain 37\\nThe blow was aimed at capital, but hit the con-\\nsumer, while capital comes out a gainer of thirty-\\nseven cents per three dollars product of the tailors.\\nCapital s gain is apt to stay, but the striker s gain is\\ntemporary, because the effects of increased invest-\\nments will come home sooner or later and the\\ntemporary gain will seldom, if ever, make up for the\\ntime lost during the strike. Since the consumer\\n(every producer is a consumer) loses more than the\\nproducer gains, strikes must needs deteriorate the\\nlaboring men s condition.\\nThe present wage system is the embodiment of\\ntreason, because the representative hires the prin-\\ncipal. When Labor shall have become aware of its\\nsupremacy, the principal will do the hiring and the\\nsystem will become an entirely different one.", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0078.jp2"}, "79": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 69\\nMistaking the representative for the principal\\naccounts for the periodical\\nSTAGNATIONS OF BUSINESS.\\nIt is commonly believed that overproduction is\\nthe cause of the stagnation. This is not the case.\\nOverproduction is itself but an effect. So long as\\nthe producer is deprived of two-thirds of his prod-\\nuct he is compelled to produce three times as much\\nas he consumes. Since the non-producing class,\\nbeing a small minority of the people, cannot con-\\nsume two-thirds of the sum total produced, the sur-\\nplus fills the storehouses. Hence, as long as the\\nproducers are deprived of more than the non-pro-\\nducers can consume, overproduction is unavoidable.\\nTo do business we must have capital. And\\nwe have it, or, rather, it has us. As we have seen\\nbefore, capital is a queer thing. Although inani-\\nmate, it is active and productive, and, like a man, it\\nis invested, and, like a horse, it must be fed. The\\nhorse grows to his natural size and the same\\namount of food will then always satisfy him. But\\ncapital has no natural size it grows as long as it is\\nfed and accordingly as it is fed the more it is fed\\nthe bigger and the more hungry it gets. When\\nfinally we can no longer satisfy its hunger it be-\\ncomes timid, shy, discards investment, ceases to act,\\nand thus produces a stagnation.\\nCapital feeds on or through consumption. With\\nevery dollar s worth the consumer buys he pays it a\\ntax of sixty to seventy cents. As a whole, capital\\nswallows about sixty-five per cent, of the total dis-", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0079.jp2"}, "80": {"fulltext": "70 THE SOL UTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nbursement. Whether capital is large or small, it\\ngets the same amount of food, namely, sixty-five per\\ncent, of the total disbursement. On that amount of\\nfood capital grows rapidly but consumption in-\\ncreases slowly, if at all. Hence, capital outgrows\\nproportion the point must come when the sixty-\\nfive per cent, of the total disbursement will no\\nlonger cover the interest on the capital. This is the\\ncause of the stagnation.\\nPARADIGM,\\nSHOWING HOW CAPITAL BRINGS ABOUT STAGNA-\\nTION IN BUSINESS.\\nA\\nB\\nC\\nD\\nE\\nNo. of\\nTotal\\nPercentage\\nRequired\\nYear.\\nFam-\\nDisburse-\\nCapital Tribute.\\nof\\nfor\\nilies.\\nments.\\nCapital.\\nInterest.\\n60, OOO\\nI\\n500\\n$300,000\\n120,000\\n180,000\\n200\\n6,000\\n2\\n505\\n202,000\\n121,200\\n301 200\\n67\\n18,000\\n3\\n5IO\\n204,000\\n122,400\\n423,600\\n40+\\n30,120\\n4\\n515\\n206,000\\n123,600\\n547,200\\n29+\\n42,360\\n5\\n520\\n208,000\\n124,800\\n672,000\\n22\\n54,720\\n6\\n525\\n210,000\\n126,000\\n798,000\\n19\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\n67,200\\n7\\n530\\n212,000\\n127,200\\n925,200\\n16\\n79,800\\n8\\n535\\n214,000\\n128,400\\n1,053,600\\n14\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\n92,520\\n9\\n54o\\n2l6,000\\n129,600\\n1,183,200\\n12\\n105,360\\nIO\\n545\\n218,000\\n130,800\\n1,314,000\\nII\\n118,320\\nii\\n55o\\n220,000\\n132,000\\n1.446,000\\nIO+\\n131,400\\n12\\n555\\n222,000\\n133,200\\nt, 579, 200\\n9+\\n144,600", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0080.jp2"}, "81": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 71\\nI will try to illustrate this. We send a number\\nof families say five hundred out somewhere to\\nsettle by themselves, but we remain near enough to\\nthem to watch and see how capital is doing their\\nbusiness. We give them household goods, seeds,\\ntools, farming implements enough of everything\\nnecessary to make a new beginning; as also pocket\\nmoney averaging ten dollars per family. The total\\ndisbursement averages four hundred dollars per\\nfamily, the increase of population five families\\nannually.\\nThe business men among them have invested\\nin groceries, hardware, machines, etc., a capital of\\nsixty thousand dollars. We set the receipt of cap-\\nital at sixty per cent, of the total disbursement^\\nallowing the balance for expenses.\\nIt cannot be supposed that the figures in our\\nillustration give in all cases correct amounts, be-\\ncause every dollar capital gets is not straightway\\ninvested. On the other hand, the investor is not\\nbound to the legal rate of interest in his operations.\\nThe illustration is only to show the modus operandi.\\nNow, to watch the progress of business, take a\\nlook at the paradigm. The figures in column A\\ngive the number of families; those in B the total\\ndisbursements; the upper ones in C the capital\\ninvested, and those below them the tribute or sixty\\nper cent, of the total disbursement those in D give\\nthe same tribute in percentage of capital and those\\nin E the sum required to cover the interest on the\\ncapital.\\nDuring the first year the five hundred families\\nexpend two hundred thousand dollars. Of this cap-", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0081.jp2"}, "82": {"fulltext": "72 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nital draws sixty per cent, or one hundred and\\ntwenty thousand dollars, which is a percentage of\\ntwo hundred. The sum required for interest on the\\ncapital (under a ten per cent, rate) is six thousand,\\nas shown in column E.\\nSwallowing one hundred and twenty thousand\\ndollars during the first year, capital has grown to\\none hundred and eighty thousand dollars to begin\\nwith the second year. The technical part needs no\\nfarther explanation.\\nThe reason that the first year capital gets such\\na big percentage is because it is small in proportion\\nto the disbursement. If the capitalists had twice as\\nmuch invested the percentage would only be one-\\nhalf of that, for the reason that the people will not\\nbuy more because more is invested.\\nLooking over the figures in column D, we no-\\ntice that the percentage shrinks continually. This\\nindicates the approach of a stagnation, for when-\\never the percentage sinks below the legal rate of\\ninterest capital will strike. Those who do not\\nwish to figure percentage will observe the same\\nthing by comparing the lower figures in C with\\nthose in E\u00e2\u0080\u0094 tribute with interest.\\nWhenever the tribute falls short of covering\\nthe legal interest the stagnation begins.\\nComparing the figures in B with the upper ones\\nin C disbursement with capital wc see the cause\\nof that shrinkage. Capital is outgrowing its pro-\\nportion to the disbursement. While in five years\\nthe disbursement has increased but four per cent,\\ncapital has increased one hundred and eight per", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0082.jp2"}, "83": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 73\\ncent., to one hundred and twenty-four thousand\\neight hundred dollars.\\nHere it may be asked, How could they invest\\nthat much money? Have they discovered a gold\\nmine\\nNo, nothing of the kind. The figures headed\\ncapital represent the booty. taken from labor,\\nand that booty consists of products of labor. All\\nthe money in the colony amounts to five thousand\\ndollars, and even this is not invested, but circulates\\namong the people. A dollar can be passed several\\ntimes in one day, and every time a dollar s worth is\\nbought a value of sixty-five cents cleaves to the\\nfingers of the investor. Circulating the money they\\ndo have forty times a year which they must do in\\norder to buy forty dollars worth of goods per fam-\\nily they turn over products to the amounts given\\nunder the head of tribute- The investment is a de-\\nception, capital a nonentity but the interest on it\\nis a terrible reality in the collateral year it amounts\\nto sixty-seven thousand two hundred dollars, as we\\nsee in column E.\\nSince the capital consists of products of labor,\\nwe see by the upper figures in C that now, at the\\nbeginning of the sixth year, the colonists have over-\\nproduction amounting to six hundred and seventy-\\ntwo thousand dollars, but this does not interfere\\nwith business, because the tribute still affords a per-\\ncentage of nineteen.\\nFive years more, and the percentage is down\\nto ten. The investor has an idea that ten per cent,\\nis due him on the investment without bending a\\nfinger for it but now he must even pay expenses", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0083.jp2"}, "84": {"fulltext": "74 THE SOL UTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nout of the ten per cent. Hence the shingles begin\\nto appear: Selling out at cost, Bankrupt sale,\\netc. The manufacturer cuts down wages all in\\nvain. One year more, and the percentage is down\\nto nine. The sheriff becomes an important person-\\nality in business the manufacturer closes his doors\\nand turns the laboring men out into the cold.\\nThe colony has produced ahead to the amount\\nof one and one-half millions, which is enough to\\nlast them for years to come. But, lo the treach-\\nerous representative has percentaged them out of\\nthe whole of it. A number of investors, who have\\nnot produced one particle of it, claim to be the own-\\ners of it and hold it in their grip. Instead of enjoy-\\ning the fruits of their labor the producers of that\\nwealth must tramp and beg, or steal, or starve.\\nThis is the way capital is doing the business.\\nA ten per cent, rate of interest runs business to\\nthe ground in twelve years, a five per cent, in\\ntwenty-three, a four per cent, in twenty-eight years.\\nThe average percentage in the United States is\\nabout seven, which produces a stagnation in about\\ntwenty years. Since the mind is encumbered and\\nthe exchanging is done by value, the laboring man\\ndoes not know that he is continually deprived of\\nthe larger part of his product; but he does know\\nfrom experience that he finds employment as long\\nas the investors can dispose of their booty. Hence\\nhis reasoning on the subject is virtually this\\nIf we could export our clothing and shoes we\\nmight dress up and be gay but if we must wear\\nthem ourselves we have to go ragged and bare-\\nfooted. If we could export our wheat, beef, etc.,", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0084.jp2"}, "85": {"fulltext": "1HE HIRING OF MONEY. 75\\nwe might feast but if we have to eat them up our-\\nselves we must starve. If we could export our\\nwood and coal, we might make ourselves comfort-\\nable in the cold winter behind a warm stove but if\\nwe have to burn them up ourselves we must freeze,\\netc. What a pitiful thing man is when in the hands\\nof a phantom When Labor shall hold its own the\\nlaboring man will never suffer want; and as the in-\\nvestor will not have anything to eat, much less to\\nsell, the clamor for markets will cease.\\nA short resume will now give us\\nTHE ORIGIN OF THE ECONOMIC EVIL\\nin a nutshell. The practice of exchanging articles\\nis older than civilization. Savages exchange things\\noccasionally, and they can only exchange blindly.\\nHow much will you give me for this how much\\nwill you take for that is all there is to it. .This\\nhow much is the idea of the old Latin valere,\\nvalue.\\nThe step from independent production to the\\nmutual mode is the passing over from savage life to\\ncivilization. As a matter of course, this has been a\\nslow process mutual production has been adopted\\ngradually. During that time, which evidently com-\\nprises centuries, the people exchanged in that\\nblind way. Since a good part of the then few nec-\\nessaries of life consisted in free gifts of nature, and\\nsince there was no capital to be fed, the work they\\nhad to do was but little and was more sport and\\npastime than labor.\\nHence a basis of exchange was not needed, not", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0085.jp2"}, "86": {"fulltext": "76 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nthought of. By the time labor had become a factor\\nand presented itself as the natural basis of exchange\\nthe valere or value had become a fixed something\\nin the mind, and, as the people had always ex-\\nchanged that way, they did not know but value is\\nthe proper and only thing to exchange by. Through\\nthis the natural basis got lost it has never been\\nfound. The mistake has not been detected, and the\\npeople exchange their products in the same blind\\nway up to this day.\\nBlind exchange opens the door to cheating and\\nfraud, and this made it possible that a formidable\\nsystem of robbery could and did develop in polit-\\nical economy. That system manifests itself in the\\nform of profit, interest and rent all of which are\\nmeans to get something for nothing, and none of\\nwhich is practicable under equitable exchange.\\nAs long as exchanges were of infrequent occur-\\nrence and for the most part optional, the lack of the\\nbasis affected the producers only individually. Col-\\nlectively, it left the product to the producer. The\\ntrouble began when exchanging products had be-\\ncome a necessity and a select article was required.\\nWith blind exchange the select article results in\\nusury and hoarding. Since it is easier to pocket\\nproducts of others than to perform the producing\\nlabor, usury was now cultivated and practiced in\\ndifferent ways and forms, which finally resulted in\\nthe above-mentioned system of robbery.\\nThe necessity of exchanging products gives the\\nmedium of exchange a reciprocal impetus. The\\nmore it is accepted, the more it is sought; and the\\nmore eagerly it is sought, the more readily it is ac-", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0086.jp2"}, "87": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY, 77\\ncepted each increases the intensity of the other.\\nThis produced the first clog in the brain, for the\\npeople mistook that impetus for an effect inherent\\nin the metal.\\nExchanging blindly, the producer has no means\\nof knowing that he is continually deprived of the\\nlarger part of his products. But he sees that the\\nusurer, although he does not produce anything,\\naccumulates wealth, while the producer remains\\npoor. This created another big clog in the brains,\\nfor the people mistook the ability to accumulate\\nwithout producing for some mysterious power in-\\nherent in the metal or money.\\nTo strengthen such beliefs, to hide the fraud\\nmore securely, the usurer used idiomatic expres-\\nsions, such as investing money, productive capital*\\nand the like absurdities. The people took these\\nphrases literally, or, rather, they accepted the ideas\\nthe usurer thus advanced for facts. This finally\\nclogged up the brains to such an extent that logical\\nreasoning on the subject was no longer possible.\\nThe phantom, money power, had matured,\\ntaken hold of the reins of government, and become\\nthe sovereign governor of political economy. This\\nis the climax of the economic evil.\\nWhen coming generations shall read history\\nand find an account of our management of political\\neconomy they will stigmatize the nineteenth cen-\\ntury as the age of folly.", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0087.jp2"}, "88": {"fulltext": "VII. THE LAND QUESTION\\nAll men are born free and equal and endowed\\nby their Creator with certain inalienable rights,\\namong which are life, liberty and the pursuit of\\nhappiness. The paramount of these rights is life,\\nfor no rights can be of any use to us unless we live.\\nLife by itself is divine; it is given to us and it\\nis taken from us independent of our will. Hence,\\nby right to life we understand only the right to\\nsustain life, the right to produce what we live on.\\nInalienable rights cannot be transferred nor\\ndestroyed, but the opportunity to exercise them\\ncan be cut off. And this is done when we assume a\\nproperty in God s creation.\\nThe Earth is our God-given home and the cor-\\nnucopia of all means of existence. In its bowels\\nare stored up the minerals; its waters abound with\\nfish its surface contains the powers of engendering\\nand maturing grain, fruit and vegetables it con-\\ntains and brings forth all the elements out of which\\nlabor produces that which supports life and affords\\ncomfort. The Earth is the mother, Labor the father\\nof all means of existence. Hence:\\nDepriving a man of the free use of land is de-\\nnying him the right to exist; selling land is like the\\nfish selling the pond to some of their fishy mem-\\nbers paying rent for land is paying for permission\\n78", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0088.jp2"}, "89": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 79\\nto exist; assuming a property in land is robbing\\nGod and men God of his property, men of their\\ninalienable rights.\\nThe Earth will not give us any of its treasures\\nwithout labor land will not yield grain without\\ntillage. A man might have the whole Earth to\\nhimself, but, unless he go to work and produce\\nmeans of existence, he will starve and perish. Then\\nwhat is the object in holding land for property?\\nThe object is to make labor tributary; land is\\nbought because money seeks investment. The\\nmore essential to existence a thing is, the safer it is\\nto invest in. Since human existence without land\\nis not even imaginable, land is the best thing to in-\\nvest in.\\nHolding the land for property is of more im-\\nportance and more criminous than all the rest of the\\ninvesting put together. While the other invest-\\nments rob the laboring man of the product of his\\nlabor, investing in land deprives him even of the\\nopportunity to produce. Through this, the landless\\ncan only exist by permission of the landholders.\\nThis gives the system of robbery stability and per-\\npetuity. If the land were free, that system of rob-\\nbery would fall, because any one could escape it by\\nsimply withdrawing from the mutual mode of pro-\\nducing. The laboring men could withdraw in\\ngroups and thus have the benefit of mutual produc-\\ntion to some extent and still be out of the reach of\\ninvestors.\\nBut now the landgrabber holds the laborers\\nwhile the investor robs them they can no longer\\nescape, but they must submit to being invested out", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0089.jp2"}, "90": {"fulltext": "80 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nof all they can or will produce. This reduces the\\nmajority of the people to mere permissionists in\\ntheir own God-given home. Wherever they go,\\nwherever they put a spade or a plow into the soil\\nthey must pay for permission.\\nThe air we still inhale free, and sunshine costs\\nus nothing but not because God has made the sun\\nand the air free to all\u00e2\u0080\u0094 this is also the case with the\\nland but because they cannot be grabbed. If they\\ncould be seized and withheld from us, they would\\nhave been invested in long ago, and we would have\\nto pay at least the price of gas for sunlight, and\\nhave to pay for every breath we draw, or suffocate.\\nOn what ground of right is land held for prop-\\nerty?\\nI have bought it and paid for it.\\nYes, you got it through exchange, but we have\\nseen before that the mere exchange does not prove\\nproperty. As to land, how did it get into the mar-\\nket? A thing belongs to its maker until he has\\ndisposed of it. The wagon-maker, for instance, is\\nthe owner of the wagons he has made, even if he\\nhas made them for public use. As long as he re-\\nfuses to sell them, they cannot be bought; and the\\nonly way to get them into the market is to steal\\nthem. But in this case the maker remains the bona\\nfide owner of them the seller is a thief, and the\\nbuyer, if he knows that the maker has not disposed\\nof them, is as much a thief as the seller.\\nSo with the land. Unless you prove that the\\nCreator disposed of it, the land is still His, and all\\nmen are equally entitled to the usufruct of it prop-\\nerty in land is stolen property, and the buyer is as", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0090.jp2"}, "91": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 81\\nmuch a thief as the seller. Your deeds and titles\\nlack the original patent. All that you can prove by\\nthem is that the government is the original thief.\\nIf the mind was not incumbered and a small\\nminority of the people would say, (as they now vir-\\ntually do say), This world is ours, and if you want\\nto live in it and raise your victuals on its soil you\\nmust buy a piece of it from us, or pay us a rent for\\nusing a piece of it, we would simply ignore such\\narrogance, or, in case of need, put that little minor-\\nity into a lunatic asylum. But now all are actuated\\nby a phantom, capital, and this makes landgrabbing,\\nand with it the whole system of robbery, possible\\nand practicable.\\nThe land shall not be sold forever; for the\\nland is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners\\nwith me. Levit. xxv 23.\\nIn Moses time the artificial medium did not\\nexist, and the ancient Hebrew has no equivalents\\nfor sell and buy. The kanah which the trans-\\nlators have rendered sold, means to erect, to\\nestablish, to acquire. The land was then let to in-\\ndividuals for a term of forty-nine years. At the\\nend of that time it reverted to the government, and\\nwas let anew. Hence it was held under what we\\ncall a government lease. Since nobody owned\\nland, nobody could sell land. A man could only\\ntransfer his lease for the remaining time he had in\\nforty-nine years. The meaning of the original text\\nis: the land shall not be leased forever. Leasing\\nit forever is forbidden, because it is of the same ef-\\nfect as our selling it.\\nSerious a matter as landgrabbing is, it is only", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0091.jp2"}, "92": {"fulltext": "82 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\npart and parcel of that system of robbery. Since\\nthe natural basis of exchange wipes out that system,\\nit cures also this part of the economic evil, because\\nwithout that system of robbery property in land\\nhas no longer an object.\\nSTATE AND GOVERNMENT.\\nThe original form of the state is monarchial,\\nbut not the monarchy of to-day. Originally, the\\nman who was best fitted for the post was chosen, or\\nrather became through his fitness and capacities, the\\nleader and umpire of the tribe or nation.\\nThe modern chief gets his office through in-\\nheritance. This excludes fitness and capacity. The\\nimbecile, the wretch, becomes the ruler of the\\nnation, whenever he happens to be the heir. Form-\\nerly only the idolized emblems (crown, scepter,\\nthrone) were inheritable, but it is a sad circumstance\\nthat in the course of time the government of the\\npeople has become annexed to them like an unim-\\nportant appendage.\\nThe feudal system, which took its beginning in\\nthe fifth century, created a caste, or castes, known\\nby the collective name of Blueblood. Holding the\\ncontrol over the land, being invested with outrageous\\nprivileges, and having jurisdiction and power of\\ntaxation in their own hands, the Bluebloods became\\nthe stain and bane of the country and a terror to the\\npeople. Their life was one of licentiousness, revelry\\nand carousal, while the peasantry were taxed to\\ndeath to foot the bills.\\nThe peasant saw his growing fields tramped", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0092.jp2"}, "93": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 83\\ndown by the Bluebloods horses, while he could not\\nsay a word in defense of his property without being\\nlashed, or imprisoned, or killed for it. The people\\nwere deprived of any and all rights. In his history\\nof the feudal system, Chambers says that a feudal\\nlord, on his return from a chase in winter, disem-\\nboweled a vassal, that he might keep his feet warm\\nin the reeking trunk during the evening revel.\\nSuch circumstances have a tendency to open\\nthe eyes of even the dullest. To guard against this,\\nthe canard was invented that God himself had\\nordained such infernal government. What a blas-\\nphemy However, believing that their misery was\\nprovidential, the people bore it with remarkable\\npatience.\\nStill freedom is natural and the desire to enjoy\\nit. cannot be entirely eradicated from the mind. It\\nrevived again and again until finally some nations\\ncast off the despots and the Bluebloods, and took\\nthe reins of government into their own hands. Are\\nthese now free men?\\nI venture to say that a more perfect democracy\\nthan laid down in the Constitution of the United\\nStates of America has never exited. Every article\\nof that instrument says virtually, the will of the\\npeople shall be the law. That will is expressed at\\nthe polls; the principal officers are chosen by popu-\\nlar elections. Since you laboring men constitute a\\nlarge majority of the people, the government lies in\\nyour own hands. There is not an officer in the coun-\\ntry but has received his office directly or indirectly\\nfrom your hands there is not a man in our legisla-\\ntive bodies but you have sent him there. What", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0093.jp2"}, "94": {"fulltext": "84 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nmore is there obtainable for you in the line of\\npolitics?\\nYet you complain of oppression and extortion;\\nyou claim that a money aristocracy have taken the\\nplaces of despots and Bluebloods. How do such\\nthings become possible since you cast the majority\\nvote? Are that handful of men, the money aristoc-\\nracy, stronger than the laboring masses?\\nTrue, there now exisists a powerful subjugating\\nmachinery, viz. police, constabulary, sheriffs and\\nother catchpolls shackles, chains, and other fetters\\ncalabooses, jails, penitentiaries and other dungeons\\nthe gallows and its equivalents; and finally the\\nsoldier, for even he is degraded to a tool of oppres-\\nsion. But is not that machinery composed of labor-\\ning men or men of that class? Is not the power in\\nit your own power? The laboring men are the\\nnucleus of any nation. The state has no power but\\nthat residing in the laboring men.\\nIt is not a money aristocracy that oppresses\\nand abuses you, but the phantom of capital. That\\nphantom rules through you it rules the state be-\\ncause it rules and actuates you individually. As the\\nPuritans killed one another to fight witches, so you\\nkill one another to fight capital and as the witches\\nprevailed until they were found to be a delusion, so\\ncapital will prevail until you shall have found that it\\nis a nonentity.\\nWe are our own oppressors. Sound-minded peo-\\nplecan not be held in subjection, notevenby superior\\nforce, for they will rather die in defense of their rights\\nthan eke out the miserable existence of a slave. But\\nas long as the mind is enslaved, freedom is impossible.", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0094.jp2"}, "95": {"fulltext": "CONCLUSION.\\nConsidering that civilization is now a mass of\\nconfusion and corruption, we might conclude that\\nto bring about natural order would be an enormous\\ntask, if not an impossibility. But this is not the\\ncase. All that confusion has grown out of one\\nsingle cause, namely, blind exchange. If we simply\\nremove that cause, i. e. y adopt the natural basis of\\nexchange, that confusion will disappear; everything\\nwill be cured radically and forever.\\nThe only question is Will our distorted minds\\npermit us to take that step *I am not able to an-\\nswer this question, but I have one consolation\\nNature cures every evil itself. In nature, there is\\nneither cessation nor retrogression. Any evil will\\ndiminish or die out, or it will grow and keep grow-\\ning until it becomes unbearable. Then nature will\\nthrow it off in some way. The economic evil is\\nalmost unbearable now and is growing more so\\nevery year. Hence its end cannot be far off. We\\ncan only decide whether we will take the step and\\nthus cure the evil without war and bloodshed, or\\nleave it to nature and thus be galled with wars and\\nrebellions unceasing until its end shall have come\\nthrough them.\\nWhen finally the fog which now envelops our\\nunderstanding shall have cleared away, the long-", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0095.jp2"}, "96": {"fulltext": "86 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nwished-for happiness in freedom, justice and equal-\\nity will come. There will be no capital and, conse-\\nquently, no system of robbery. Property in land\\nwill no longer have an object riches will lose not\\nonly their charm, but even themselves. Hence,\\nnobody will yearn for money, nobody will work to\\nmake money there will be time for rest and\\nenjoyment, and, with God s creations free and\\naccessible to all, the people will grow healthy and\\nstrong in body and mind the better emotions of the\\nheart will revive and become the governing spirit.\\nHence, demoralization will die with the phantom that\\nbore it crime will be a rare exception or cease en-\\ntirely and penitentiaries, poorhouses and lunatic\\nasylums will stand only as memorials reminding\\ncoming generations of the terrible phantom under\\nwhich humanity now suffers and groans.", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0096.jp2"}, "97": {"fulltext": "APPENDIX.\\nWhat shall take its place? You tear down the\\npresent system but you fail to build up a new one.\\nSince writing this pamphlet I have been asked\\nquestions similar to the above. The experience we\\nhave had with the present economic system affords\\nsomething of a negative guide in building up a new\\none, but many a conclusion can only be got by experi-\\nmenting. As the ancient Romans were led to reject\\nanimals for bronze, so with things in the production\\nof which nature and labor co-operate we shall have\\nto reject value for labor until experience shall have\\nestablished the corresponding denominations.\\nI shall not undertake to give a description of\\nthe coming system. I only propose a new founda-\\ntion for it; namely, the natural basis of exchange.\\nSo long as we build on that foundation the new\\nstructure cannot prove a failure. We may have to\\ntear down parts and rebuild them, but in the end\\nwe shall have the perfect system. My object is only\\nto present the matter for public discussion. Public\\ndiscussion will either kill the proposition or bring\\nout a definite plan for the new system. We must\\nbuild up as we tear down, so as not to bring about\\nan economic chaos.\\nSince our errors respecting political economy\\nare as old as civilization and have become second\\n87", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0097.jp2"}, "98": {"fulltext": "88 THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nnature to us, we can not expect to build up a per-\\nfect system in one year or even in one generation.\\nWe can only make a beginning, and we can not\\nprogress any faster than study and experimenting\\nwill relieve us of our mental incumbrance. It is\\ninevitable that some of the first results of adopting\\na new basis of exchange will be somewhat un-\\npalatable, but the results will be better and better\\nevery year. However, generations will probably\\ncome and go before the best results will have been\\nrealized.\\nI will now give a few hints which may aid in\\nestablishing a better system. I said, adopt the nat-\\nural basis of exchange, and all else will come to a\\nnatural order of its own accord. By this I do not\\nmean to say that we could not or should not do any-\\nthing toward hastening on a better state of affairs.\\nIt would be poor policy to let wrongs be wrongs\\nuntil they right themselves. We want to act, aid\\nnatural development as much as we can but we\\nwant to do it in a brotherly spirit, remembering that\\nthe laboring man himself is as much to blame for\\nhis misery as anyone else.\\nRespecting property, labor can hardly do an in-\\njustice. The vast wealth now held by a compara-\\ntively few individuals is the aggregated product of\\nlabor. The war of labor vs. capital is a conten-\\ntion of producer against product. If labor should\\ntake all that labor has produced it would only take\\nits own. All the wealth now existing would not\\ncover the loss labor has suffered during the present\\neconomic system. But the laboring men who have\\ncontributed to that wealth can not be compensated\\nLtfC.", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0098.jp2"}, "99": {"fulltext": "THE HIRING OF MONEY. 89\\nmillions of them are dead. Hence, wealth that has\\ntaken on a public character, like railroads, for in-\\nstance, becomes by the nature of the case public\\nproperty, and I deem it proper and right for the\\nstate to declare it such. Compensation can not be\\ndemanded, because that wealth is booty taken from\\nlabor.\\nBy state I mean the whole people organized\\ninto a political body.\\nAll means of existence are derived from land;\\nhuman existence without land is impossible. Since\\nthe Creator never disposed of his land, all men are\\nequally entitled to the usufruct of it. Hence, it is\\nproper and right for the state to declare the land\\nfree, assume superintendency over it, and thus re-in-\\nstate the landless in possession of their God-given\\nhome.\\nThe returning of land to its owner, the Creator,\\ndoes not interfere with farming it only cuts out\\nland speculation. A permit or lease issued by the\\n(to be established) land-office, will protect the farmer\\nin all real rights, as much as his defective title (all\\nland deeds lack the original patent) does now. Free\\nland affords the opportunity to all who wish to farm,\\nand secures a home to all who desire a home.\\nAs explained before, the universal system of\\nrobbery consists in interest, profit and rent. The\\nrent system, although but a consequence of the in-\\nterest and profit system, has become the chief factor\\nin keeping the laboring masses in poverty. If the\\nlaboring man could hold his own he would soon have\\nthe means to build a house for himself, and through\\nthis the rent system would die a natural death.", "height": "3504", "width": "2271", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0099.jp2"}, "100": {"fulltext": "9 o THE SOL UTION OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.\\nUnder the labor basis of exchange the laborer\\ncould no longer be robbed through the profit system.\\nHe would, however, still have to pay rent, for some\\ntime at least, for that basis would only kill the rent\\nsystem gradually. Since, in fact, the laboring-man\\npays rent for his own bona-ftde property, I take it to\\nbe the duty of the state to abolish the rent system\\nat once.\\nThe state has no right to meddle with tools or\\nother private property. The producer is the ex-\\nclusive owner of his product. When all men shall\\nhave equal opportunity to produce, each one will be\\nsure of the full amount of his product and will be\\nfree to use it or dispose of it as he sees fit. Then,\\nand only then, shall we be a free people. There is\\nno such thing as freedom without individual inde-\\npendence. The slave is not a free man because he\\nlives in a free country.\\nAt present we propel the ship of state against\\nthe stream. This requires much force and con-\\nsequently much taxation. Under a natural order\\nof the state the ship floats with the stream a good\\npilot, with the help of a few assistants, keeps it in\\nits proper course, and taxation amounts to nothing\\nin comparison with the present rate of taxation.\\nWe need not mind capital. The natural basis\\nof exchange secures the product to the producer. If,\\nthen, capital exists and is productive, let the capitalist\\nhave all it produces. All that the laboring man\\nasks, and all that he needs, is the product of his own\\nlabor.\\nFINIS.", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0100.jp2"}, "101": {"fulltext": "TWO GREAT REFORM NOVELS\\nSfeA Tramp in Society\\nBy ROBERT H. COWDREY\\n12 mo, 242 pages, paper covers, 25 cents.\\nThrilling and Fascinating. No one who reads it can restrain admiration for the\\nman who can write a story that contains in its warp and woof so much that is help-\\nful and bettering to humanity. Opie Read.\\nWe have had many novels of late with new economic schemes for a basis, but\\nmostly advertising state socialism. At last we have the individualistic novel, and it\\nought to win widespread favor. Mr. Cowdrey has strong conviction, a good com-\\nmand of Englishand strong imagination. St. Louis Republic.\\n...Beneath the Dome...\\nA POSTHUMOUS NOVEL\\nBy ARNOLD CLARK\\nWith a biographical memoir of the author by\\nHOWARD M. HOLMES\\nLarge i2mo j6i pages. Cloth extra, gilt top, stamped in black\\nand silver, $1.25. Paper, 50 cents.\\n9\\nAn attractive novel, in which the best thoughts on economic reform are\\nentwined with fiction, making a book that will captivate and please the reader, yet\\nturn hi8 thoughts to the great needs of humanity. Arena.\\nNo one can read this book without being made a better man or woman.\\nProgressive Farmer.\\nArnold Clark, who died before his book was published, was a striking char-\\nacter, and for one so young won an extraordinary place in the affections of men.\\nTo-Day.\\nThe Schulte Publishing Company....Chicagc", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0101.jp2"}, "102": {"fulltext": "A SPLENDID REFERENCE BOOK M\\nThe Little Statesman\\nA MIDDLE OF THE ROAD MANUAL FOR\\nAMERICAN VOTERS\\nEdited by K. L. ARMSTRONG\\nA COMPLE TE POLITICAL\\nENCYCLOPEDIA FROM THE REFORM STANDPOIN7\\nM|j\u00c2\u00bbs CONTAINS: A Short History of American Politics 4. Steps in the\\n^\u00c2\u00bb5fc* Growth of American Liberty Magna Charta The Mecklenburg Decla-\\nv-^^P ration The Declaration of Independence 4. The Constitution of the\\nUnited States 4. The New Declaration of Independence X A New Study\\nof Political Economy 4. Sectionalism in American Politics JJ. The Laws of Property\\n4. Interest and Usury Debt and Slavery 4. The Land Question X. An Exposition\\nof the Single Tax 4\u00c2\u00bb Co-Operation 4. Direct Legislation The Initiative and Ref-\\nerendum Proportional Representation 4. The Philosophy of Money 4. A Bird s-\\nEye View of American Financial History 4\u00c2\u00bb Eight Money Conspiracies 4\u00c2\u00bb The\\nTransportation Problem 4^ Taxation 4\u00c2\u00bb The Philosophy of Political Parties, etc., etc.\\nThe above is jnly a partial summary X The book contains\\n256 large pages in close but legible type 4\u00c2\u00bb It is a model of\\ncompactness and comprehensiveness\u00e2\u0080\u0094 the cheapest book\\never published at the price\\nIt ehould be read by every thinking man. W. H. Harvey\\nA mine of information, useful and practical. 1 Hon. James H. Kyle\\nIts treatment of the money question is exceedingly fine, and as an all-round\\nthought-stirrer the book should have decided success. Hon. Thos. E. Watson\\nIt contains about one thousand times as much information as many v big\\nstatesmen of national reputation. S. F. Norton\\nThe best compendium of political information that I have seen. Ignatius\\nDonnelly\\nA book of great value and thoroughly reliable. Paul Van Dervoort\\n12mo, paper covers, 25 cents\\nScbulte Publishing Company....\\n.Chicago.", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0102.jp2"}, "103": {"fulltext": ",,,/The Book for the Millions,..,\\nArmstrongs Giant Cyclopedia\\nant\\nTreasury of Practical Knowledge\\nK\u00e2\u0080\u009e L. ARMSTRONG\\nIt answers more quea-\\nfioas of every-day life than\\n\u00c2\u00ab*11 the oth\\njyclopedias\\ncombined, whether pub-\\nUshed in one or in twenty-\\nsix volumes.\\nTHE instantaneous and\\ncontinued success of the\\nLittle Giant Cyclope-\\ndia prompted the publica-\\ntion of this more compre-\\nhensive volume. All the\\ncontents of the smaller book\\nhave been utilized, and new\\ndepartments have been\\nadded, the aim being to\\npresent in one volume the\\nessence of ail useful informa-\\ntion The result is a book\\nwhich stands unrivaled as a\\nModel of Compactness and\\nComprehensiveness.\\nHon. Thos. E. Hill, the\\nfamous author of Hill s\\nManual, says of it\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2Having made extended use of Armstrong^ Giant Cyclopedia in the past few\\nweeks, being compelled to continually consult it as a book of reference, I am\\ndeeply impressed with its great value. It is not only a cyclopedia, but it is much more.\\nThrough its method of classification and plan of coloring, it makes clear thousands of\\nfacts, in tables and diagrams, that ordinarily would and never could be understood\\nonly by this arrangement. It is a large library so condensed in its information as to save\\nhours and days in the search for knowledge.\\nLarge quarto, 512 double-column pages, with 32 full-page colored charts printed\\nfrom clear type on a specially prepared quality of book paper. Sold by subscription\\nonly at the following popular prices\\nA Cloth, stamped in ink, gold and silver, red edges $2.50\\nB. Half Morocco, stamped in gold, marbled edges 3.50\\nC- Full Morocco, stamped in gold, full gilt edges 4.50\\nAGENTS WANTED\\nOne Hundred Test Questions mailed\\nrWSE on receipt of 2-rent t tamp.\\nScbiiltc Publishing Company\\nCHICAGO", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0103.jp2"}, "104": {"fulltext": "-HE MONEY PROBLEM MADE PLAIN\\nTen D)en of IDoney Island\\nA PRIMER OF FINANCE\\nBy Norton\\n^T^T* Ora^ ^L .4 MILLION COPIES OF THIS\\nW W WONDERFUL BOOK HAVE BEEN SOLD W\\n12mo, enameled paper cover, 25c.\\nIt gives the principles of money in the form of a story so interesting and\\nin such simple language that even a child can read it with understanding.\\nThis is undoubtedly the simplest book that has ever been -written on the prin-\\nciples of money John D. Gill, Secretary American Economic Reform Society.\\nNo man or woman born will, after reading Ten Men of Money Island, deny\\nthat the money it cost was well invested. New York World.\\nIt is not necessary to indorse its conclusions or accept its theories in order\\nto enjoy the reading of Mr. S. F. Norton s apologue. Theauthor rightly states that\\nto the average mind the laws which create and control money are incomprehen-\\nsible, and he adds that 4 the high priests of the money power have proclaimed it\\na political sacrilege to even contemplate the subject. This is scarcely fair, but\\nthere is an impatience of discussion that almost amounts to intolerance. Mr.\\nNorton, therefore, tells the story of Money Island and its ten adventurers.\\nThey had no money, no use for it, only tools of their industry and material\\nto cultivate the soil. How they found a division of labor necessary, how they\\nresorted to barter, discovered form^ of over-production, understood exchange of\\ncredit, adjusting public burdens, invented money, then coined money, only to\\ndiscover that it represented wasted labor, and finally, through financial experi-\\nments, ably conducted, according to orthodox financiering, by Discount and\\nDonothing, the colonists came to grief and how they recovered and why are\\nnot all these things told in the parable so that all may pleasantly read Mr.\\nNorton has simplified a portentously burdened question. He is a financial heretic ac-\\ncording to the present method, but heretics are not only necessary, they are\\nindispensable. The book represents a revolt that is rapidly growing against the\\npresent monetary system, and as such is specially deserving of notice. It will\\nmake friends and converts because it is plain and can be understood by all.\\nBoston Globe,\\nSchulfe Publishing Company\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Chicago", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0104.jp2"}, "105": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0105.jp2"}, "106": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0106.jp2"}, "107": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0107.jp2"}, "108": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0108.jp2"}, "109": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0109.jp2"}, "110": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0110.jp2"}, "111": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0111.jp2"}, "112": {"fulltext": "^Q\\n3 T\\n3^\\nIK x\\n3IX \u00c2\u00abV^\\n3\\n-J*\\nJft^ 3\u00c2\u00bb^\\n:S\\n\u00e2\u0080\u009430 3\\n7\u00c2\u00ab\\nI\\n-3E^ 33\\n^36 3\\n3^\\nv^\\nZ5i\\ni\\ny\\n1 j r^~\\n3 3\\n3\\n2k .^Kr\\n3*\\n3 3\\n3\\n3\\n3\\n;3\\n3 J\\n3\\n3\\nS?5p33", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0112.jp2"}, "113": {"fulltext": "}2\\nJ 3 J\\no\\nSO.)\\ny\\n3 _\\ngfeo is\\na^\\n^^?5 ^llss^\\nS^ Slid?", "height": "3494", "width": "2230", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0113.jp2"}, "114": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3390", "width": "2158", "jp2-path": "solutionofsocial00diet_0114.jp2"}}