Charles McCarthy

“ Everything in life is unequal but it is inequality that makes men strive. Can you put a penalty on sturdiness, intelligence or efficiency? How big must be the force and how great the inequality? A herd philosophy of absolute equality is foreign to our genius. ”

“ Our civilization, with its wealth and prosperity, must be made to exist for its true purposes—the betterment, the efficiency and the welfare of each individual. The Germans have shown us the way; we need not adopt all their methods, but we will do well to accept their philosophy, for there is no patent on it. America must cope with this new devastating influence of wealth sanely and successfully so that greater prosperity and more equitable distribution of its benefits under just laws will result. ”

“ Why should not the state be the Efficiency Expert? Should the state stand idle while its lands are despoiled and its people are placed in bondage to a few of its members? How have the great monopolies gathered their power, save by taking to themselves governmental powers because, under a worn-out doctrine of so-called industrial freedom, the government did not utilize all its functions? ”

“ When one sees Germany, once a country of poor peasants, shot over by every conquering swashbuckler, transformed by the might of intelligence, noble philosophy and keen foresight into a shining example for the rest of the world, we feel certain that our own country cannot long remain indifferent. ”

“ Will the slow grind of a hundred years or more lead to the inevitable decay which seems to come to all nations? Are the seeds sown and the causes for decay already with us? Are the corrupting influences of the concentrated wealth of to-day to continue, adding force to force while government and individuals are swept under, until Stage 3 comes into existence? ”

“ Who is powerful enough to enforce them for us? The courts? Theoretically, yes, but practically, do we not need something nearer to the legislators—a strong right arm of the legislature? Should we not have a vigilant servant who, with the help of trained experts wily enough to cope with every turn, will relentlessly administer and enforce? Should not this servant be a friend of the poorest citizen, a friend to whom in unfair dealings he may turn and receive justice quickly and surely?
But the efficiency expert will say that we have omitted the principal problem. ”

“ The sad history of many a country can be pictured by that little diagram because concentrated wealth means power, caste, privilege, corruption and decay of every ideal, whether of manhood, morals or patriotism. ”

“ The power to tax is the power to destroy. Shall we allow them to lay whatever tax they see fit upon industry and to shift their own burdens where they will? Shall we allow them, when they are fined for wrong-doing, to shift the fine to the persons who imposed it by the simple process of raising the rates or prices? ”

“ Since the American revolution, throughout the world, and particularly in Europe, there has been such an advance in the science of government and economics, in education and general intelligence, that we are tempted to hope that history may not repeat itself. If that hope is justified, it will be due to the new economic philosophy everywhere guiding the lives of men and nations in the old countries. ”

“ My lord, we cannot collect taxes unless the farms produce; the farms will not produce unless the farmer works them intelligently; he cannot do that unless he receives a fair profit, protection and an opportunity to live like a man rather than a beast. Give me a portion of the realm; let me keep peace and do justice, and the farmer will produce more and will pay you more taxes. ”

“ If this problem of concentrated wealth and power is world wide and world old, let us try to view it in its right relations, in order that our plan for the future may not topple over because its base is not sufficiently broad.
Every schoolboy knows that nations apparently have a childhood, a strong youth and a gradual coming of age and decay. In the youthful period, caste and wealth are not prominent. The fighting man of a Saxon horde or a Daniel Boone is respected and self-sufficient. A man is rated as a man. ”

“ Although no definite plan has ever been laid, strangely enough the development of the efficiency of the individual and the safeguarding of his opportunity, the jealous guarding of the governmental machinery from the invasion of the corrupting force and might of concentrated wealth, the shackling of monopoly, and the regulating of contract conditions by special administrative agencies of the people have been under way to some slight extent in Wisconsin. ”

“ The moment we begin to equalize the conditions of men we are on dangerous ground. The fierce fight of competition must remain; the adventurous spirit in fearless attack against great odds is the very soul of the spirit of our people.
Civilization has not arisen under the hot sun where nature seems too kind. ”

“ Because men forgot that prosperity exists for the benefit of the human being and for no other purpose. If prosperity does not uplift the mass of human beings, it is not true prosperity, however it may be counterfeited by a grand show of fair cities or the glories of its riches. ”

“ A remedy based upon a philosophy of "the weak to live and the strong to die” obviously cannot serve our purpose. History and the common experience of life teach us that adversity has its place in the success of a nation. A man, a plant or a nation cannot be kept in a mollycoddle stage and develop true virility. Pain and strong winds are the friends of nations, as of men. ”

“ It is all very well to talk of constructive legislation as if it had been outlined in a blue print by some political science architect, but do not forget for an instant that there was a relentless war in this state for many many years and each advance was made only as a result of that war. ”

“ Why not invest something in the farmer and the mechanic so that he will become more efficient, so that he will have a better home, better prospects, and greater skill, which will be an advantage to him in contract? ”

“ The reason for the Wisconsin legislative program is not hard to find. There is really but one cause and it presents but one problem, which is basic to all others, and no advancement of human welfare or progress of civilization can take place until a solution is found. ”

“ Always he will find the constant harking back to the just regulation of the conditions of contract between the powerful and the weak whenever public interest demanded it—the cause of the supreme struggle with which the movement began and with which every milestone is marked. ”

“ To find this out we must consider what is represented-by the thin line beneath wealth.
Who are our richest men? Are they not the men who have made use of that Force in contract which comes from monopoly, artificial or natural? ”

“ He will be disappointed if he expects certain vivid pictures of perfect legislation or administration or clear-cut philosophy. He will find, on the contrary, a seemly comprehension of the difficulties of the problem as above outlined and a groping after and testing of one device after another to serve in combating the tendencies considered. He will find that patient research and care have been the watchwords used everywhere. ”

“ It has its chief seat where the elements and the stubborn soil force men to use their might; and sheer necessity makes great men and great countries; but again too much ice and snow stunts life and ambition; the Esquimaux builds nothing but a snow hut. A temperate zone in business, in which men may live, work and develop the best that is in them for themselves and for all, must be created and carefully protected. There is a limit to free play. As John Stuart Mill said:—
"Energy and self-dependence are, however, liable to be impaired by the absence of help, as well as by its excess. ”

“ However, there is a difference between a mountain and a molehill, and the great and glaring wrongs can be righted. Relieve the individual from even a little unjust force and he will do the rest. As long as he knows how to fight, is not complacent, nor overwhelmingly handicapped, the result will never be in doubt. ”

“ While we are teaching him this, why not teach him how to live so that he may be strong and vigorous; why not show him his rights under the law and advise him as to the most advantageous way in which to market his goods, whether it be his skill as a mechanic or his oats? ”

“ Indeed, if there is a magnificent building built in any city which is not, either directly or indirectly, for the purpose of improving the opportunities and increasing the happiness of all the manhood of the country, it is built for no purpose, and were better not in existence. ”

“ If there is any serious student of our economic life who believes that anything substantial has been gained by all the laws passed against trusts, by all the newspaper editorials which have thus far been penned, by all the sermons which have been preached against them, by all the speeches of politicians denouncing them, this authority has yet to be heard from. ”

“ It is not so easy to get regulation from the legislature as it may seem. The people who possess Force use it in this connection as freely as they use it elsewhere, and the legislative machinery is not yet so complete that it always follows the wishes of the people.
The judges? Can we turn to them? Well, the Man in the Street looks dubious when you ask him. This matter of contract in relation to monopoly has somehow been strangely muddled in the courts; we are still looking in vain for any real relief from that quarter. The truth is, that the judges are like the legislators ”

“ By long training and submission the people everywhere have come to regard the assumption of the rulers and owners as the law of right and common sense, and their own blind instincts, which tell them that all men ought to have a plenteous living on this rich earth, as the promptings of evil and disorder. ”

“ The evils considered here are as old as the world and inherent wherever human frailty meets human strength. They are involved in every human attribute, and no rule of thumb or cut and dried theory can affect them wholly or completely. ”

“ Let us consider the problems which would confront a business efficiency expert. Let us suppose that we are working with him and put down the questions which come to our minds. They may help us in reaching a solution. ”

“ The writer does not hesitate to affirm it as his opinion that efforts along lines which have been followed in the past will be equally fruitless in the future.
But the man who has Force is the employer of men and women. Little homes and villages and the happiness of thousands depend upon him. ”

“ Why not teach the man to look out for his own interests? We must make him more efficient so that he can plant more and make more. This is a difficult task if he is the slave of economic necessity, because it will necessarily cost money. ”

“ The world is being aroused by her enthusiasm. England with her crowded cities—poverty and discontent stalking everywhere—is profiting by Germany's experience, and, guided by her wise Chancellor Lloyd George, is determined to use similar devices to obtain the same results. ”

“ It will be explained how one piece of machinery made another necessary, how educational, industrial and welfare legislation were deemed the wise and necessary accompaniment of legislation intended to revolutionize the electoral machinery, which itself became necessary in order to initiate and assure great economic legislation. ”

“ It was, after all, a beehive, and the cause of its decay was a very simple one—the drones shirked while the workers bore the burdens; the drones increased and the workers bore more burdens, and so it continued until the workers could bear no more ”

“ What means have they for studying carefully every cog in the great machinery of commerce? They were not constituted for this duty, and as umpires can scarcely assume control of a legislative and administrative problem. Americans do not want their judges to be legislators. ”