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PART SECOND
DANGERS FROM CHANGES IN OUR PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER IX
PRELIMINARY

The basis of human happiness most be understood before one can judge if the policy which our government has pursued is calculated to afford liberty in the pursuit of happiness – admittedly the most important of our inalienable rights – as well as to determine whether the same should be reversed.

Preliminary to the discussion of the original design of government, and its gradual reversal of purpose, I want to present as briefly as I may, some philosophies of life. This I deem important, for only as we understand the basis of human happiness can we appreciate the wisdom of the course which the United States pursued for more than one hundred years, during which it attained the proudest position ever occupied by any nation.

It is recorded that when the first parents were being expelled from the Garden of Eden God pronounced this blessing upon the race: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.” I have heard this referred to as a curse, but the All-wise Father has never cursed the race. God seems to be an individualist and not a collectivist. “Whosoever will,” “The soul that sinneth it shall die,” and many similar passages are as far removed from socialistic teachings as is possible. They are the exact opposite. After some years of experience and much observation, I feel justified in saying that, barring the promise of redemption, the greatest blessing God Almighty ever pronounced upon the race of man was when he said: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.”

Then God promulgated a great commandment containing two injunctions, the first of which the church seeks to enforce. It reads: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” The second, equally important and as woefully transgressed, says: “Six days shalt thou labor.” I know people who violate each of these injunctions. They break the Sabbath and will not work the other six days.

We also read that when God had made the worlds and swung them into space, he pronounced them “Very good.” It is but reasonable to believe, and certainly reverent to say, that the Great Jehovah got divine satisfaction and gratification from his creatorship, and his sovereignty. When, in the fullness of time, He made man in His own image, wanting to provide for man’s happiness, He harked back to the thrill of creatorship and gave man the capacity for the maximum of happiness from his creatorships, his sovereignties, his achievements.

One needs but little observation to recognize that achievement is the basis of man’s material happiness. How often we hear men say: “This was raw prairie. I made this farm.” “I planted this grove.” “I started this store.” “I established this bank.” “I built this factory.” I remember very well Sir Thomas Lipton telling me where, as an immigrant with but fifty cents in his pocket, he spent his first night in New York City. There is something more than a joke in the statement that “self-made men are apt to be proud of the job.”

Nothing will develop manhood in a boy like giving him a pig, a calf, a lamb or even a rabbit. My! how a boy will grow in self-respect when permitted just to call a colt “his,” and to feel the resultant sense of proprietorship. The establishment of gardens for boys, and the offering of prizes for the best acre of corn grown by a boy, is the best “uplift work” that was ever attempted. Until very recent years the public has never sought to apply these principles of mental philosophy to the development of manly character in the young.

As soon as the savage feels this divinely implanted impulse for ownership and achievement, he is on the road towards civilization. Then, as he advances, “individualism” becomes more marked and instead of living in a hut, wearing braided grass and eating his meat and fish raw, he improves his condition and inequality begins. Is civilization a failure? It must be if socialism has any place in divine economy.

CHAPTER X
NO COMPETITION BETWEEN THE SEXES

A brief discussion of the distinction between women as voters and as statesmen.

While this chapter is parenthetical and is not essential to the argument, yet a discussion of the philosophy of human happiness would be incomplete without it.

If man had the power of creation his present wisdom would cause him not only to omit competition between the sexes, but he would avoid the possibility of even rivalry. The Creator in His wisdom did not put the sexes in competition and man can neither improve nor amend.

Occasionally a woman develops a beard, but it is so rare that she usually enters a museum. Many years ago I saw a woman with a well-defined “Adam’s apple.” But none of us admire either “mannish” women or “sissy” men.

Woman does not get her happiness from her creatorships or sovereignties. The normal woman prefers that her husband be the sovereign, and she his queen. Woman gets her happiness from her sacrifices. She gives herself to husband, to children, to home, to church, to hospital, to good deeds, and out of these sacrifices she gets the maximum of her happiness. A boy asked the butcher for tough meat and gave this reason: “If I get tender meat, dad’ll eat it all.” That would be a libel upon woman. We have each seen a thousand times where mother was getting more happiness in picking the neck and the back than the children in eating the white meat, while dad grabbed both upper joints.

But there is another side to this. When dad is refreshed, when his blood is red, when he is a full-grown normal man, what does dad do? He bears all the hardships and all the dangers this world holds in store; he freezes in the arctics, he melts in the tropics, that he may bring to those he loves the choicest of earth, and adorn his queen with the brightest jewels that glitter.

I have never supposed that when our early ancestors were confronted with danger that there was any controversy as to who should defend the other. I have assumed that she as instinctively sprang to his left, as he to her right, that his sword arm might be free. His name was John. Her name was Mary. His brother’s name was Peter; he married Margaret. Each pair named their son Ole. There being two Oles in the tribe, a distinguishing name was necessary. Do you suppose there was a family controversy to determine whether one should be called “Ole Johnson” or “Ole Maryson”?

No, woman does not wish to be the head of a clan, or to create or to possess, but she does desire that her husband shall be a chieftain, a builder and a landlord, and is willing to make any sacrifice to that end. Woman wants to be loved and, incidentally, let me say, needs to be told that she is, in the tenderest way, and more than once. If told sufficiently often, she is even proud to be a slave to the man who loves her and sometimes is without ever receiving a single post-nuptial word of endearment.

I doubt if anyone would favor woman’s suffrage if he thought it would result in changing woman’s nature, or in making her masculine in manner. “Man’s chiefest inspiration to well-doing is hope of companionship with that sacred, true and well-embodied soul – a woman” – only because an All-wise Creator made the sexes as unlike as possible and still keep them both human.

 
“For woman is not undeveloped man,
But diverse. Could we but make her as the man,
Sweet love were slain.”
 

Only one woman has occupied a seat in Congress and I am glad to record that she remained womanly, and the other members manly. In that respect the experiment was harmless. She was permitted to violate the rules and to interrupt a rollcall to explain her vote. Neither the Speaker nor the members called her to order. Perhaps they would have done so had she not been crying at the time. During a speech criticising the enforcement of law against a certain element in her state, she was asked several questions which, together with her answers, were taken down by the official stenographer. When she revised the extension of the notes for the Congressional Record, she again violated the rules and struck out the questions and answers and explained her conduct by saying: “I didn’t want them in there.” The congressmen affected, still chivalrous, did not even ask to have the Record corrected.

It will probably be some years before another woman occupies a seat in either house, for statesmanship is not gauged by intelligence or purity of motive, so much as by aptitude crossed on experience. Aptitude for the law, aptitude for mechanics and aptitude for statecraft, are quite rare, even among men. Many women have been admitted to the bar, and while a few have had some practice as attorneys, thus far the sex has developed no one of marked legal ability. If it should produce a lawyer or a master mechanic or a statesman, it will not necessarily entitle the unfortunate to a place in a museum, but it will be about as rare as anything in a museum.

CHAPTER XI
PURPOSES AND POLICIES OF GOVERNMENT

In this chapter the wisdom of the Fathers is sought to be shown by the fact that they inaugurated policies and purposes admirably calculated to develop the individuality of each citizen, and to afford the greatest opportunity for the maximum of human happiness.

With these philosophies of human life in our mind, let us pass to the study of the purpose and policy of our government as shown in its history.

Imagine, if you will, that we have just won our independence, that the Constitutional Convention has been held, the matchless document there formulated has been adopted and that the United States of America has become a Nation. Then suppose all the people within our domain gather to determine the purpose and policy of their government. Will we choose the least possible government, and the greatest measure of liberty, or shall the United States become a great business concern with all its citizens on the payroll? Shall government guard the liberties of the people while they prosecute their business, or shall the government conduct the business and the citizen guard the government?

Alexander Hamilton will attend this meeting and will make the speech of his life. Talleyrand declared Hamilton’s to be the greatest intellect he ever met. In addition to well-nigh matchless mentality he probably possessed greater vision than any man of his time; and vision is the natural parent of statesmanship, if indeed it be not statesmanship itself.

Standing at the cradle of this nation, Alexander Hamilton assures Talleyrand that either Philadelphia or New York will be ultimately the financial center of the world. Back in the interior he predicts another metropolis. Eventually, he declares, the United States will extend to the Pacific Ocean and yonder on the western coast there will be another metropolis. If we build to such dimensions these must be our policies.

He continues his speech and tells us that the United States is not only destined to be the most powerful but likewise the richest nation in the world. Our unearned increment will exceed the dream of man. These lands, now worthless, are intrinsically of great value. All the minerals and all the metals will be found within our borders and these will measure untold riches. Today we have resources unequalled in any land, and resourcefulness unmatched by any people, and he reminds us that resourcefulness, when applied to resources, will produce greatness.

Then someone in the audience rises and announces himself a bolshevist and moves that the United States retain title to all these wonderful resources until they attain their maximum value. He proposes that we tolerate no “land hogs” and permit no one to exploit the resources of America or make profit out of iron or coal or oil or even a waterpower.

Then a socialist declares this to be a concise statement of his creed and seconds the motion. Non-partisan leaguers from North Dakota, and single-taxers from California, also favor it. An anarchist joins to say that while his people are opposed to any laws, yet if laws are to be made, they should each prohibit something and none should encourage anything. Then an I. W. W. declares that this will suit him, provided he be not required to work. But the proposition is lost.

Then a preamble and resolution is offered to this effect: “Whereas, the All-wise Creator has decreed that man shall derive his greatest happiness from his achievements, therefore, with faith both in God and man and believing in America, be it resolved, that we emblazon upon the sky where all the world shall see, the great announcement that the Stars and Stripes shall forever stand for Opportunity!” This is carried by acclamation and amid applause.

Then another moves that we give notice to every citizen, and to every person who may desire to become a citizen, that in the pursuit of guaranteed happiness, each shall have guaranteed liberty to look over our broad domain, select the biggest thing he dare undertake and, if he makes it win, it shall belong to him. This motion is carried by a rising vote.

Then a third man moves that in the development of our resources, the government shall foster everything, and father nothing. In his speech supporting the motion, he suggests that if Mr. Hamilton’s prediction concerning the ultimate greatness of America proves true, men will engage in commerce; they will build ships and they will build them too large for our harbors. Then the government, in fostering commerce, will deepen and widen our waterways, but it will not father commerce and take over the ships. It will leave to the citizen the right to own the ship, to fly his flag at its mast and to get the thrill that will surely come from sailing the biggest ship that cuts the waves of ocean. Achieve and be happy! This motion is also adopted.

After these hopeful and courageous souls have thus formulated a progressive policy, a man announces his fear that he does not possess the necessary vision, and certainly not the requisite courage to accomplish any great thing and, therefore, intends to become a wage-earner, and asks the assembled citizenship of America what they propose to do for him. Being honest with ourselves we are compelled to admit that we can promise little for the present. We tell him frankly that if he is simply seeking wages, he might as well remain in the country of his nativity. We assure him, however, that if he can endure pioneer hardships until the lands have value, until the mines are developed, until means of transportation are afforded, until the unearned increment begins to appear, we will give him better wages than the world has ever seen. Have we kept faith? Let us see.

RELATIVE REWARDS OF CAPITAL AND LABOR

As late as 1840 men worked twelve hours per day for twenty-five cents, payable in cornmeal or meat, for there was no money. I can remember when fifty cents per day was a good wage. Then, when property began to have value, we started up the spiral stairway of more wage and more wage and then more wage.

What effect did this have? The world took notice and immigration increased as wages advanced. In 1907 over one million immigrants landed on our shores, and more than half with less than the required $35.00 in cash. The next year 800,000 went back. Some of them had been here several years and others only a short time, but, in addition to what they had sent home, they took with them from three hundred to five thousand dollars each.

How about capital? For nearly one hundred years, foreign capital sought American opportunity. Foreign capital built our first railways, established our first banks, erected our first factories. But about twenty-five years ago it largely ceased to come, for it could do no better here than elsewhere. Even American capital sought employment in Mexico, China and in Canada, simply because these countries offered better rewards for capital. The records of the Immigration Department contain positive proof that for more than twenty-five years labor in this country has been relatively better rewarded than capital. Otherwise capital would have come as labor came.

This great truth ought not to be ignored. The only reason capital continued to come for one hundred years is because it could do better here than elsewhere. The only reason that it ultimately went elsewhere is because it could do better elsewhere. Meantime, immigration, most of it swelling the ranks of labor, increased solely because labor received in America a relatively larger share of the profits of business and enterprise than in any other country on the map.

No one claims that even now labor receives more than its due. I am simply demonstrating the relative rewards of capital and labor in the United States and citing positive proof that immigrants who come seeking opportunity do not pursue a barren hope.

CHAPTER XII
THE RESULT OF THIS POLICY

The policy defined in the preceding chapter is illustrated and its wisdom shown by the logical results thereof. The source and constant course of wages is also discussed.

After spending seventy-five years of our national life in the discussion of state rights, and then four years of bloody fratricidal war, the fact that the United States of America is a nation and not simply a confederation of sovereign states was definitely determined. Occasionally, we still hear people speak of “these United States.” But there are none. This one is all there is. The term “these United States” comes dangerously near a treasonable utterance. The court of last resort rendered its decree at Appomattox that the United States of America is “one and inseparable, now and forever.”

After this perplexing question was settled, the government proceeded to foster industry in the largest possible way. For instance, certain men proposed that, if properly encouraged, they would construct a railroad to the Pacific coast. They were reminded that only a few years before it had been said that not even a wagon road could be builded across the Rocky Mountains. “Yes,” says General Dodge, “but we will build a railroad.” They asked a subsidy of money, to be returned as soon as possible, and one-half of a twenty mile strip of land in perpetuity. They were given both. The land was then worthless. Do you realize that if the land that was given to the Union Pacific Railroad on condition that the road should be builded to the Pacific Ocean, had been given to the Astors, on condition that the Astors should go out and look at it each year, it would have broken the Astors. There was no way to go out to see it. In effect, the government kept most of the land for homesteaders and gave half of certain adjacent tracts to railroads on condition that they make it worth while for homesteaders to occupy the reserved portions. What is the result? The Rocky Mountain Empire, yielding all the minerals, all the metals, lumber, fruits, vegetables, with millions of people living in happy homes, and all because the government fostered enterprise and said: “Achieve and be happy.”

Where there is incentive there will always be achievement.

ANOTHER ILLUSTRATION

Permit one more illustration. One thousand can be furnished as well as one. Certain men proposed to the government that on certain conditions they would build a silk mill. The government exclaimed: “A silk mill in the United States! We produce no raw silk.” This was promptly acknowledged and likewise the higher wages necessary to be paid in America. Still they promised to build a silk mill if they were permitted to buy their raw silk wherever they could find it without paying anything to the government for the privilege, and, provided further, that foreigners who might bring manufactured silk to this market, in competition with the product of their mill, should be required to pay sixty cents out of every dollar received, into the treasury of the United States for the maintenance of this government, and go home contented and happy with forty cents. The government replied: “Go build your mill. If you cannot live on those terms, we will make the foreigner pay sixty-five cents.” What is the result? Ninety million dollars’ worth of raw silk is annually imported and forty-five million dollars are paid in wages to the workmen manufacturing it. Achieve and be happy!