Geo. T. Fairchild

“ Elements of welfare.—The welfare of communities, like that of individuals, is made up of health, wealth, wisdom and virtue. If we can say of any human being that lie is healthy, wealthy, wise and good, we are sure of his satisfaction so far as it depends upon self. When a community is made up of individuals kept in health and strength from birth to old age, sustained with accumulated treasures, wise enough to use both strength and wealth to advantage, and upright, just and kind in all human relations, our ideals of welfare are met. ”

“ Government, therefore, is best when its aims are distinctly confined to universal welfare. The distinctly personal wants can be best provided for by affording the best conditions for free exercise of individual powers. Governments can never wisely do favors for a class, since such favors weaken the power of government for promoting general welfare. What government does for any it needs to do for all. What it does for all it must secure to each in fair proportion. In any effort to extend the range of governmental action this natural limit of universal welfare for individuals must be considered. ”

“ Most farmers in estimating the results of a year's labor count their own services, at the price of a hand, as a part of the cost of their products, and distinguish as profits the surplus of product above all expenditures. Thus a farmer may estimate as outgo the interest on capital invested, the wear and tear of machinery, the produce consumed upon the farm, the taxes paid to the government, and the wages to all who labor, including himself and his family. ”

“ And yet the world recognizes the right of a body of laborers to strike, just as it recognizes the right of revolution to secure the general welfare. Formerly a combination of workmen in a strike was treated as a conspiracy and punished as such. Now the general rule is absolute freedom of combination with rigorous repression of fraud and violence. This enables any body of men to make a serious test of the conditions of a labor market, at the risk, primarily, of their own welfare, but with serious strain upon the general good. ”

“ Among children the right of the parent to govern for the welfare of the family is never questioned until character and wisdom are doubted. Among crude and disorganized bodies of people, superior wisdom and earnest purpose make leadership. Yet always, in the end, the ideal of welfare in any community implies growth of individuals into authority over themselves as one of its main objects, if not its chief one. Thus the best government for any community at any stage of its advancement is the one that best secures the welfare of all in existing circumstances. ”

“ Diminishing cost of transportation.—That the cost of transportation keeps diminishing in spite of combinations of capital to prevent it, and in spite of local legislation restricting it, proves that the increasing perfection of machinery and the accession of capital in railroads and waterways are stronger than the purposes of men. That freights are regulated by “what the traffic will bear” is merely another way of saying that transportation comes under the universal law of values—what the service is worth in the market, or what people are willing to give for it. ”

“ Society rightly hesitates to interfere with my ideals by force as long as my actions do not disturb the welfare of my neighbors. The necessity of human liberty for actual welfare limits the control of society to very evident infringements upon others' welfare in every activity, including the use of wealth as well as other powers. This very restriction is in the interest of highest total enjoyment of welfare in the whole community. ”

“ Exertion that has no end beyond itself, no matter how severe it may be, we call play, and consider it important in public welfare only as it aids in health and morals. Labor is separated, too, from all exertions to destroy or injure the welfare of others, if we can see their object. Any person claiming to labor professes to have given his exertions for the satisfaction of somebody's wants without doing violence to the welfare of others in the community. Whenever we do not assume this we concede a state of war, violence and destruction taking the place of production and accumulation. ”

“ It is clear that Rural Welfare, as far at least as it rests upon Wealth, is to be gained by careful study of laws of nature and human nature quite independent of mere wishes. The only way to improve the present situation of affairs in any community is to use the natural forces within reach to advantage. All the growth of the past is preparation for more growth and better fruit in the present and future. The farmer who knows most about the fundamental principles of property and property rights in society is most likely to best serve his community, as well as himself. ”

“ The most absolute communism implies the greatest inequality in official power. Even the pleasing phrase, “Equality of opportunity,” will not bear analysis as applied to human nature and human welfare, under the very highest ideals of social unity. Indeed, the lesson of facts in all activity is that inter-dependence of unlike and unequal forces makes the true unity of organization, and the surest welfare of multitudes. That each individual should have the best opportunity possible for his own development is best for each and for all in a community ”

“ Uses of interest.—In closing the subject of interest, it is well to recall the fact that interest exists in the very nature of productive energies, and that ability to transfer the use of property in any form of capital without transferring the interest is most useful to society. It sustains the aged, who must otherwise be wholly dependent, and the childhood of the race in all development of body, mind and soul. Interest sustains the mass of educational and charitable institutions, as well as the individual life of multitudes whose present earnings could not keep body and soul together. ”

“ The farmer who sells his grain or his fruit by false samples cannot complain of false weights and measures at the elevator. The one who gloats over victory in a horse trade has no right to grumble at a trickster in wool buying. The man who is caught by the offer of a gold brick is not only foolish, but false, and diminishes the security of himself and everybody else in fair bargains and genuine business. The man who takes advantage of his ignorant neighbor deserves to be at the mercy of a more crafty dealer. ”

“ The old idea that one gives up freedom of self for the advantages given by society has no foundation in fact, because we are born into our place in society without power to escape its advantages, disadvantages or responsibilities. The maxim “Each for all and all for each” is thoroughly grounded in the constitution of man; his needs and abilities enforce society and insist upon community of interests. Even personal wealth confers little welfare outside of its relations to other human beings. ”

“ Rent in price of products.—Does the value of the land upon which my wheat is raised enter into the price of my wheat? If all land values were destroyed, would the wheat of the world be cheaper, because its cost would be diminished? The price at any time is just enough to bring the supply to market and keep it there. A portion of the supply has cost even more than it brings to its owner. If any brings more than cost, the difference goes either to the energetic raiser using improved methods, or to the fortunate receiver of timely showers, or to the possessor of the fruitful field. ”

“ Whenever exertion is needed to provide for using these, the thought of wealth is connected with the forces themselves. The fish in the sea and rivers become wealth to one who has caught them, and even more distinctly the property of the community which has protected them in breeding. Sunlight may reach all alike in welfare, but the man who has contrived to make it print pictures for him has made sunlight into wealth in the picture. Equally so the farmer's energy and contrivance use the properties of soil and climate and the vital energies of seeds to make wealth in a crop. ”

“ The very foundation of any success in farming is clear foresight and distinct planning for a succession of crops, each to be tended, harvested, stored and marketed in the very nick of time. The best energy of every farmer is properly given to finding what crop to raise, how and when to have it ready for the world that is going to need it. He best meets his own daily wants when “Mr. Contrivance” stands by him in all his efforts. This contrivance is the chief exertion of a successful farmer's life. ”

“ The greed of power and position and praise are far stronger as evil motives than greed of wealth. If wealth were distributed by omniscient wisdom and power according to the maxim of Louis Blanc, the higher welfare would still be as far away as ever, unless the same omniscience should control all actions. Such control by outward force would banish the very idea of virtue, the highest of all welfare. ”

“ We have social welfare as the result of wealth consumed, or used up. Society is interested in all the wealth accumulated, and the methods of its accumulation and its fair distribution are a part of social machinery; yet these have their chief significance in the final consumption. It is not what we have, but what we do with it, that makes society interested in our possessions. It is not what society has, but how it uses it, that settles the chief questions of welfare or illfare. ”

“ In many instances, wages have been fixed by law, and that for long periods of time, but without relieving in any respect the actual force of competition among wage-earners themselves. Indeed, the tendency of very explicit enactments is to weaken the individual ability of wage-earners by destroying ambition. Wages fixed by law are necessarily as low as the average would be in a free competition; otherwise production is hindered and capital is diminished. With this low average any worker of more than average ability gains nothing by exerting his ability, but does gain ease by neglect. ”

“ Any object of wealth may cease to be counted, not because it has changed, but because wants have changed. The last year's bonnet goes for a song, because the fashion changes; the reaper rots behind the barn or at the roadside, because the harvester is wanted in its place. So the wealth in any object is limited by its relation to the present or prospective wants of its owner, and his control to meet these wants. The wealth of any community is its store of material objects suited to the current wants or fitted to exchange with other communities for more suitable articles of use. ”

“ Still, society as a whole has some voice in directing the judgment of individuals. Public opinion is an effective check upon desires. The good will of the multitude is more important to the mass of men than any particular gratification. It is proper, therefore, to discuss at any [pg 322] time and at all times the limits of luxury, both for ourselves and for our neighbors. The sole cure for imprudent expenditure in luxuries is individual culture of mind and heart and conscience, so that each may do his best to secure, not only the good will of his neighbors, but their welfare. ”

“ Resources of government.—All expenditures of government are as subject to economic laws with reference to consumption of wealth as are those of individuals. Actual result in welfare is the only reason for such expenditure. Hence the same tests of economy are applied. Government makes but few expenditures for the immediate purpose of reproducing and increasing wealth. So far as its investments sustain productive industry, and the products of that industry enter into the world's market, they are subject to the same economic laws of supply and demand that govern all production of wealth. ”

“ The power of one combination to interfere with the workings of another by indirect methods, like investment in the other's stock, is an evil to be treated like any fraud. Laws and courts are in the power of the people, and should preserve the rights of all.
One great danger of large combinations is the tendency to govern by iron rule instead of by fair judgment of individual cases. This is a difficulty always connected with great enterprises, to be cured as growth advances through establishing well trained experts whose judgment makes the rules not only good in themselves, but well executed. ”

“ Extra efficiency of labor.—Most obvious advantage is seen in the saving of the time of a laborer, both in learning the essential parts of his work, so that apprenticeship is shortened to one-tenth or one-twentieth of the time required for a full trade, and in the far greater dexterity with which he works without change of tools or change of location or distraction of attention. Thus a raw hand in the course of a few months performs his single task more rapidly and more perfectly than an expert workman who must know and practice all the parts of the business. ”

“ Socialism.—The opposite extreme is the assumption that common wants are of supreme importance and common judgment absolutely efficient. Under the name of “communism” it stands in direct contrast with anarchy. Anarchists and communists may unite upon a platform of a single plank, opposition to existing institutions; but in all ideals and purposes and plans for future welfare they are absolutely opposed to each other. The natural community of interests so evident in society gives a fair basis for the general principles of communism. ”