■r w h h a » -* a /j I O N
IS THERE A ROAD TO PLENTY?
(Continued from Page 4)
and Rist’s History of Economic Doc
trines, page 191.)
Probably the keenest critic of the
automatic system of production and
distr bution afforded by the nine
teenth century was that of Karl
Rodbertus, German, who wrote dur
ing the middl of the century. Forde-
rungen (Setting Thing in Order)
is the title of one of his works and
is suggestive of his whole scheme.
“A similar demonstration affords
a clue to the prevalence of crises.
The entrepreneur keeps adding to
the mass of commodities produced
until he touches the full capacity
of social demand. But while produc
tion grows and expands the worker’s
share dwindles, and thus his demand
for some products remains perma
nently below production level. The
structure is giving way under the
very feet of the unsuspecting pro
ducer.” (Gide and Rist’s ‘‘History of
Economic Doctrines,” page 426.)
A similar sentiment is expressed
by J. A. Hobson, a present day Eng
lish authority: “According to Hob
son, the basic cause of industrial de
pression and its consequent unem
ployment i s a persistent tedency to
oversave. Or to put it more accurate
ly, ‘over-saving. .. .refers solely to
the proportions of saving to spend
ing and does not imply any fixed
Lmit to the amount that can be serv
iceably saved.’ (Saving) ‘consists in
paying producers to make more non
consumable goods for use as capital,
instead of paying them to make more
consumable goods and consuming
them. This is the vical distinction
between spending and saving....’.”
(Quoted from Blum’s Labor Eco
nomics, page 227).
Other writers of equal assurance
of their owm anfallibility are Saint
Simon and his followers, Robert
Owen, Charles Fourier, and Joseph
Proudhon. Indeed there are many
others, of somewhat lesser promi
nence, who have written in a similar
strain. It is seen therefore that the
assumption made by Foster and
Catch, ngs that they are voicing a
new doctrine is far from the truth.
In fact a critical examination of the
works of the authorities mentioned
will reveal a more marked similarity
to the contention of Foster and
Catchings than the quotations here
g-ven indicate. That is particularly
true of the writings of Sismondi.
But the fact that other writers
have voiced the same sentiment
should in no way interfere with its
acceptance if only the contentions
averred can be shown to carry the
possibilities which they promise.
In deference to Foster and Catch
ings, nevertheless, it should be noted
that they do offer a less ambitious
remedy than most of the exponents
of the undex'-consumption theory.
But even at that their remedy is not
much less axxxbitious than that of
fered by Sismondi. The latter would
have the government restrain the
bl nd emphasis on production and try
somehow to discover the balance
between production and consump
tion. Especially should the govern
ment see to it that labor saving de
vices—capital improvements—should
not be added except in response to
a demand arising from the scarcity
of labor. Let consumption run ahead
of production instead of production
running ahead of consumption. It is
easy to deduce from this that Sis
mondi would have a commission ap
pointed by the government for the
purpose of finding when to and when
not to proceed •with the expansion
of productive effort. As is readily
seen, a suggestion of that kind is
quite the same as that made by Fos
ter and Catchings in their recent
bock “The Road to Plenty.”
The suggestion made by Robertus,
being more searching, was likewise
more ambitious: “Let the State esti
mate the total value of the social
product in terms of labor and deter
mine the fraction that should go to
the workers. Let it give to each
entrepreneur in accordance with the
number of workers he employs a
number of wage coupons, in return
for which the entrepreneur shall be
obliged to put on the market a quan
tity of commodities of equal value.
Lastly, let the said workers, paid in
wage- coupons, supply themselves
.Vith whatever they want from the
public stores in return for these, cou-
pc-ns. The national estimate would
.'rcm time to time be subject to re
vision; and in order that the propor-
ions should always be the same, the
number cf coupons given to labour
would have to be increased if the
number of commodities ever happen
ed to increase.” (Gide an^ Rist’s
History of Economic! Doctiunes,
pages 428-29).
It is, of course, this desire to in
crease and decrease the amount of
money in response to a balanced de
mand that makes Rodbertus’ plan
str kingly like Foster and Catch
ings’, and not his idea of creating an
entirely new- monetary system.
Hobson does not even go to the
extent of recommending a definite
effort to substitute a positive plan
of state action in place of the auto
matic system. He suggests rather
“that all of those factors in modern
life which tend to equalize the pos
session of wealth should be fostered.
All those tendencies which accentu
ate the disparities between the rich
and poor should be discoux*aged. In
this way, buying capacity would in
crease and a proper proportion be
tween spending and saving would be
maintained. Thus reformes in taxa
tion making the! burden fall upon
those who are best able to bear it,
the organized labor movement and
labor legislation which pi-events ex
ploitation of labor and inci'eases
wages, the limitation of the mono
poly of natural resources, and the
government control of public utili
ties, are factors working toward
Conquering the Cascades
ONOW falls every month in the
O year where the Great Northern
crosses the Cascades. Steep, tortuous
grades increase the difficulty of the
railroading problem. Nature has stub
bornly resisted man’s effort to conquer
the range.
In January, 1929, the new Cascade
tunnel was opened. Man, with elec
tricity as an ally, had con
quered the Cascades.
The eight-mile bore was
driven in three years—a
record impossible without electric
power. And electrification has been
extended to the entire 75-mile route
through the mountains.
The conquests of electricity on the
land and on the sea, in the air, and
underground, are making practicable
the impossibilities of yesterday. As
our vision encompasses wider hori
zons, electricity appears as
a vital contribution to future
industrial progress and human
welfare.
95-652BII
GENERAL ELECTRIC
GENERAL
ELECTRIC
COMP ANY,
SCH ENECTADY,
YORK