Democracy Faces the Future 9780231880695

Table of contents :
Preface
Contents
I. The Frame of Reference
II. The Social Challenge to Education
III. Science and Technology
IV. Art in a Machine Culture
V. American Economic Life
VI. Economic Planning for an Economy of Plenty
VII. Nationalism, Internationalism, and an Economy of Plenty
VIII. Government, Business, and Pressure Groups
IX. Democracy – Fact and Myth
X. Freedom in an Industrial Society
XI. A Dynamic Social Theory
XII. Education in the New Era
Selected Bibliography
Notes
Index

Citation preview

DEMOCRACY

FACES

THE

FUTURE

DEMOCRACY FACES THE FUTURE BY

SAMUEL

EVERETT

NEW Y O R K : M O R N I N G S I D E HEIGHTS

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MCM-XXXV

PRESS

COPYRIGHT COLUMBIA

1935

UNIVERSITY

PRESS

PUBLISHED 1935

PRINTED THE

IN

HAMILTON

THE

UNITED

PRINTING

STATES

CO.,

OF

ALBANY,

AMERICA NEW

YORK

TO

HAZEL

EVERETT

whose adventurous approach to life is a constant stimulus and delight to those who know her

PREFACE

T h e initial work on the present study of "Democracy Faces the Future" was begun in the fall of 1930, in connection with a program of curriculum revision in the Lincoln School of Teachers College, Columbia University. Those who were responsible for this program undertook it in the belief that the curriculum of the American high school must be revised in the light of the socio-economic needs of our dynamic industrial society. With this belief, the author, a member of the research staff of the school, was in total accord. As a preliminary step the staff of Lincoln School, therefore, undertook to survey the major characteristics of American life. In order to organize discussion, the author, in collaboration with members of the staff, prepared four outlines covering the broad fields of esthetics, science, government, and economics—areas commonly considered by historians and sociologists.1 These outlines were critically discussed by the staffs of the entire school and research department in a series of weekly meetings; careful notes of the meetings were recorded; then the author, using as a basis the valuable background afforded by the Lincoln School survey, undertook a more extensive type of research. First, American life was considered quite apart from education. It was viewed through the eyes of the scientist, the artist, the economist, and the student of government. Second, the writings of such social philosophers as Charles

viii

PREFACE

A. Beard, John Dewey, Alfred North Whitehead, Thorstein Veblen, Harold Rugg, and George Counts were surveyed, in order that the interrelationships and large social implications of the work of specialists might become clear. Third, the relationship of social phenomena to education was dealt with. Fourth, the work of the author was submitted for criticism to such social thinkers as Dr. Jesse H. Newlon and Dr. George S. Counts, of Columbia University, and Dr. Stacy May, then of Dartmouth College. Finally, revisions were made on the basis of the criticisms received. Throughout the study the criteria used for the choice of facts, tendencies, trends, and emphases were the assumptions regarding industrialism, social change, and democracy which are outlined in Chapter I. T h e six chapters of this book which form the basic description of social facts, trends, and emphases in present-day American life are the results of the above procedures. These chapters appear under the headings "Science and Technology," "Art in a Machine Culture," "American Economic Life," "Economic Planning for an Economy of Plenty," "Nationalism, Internationalism and an Economy of Plenty," and "Government, Business and Pressure Groups." Each chapter is rather completely documented, while a select bibliography of the sources used may be found at the back of the book. T h e study of the social conditions and needs which permeate American society necessarily led the author to attempt a restatement of certain historic American democratic ideals. A desire to preserve the essential elements of such ideals requires their restatement in terms of modern industrial conditions. This part of the study appears in the three chapters, "Democracy—Fact and Myth," "Freedom in an Industrial Society," and "A Dynamic Social Theory." These three chapters have lit-

PREFACE

IX

tie documentation. For the most part, they rest upon the factual study of the six preceding chapters. T h e y represent the author's original contribution to social theory as it relates to the American scene. T h e emphasis upon the need for reorientation in educational theory which is based upon a realistic dynamic social theory is implicit throughout the book. It finds particular expression in Chapter I, " T h e Frame of Reference," in Chapter II, " T h e Social Challenge to Education," and in the final chapter, "Education in the New Era." By interest and background the author was in some measure prepared to undertake the study which this book represents. At Amherst College, as an undergraduate, he majored in philosophy and economics; at Cornell, as a graduate student in economics and government, he received further special training. Six years were spent teaching history and the social studies in American public and private schools. T h e author received his M.A. in the philosophy of education department at Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1931. For the last four years he has been a member of the research staff of Lincoln School of Teachers College. During these years most of his work has been concerned with some phase of the American scene, past or present, as it bears upon the secondary school curriculum. T h e author wishes to make it clear that the ideas which have been set forth in this study are offered in no dogmatic spirit. T h e y are presented in the belief that only through the formulation and acceptance of some educational theory which rests upon a realistic study of society, and the acceptance of an adequate social theory, can American educational practice be guided in such a way as to meet the educational needs of modern America. T h e author acknowledges his indebtedness and ex-

X

PREFACE

presses his gratitude for criticism bearing upon particular problems dealt with in this volume to the following members of the faculty of Teachers College: Edmund deS. Brunner, Harold Clark, Heber Harper, L. Thomas Hopkins, Robert Bruce Raup, and Ralph B. Spence. Special thanks are due to other members and former members of the staffs of Lincoln School and of Teachers College: to Harold Rugg for help in coordinating the research in terms of education; to George S. Counts for reading each original chapter of the manuscript as it was completed and for helpful suggestions and criticism; to Mrs. Frances Foster for exceedingly valuable editorial criticism; to William W. Wattenberg for his assistance in the preparation of the manuscript; and to Jesse H. Newlon for his constant encouragement throughout and for his releasing the author from other duties so that the work might be carried to completion. S. E. C O L U M B I A UNIVERSITY IN T H E C I T Y OF NEW Y O R K January 3, 1935

CONTENTS I. II.

T H E FRAME OF REFERENCE T H E SOCIAL C H A L L E N G E T O EDUCATION

III.

SCIENCE AND T E C H N O L O G Y

IV.

A R T IN A M A C H I N E C U L T U R E

V.

AMERICAN

ECONOMIC LIFE

VI.

ECONOMIC

P L A N N I N G FOR AN E C O N O M Y

.

.

.

OF

PLENTY VII.

NATIONALISM,

INTERNATIONALISM,

AND

AN

ECONOMY OF PLENTY VIII. IX. X. XI. XII.

G O V E R N M E N T , BUSINESS, A N D PRESSURE F R E E D O M IN AN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY A D Y N A M I C SOCIAL T H E O R Y EDUCATION

IN T H E N E W ERA

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY NOTES INDEX

GROUPS

DEMOCRACY—FACT AND M Y T H .

.

.

.

DEMOCRACY

FACES

THE

FUTURE

I THE F R A M E OF

REFERENCE1

In this study the author deals with a problem which is one of the most important in American education today. T h e problem is that of developing a modern educational theory that will be consistent with the demands that present-day society is making u p o n education. Many people feel that at no time in history has there been a greater challenge to the educational profession than at present. If this challenge is to be met a reorientation of educational theory is necessary. Present educational practice is based upon beliefs inherent in a culture that is fast vanishing. Since 1900, the whole life of the nation—economic, political, and s o c i a l has changed with great rapidity. T h o s e w h o have guided the American school d u r i n g this period have necessarily concentrated both thought and effort upon providing the physical environment for an ever-increasing school population, and upon refining old educational methods and techniques. W h i l e concentrating upon these aspects of education, the new social trends in American society and their bearing upon American education have been largely neglected. American education has traditionally accepted four professional responsibilities: guardianship of the welfare of youth; the orientation of young people in American society; the perpetuation of those American ideals that are the proper heritage of youth; and the responsibility for meeting certain educational needs of adults. Before Amer-

4

THE

FRAME

OF

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ican education can be reoriented to meet more effectively these responsibilities, the whole structure of present-day American life must be surveyed to determine what these responsibilities imply in modern American society. In the present study such a survey is made. It is the attempt of the study to evolve a social theory which will indicate desirable directions of movement for American social change, and then, using this social theory as a fundamental base, to construct a desirable educational theory. M A J O R CONCEPTS AND POINTS O F

VIEW

All thoroughgoing discussions of the various aspects of American society appearing in newspapers, magazines, and books, as well as all such discussions carried on from public platforms, seem to make assumptions with regard to such important aspects of our social life as industrialism, social change, and democracy. The author was therefore led to believe that in the study of American life which he was undertaking, an examination of these three concepts might be highly productive. He also felt that his clear-cut acceptance of certain points of view relative to them might be of distinct value in guiding his choice of materials and emphases throughout his study. These three concepts were then examined, and definite positions taken in regard to them. INDUSTRIALISM

T h e development of industrialism in America is an incontrovertible fact. One has only to look around him to see that it exists. It is a force to be reckoned with in the daily lives of all people living in modern America. One can, of course, assume that industrialism is good or that it is bad. It is on the one hand believed that the coming of industrialism has brought incalculable material, intellectual, and social benefits. This position is in accord with

THE

FRAME

OF

REFERENCE

5

a most powerful American tradition—that of "progress." T h e American people have acclaimed the appearance of the steamboat, the railroad, the automobile, the airplane, the telegraph, the telephone, and hundreds of other technological changes as conducive to the general welfare. T h e y take pride in the tremendous productivity of the modern machine and in the rise of the American standard of living which the machine has made possible. It is believed that the modern press which pours forth thousands of periodicals and hundreds of thousands of books each year has raised and is raising the intellectual understanding and tone of the American people. Millions of Americans—industrialists, bankers, laborers—have spent their lives in the advancement of American industrial development. They have glorified and welcomed its achievements, as have most leaders in the learned professions of law, medicine, and education. T h e alternative position is, of course, the condemnation of the achievements of industrialism, and the glorification of a pre-industrial age, coupled with the attempt to return to the "simple life" of some earlier agricultural period. A number of thinkers in the past, among them Tolstoi and Rousseau, have taken this position. Henry Borsodi is among the small number of Americans who would now free mankind from the "evils of mass production" and the type of society which the machine has produced. Upon examination of these two possible positions with regard to industrialism the author felt that he must of necessity accept the almost overwhelming position taken by the great majority of Americans. T h e thought that industrialism is congenial to progress, and has, as a matter of fact, been of great benefit to mankind, will, as a consequence, be found to be one of the major themes developed throughout this book.

6

THE

FRAME

OF

REFERENCE

SOCIAL C H A N G E

Various theories of social change are possible. Whether one accepts one theory or another makes a tremendous difference in social and educational theory and practice. T h e r e is, for example, the question as to whether society is basically changing. T h a t there is fundamental change seems to be abundantly proved by the hard facts of history and of our present daily existence. T h e America of the early nineteenth century and that of the twentieth century are basically different. From a society primarily rural and agricultural, ours is now a society predominantly industrial and urban. T h e American frontier has been closed. Machines have largely replaced and are continuing to replace hand tools as instruments of production. Small local units of manufacture have been replaced by huge industrial enterprises which obtain their materials from remote regions of the world and are dependent on distant markets for an outlet for their goods. Such fundamental changes are bringing tremendous changes in the family, in government, and in such laissez faire economic institutions as private property, private profit, contract, and competition. T h e Conclusions and Recommendations of the Social Studies Investigation Committee recognized these changes and declared that: "Cumulative evidence supports the conclusion that in the United States as in other countries, the age of individualism and laissez faire in economy and government is closing and that a new era of collectivism is emerging." 2 T h e existence of major socio-economic changes is, furthermore, amply justified in numerous semi-official governmental reports. 3 T h e fact of rapid change is stressed by leading thinkers in every field of human activity. In education this position is taken by such leaders as Harold Rugg, George S.

THE

FRAME

OF

REFERENCE

7

Counts, William H. Kilpatrick, and Boyd H. Bode. In the field of law the same emphasis has been made by Roscoe Pound, by Louis Brandeis, and Benjamin Cardozo, present members of the United States Supreme Court, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, a retired member of the Court. In the field of government, President Roosevelt and other national political leaders are conscious of major changes in society and are attempting to think through many problems of government in relation to these changes. T h e alternative position, namely that there is no basic social change now under way in society, is still taken by many people. It is believed by individuals of this persuasion that the exterior nature of our society may be changing but that we still have the family; that the Federal, state, and local governments have not been basically changed; and that, in our economic life, laissez faire and individualism are still dominant in the thinking and practice of the great mass of Americans. It seems clear that people who take this position, consciously or unconsciously, overlook the fundamental changes which are even now taking place in relation to family life, government, property, competition, and a host of other social practices and institutions. A second exceedingly important issue regarding the nature of social change is whether or not the control of such change is possible. Some thinkers, for example, Oswald Spengler, deny that social control is possible. Spengler sees western civilization declining and feels that this decline cannot be prevented. Such communist leaders as V. I. Lenin and Joseph Stalin have taken the position that large-scale planning and control is impossible in capitalist countries such as the United States. Many socio-economic facts indicate that large-scale social planning is not only possible but that far-reaching

8

THE

FRAME

OF

REFERENCE

controls have actually been set up in American society. T h e United States government has for years exercised controls over interstate commerce through the Interstate Commerce Commission, over foreign trade through treaties and tariffs, over shipping through grants and subsidies, and over the labor supply through the immigration laws. It has set up agencies to stimulate commerce and industry, among these being the Departments of Commerce, Labor, and the Interior. Labor and industry have themselves exercised considerable control through unions and trade associations. During the World War, the Federal government demonstrated that planning could be carried out on a national scale. T h e industrial life of the nation was then almost completely coordinated and controlled by the government. In waging war on an economic depression, Federal governmental agencies have again been given far-reaching control and planning powers. W e are now in the midst of an attempt to substitute long-time planning for the laissez faire operation of many aspects of our economic life. T h e contrast of the Roosevelt and Hoover administrations illustrates the issue here being discussed. T h e Hoover administration did not set up far-reaching social controls with a view to achieving national prosperity and well-being. T h e Roosevelt administration does, however, believe in setting up socio-economic controls to achieve these desired ends. T h e American people seem clearly to favor positive attempts on the part of governmental agencies to achieve economic improvements though they may differ widely on the kind of controls which should be exercised. A third assumption relative to social change involves the question of the desirable method of change. Should it be gradual in its nature, or should one favor the sudden, unconstitutional overthrow of governmental agen-

THE

FRAME

OF

REFERENCE

9

cies, accompanied by bloodshed and the use of arms? American history contains instances of both methods. T h e revolutionary temper seems at present, however, to be foreign to the thinking and action of the great mass of American citizens. Only a very small group of communists are now espousing the quick overthrow of the existing order in America. Organized labor is essentially conservative, and no other powerful group is living and thinking in a dynamic revolutionary tradition. T h e history of the United States is largely the story of the triumphs and failures of a people who are working out their destiny through a process of gradual change. These obvious facts seem to justify the point of view taken in this study that the slower process is now best for America. A t the same time it is recognized by the author that sudden governmental change may be justified at some future period of American development. DEMOCRACY

One of the most powerful American traditions is that of democracy. For generations the United States has been regarded by the other nations of the world as a country carrying on a tremendous experiment in democracy. T h i s tradition, which embraces the ideals of equality of opportunity, freedom of speech, universal suffrage, respect for the rights of others, social justice, and a classless society, is among our most cherished possessions. Generation after generation, these democratic social attitudes developed on the American frontier. Frontier conditions made for equality of opportunity. Free land and abundant national resources lay open for the taking. T h e economic status of the great mass of people was roughly uniform. There was, therefore, comparatively little invidious distinction on the basis of wealth. It was what a man was, rather than what he had, that counted

lO

THE

FRAME

OF

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most. There was no well-defined hierarchy of social tasks. A family might produce a number of sons, one of whom might be a lawyer, another a teacher, a third a tradesman, and a fourth a farmer—yet each would be equally respected. All were doing socially useful work. Because of such a socio-economic background, it is quite understandable that most liberal movements, those most closely connected with the democratic traditions, have been either tried or advocated in the western and midwestern sections of the United States, for the history of these states has been nearest to the American frontier period. These democratic movements include manhood and, later, womanhood suffrage, the initiative, referendum, and recall, the direct primary, the direct election of senators, controls over railroads, demands for unemployment insurance, and controls over big business. T h e social attitudes which have led to such legislation and to demands for more of such legislation are in harmony with the democratic tradition which is so indigenous to the American scene. Many great Americans have lived and worked in this tradition—Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Walt Whitman, Henry Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Abraham Lincoln, Horace Mann, Grover Cleveland, Hamlin Garland, Theodore Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, John Dewey, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Willa Cather, Sinclair Lewis, Theodore Dreiser, Carl Sandburg, and many others. For generations democratic ideals have been revered by the great mass of the American people. At the same time there has existed, and now exists, a powerful counter-tradition in the United States. It is the aristocratic tradition which embodies the belief that only the well-to-do people of the community have the intelligence to control society, and that the interests of the great mass of individuals are best served through the paternalis-

THE

FRAME

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11

tic rule of the many by the few. This is the tradition of Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, John Marshall, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Jay, Henry Clay, William Dean Howells, Henry James, Andrew Mellon, and Ogden Mills. These names and many others are connected with the American aristocratic tradition. The democratic theory of American society denies the efficacy and truth inherent in this tradition. The author of this study takes a similar position and attempts to justify it in terms of the realities of the present American scene. T h e basic points of view which underly this study have now been briefly outlined. First, industrialism is of incalculable benefit to mankind. Second, society is basically changing. Third, control of social change is possible and desirable. Fourth, relatively gradual, constitutional change is best, though exceedingly bad social conditions may justify a sudden overthrow of government. Fifth, a democratic social theory is best for America. Taken together, these points of view may be considered as "the American tradition." In the following study the author has repeatedly justified these points of view in terms of the hard facts of our socio-economic life. A more detailed development of this American tradition is found in Chapter XI, "A Dynamic Social Theory."

II THE

SOCIAL

CHALLENGE

TO

EDUCATION

Widespread changes now seem to be imminent in American education. Many of the national mores are being challenged, and the effectiveness of all our established institutions is being questioned. It hardly seems possible that education can remain unchanged in such turbulent times as those in which we are living. Every American in his private capacity has been affected by the prevailing economic and social disorder. In attempting to meet personal difficulties, he finds himself dealing with situations that are more or less uncertain and factors that are more or less new. T h e difficulties we experience in thinking through our personal problems are far overshadowed by the difficulties we, as a people, encounter when the need arises for rebuilding old institutions, for revising old concepts, for making decisions for the common good. An ever increasing number of American citizens are becoming convinced that fundamental social changes of various kinds are necessary, and public opinion is reflecting a readiness for such changes in our established industrial, economic, and governmental functions. In previous periods of great popular need, educators have attempted to meet their responsibilities. T h e establishment of schools in Colonial America arose from the necessity of preserving Old World cultures. T h e growing demand for suffrage which was manifested after 1829 created a need for a literate people, and schools and school

SOCIAL

CHALLENGE

TO

EDUCATION

1J

systems spread. T h e industrial and scientific revolution in the nineteenth century, with the resultant growth of factories, the establishment of lines of communication and transportation, and the development of mines, necessitated the creation of courses of study in the schools to meet an increasingly urgent need for professionally trained people. T h e frontier spirit of laissez faire individualism which gradually permeated American life was consciously perpetuated in the educational system through a growing emphasis upon the individual. These are but a few examples which illustrate how certain needs of society have been met by the school. Today America's primary need is not the preservation of any specific Old World culture, for we are building a culture of our own. T h e primary need in society and in education is no longer material equipment, for we have unusually complete industrial and educational plants. It is no longer increase in technical efficiency, for the current industrial and educational processes in the United States are remarkably efficient compared with those of other nations. It is no longer an individualistic philosophy. T h a t philosophy stimulated our earlier social and educational achievements, but it is no longer of paramount importance. T h e present primary need in society as a whole is to develop and put into practice a social theory which is in accord with cherished American ideals and the conditions of modern industrial life. This implies knowing the important facts which influence society, sensing the trends, seeing the movements, holding intelligent opinions regarding the desirable directions which these movements should take, and contributing such action as is necessary to further these movements. T h e development and practice of a social theory is a most important responsibility of educators. In a measure, it includes all others.

14

SOCIAL

CHALLENGE

TO

EDUCATION

T h e difficulties of understanding the social order have never been greater, nor the necessity for doing so any more pressing. T h e men and women who make up the educational profession have a dual responsibility in helping to meet this general need. They are responsible as citizens and they are responsible as educators. They are entrusted as educators with the present welfare of young people, with the responsibility for teaching the finest American ideals, and with the duty of orienting these future citizens in the society in which they are to function. In order to guard the present welfare of American youth, educators must be fundamentally concerned with the social influences which are affecting young people outside the school as well as within it. T h e home, the neighborhood, the playgrounds, and all the social contacts of community life help to mold and condition children perhaps more permanently than the school itself. T h e malnutrition of children indirectly caused by protracted unemployment of parents, the insanitary and antisocial conditions of slum life—such social ills, their underlying causes, and their possible remedies directly concern the educator. T h e American people have placed upon the educational profession the responsibility for teaching such ideals as democracy, liberty, and freedom. Confusion, maladjustment, and even contempt for these ideals may result if they are taught without relation to the possibilities of their achievement in actual life. Boys and girls learn in school that through universal suffrage the people control the government. Through adult conversations, through newspapers, and perhaps even through personal experience, they learn that actually the power of government is too largely in the hands of politicians and of the moneyed interests which control politicians. Children learn in school that in America the

SOCIAL

CHALLENGE

TO

EDUCATION

15

courts protect the weak, and helpless. Outside the school, they learn that the courts best protect those who can hire clever lawyers. Within the school, children learn that "America is the home of the free." But they hear little of this freedom from fathers or older brothers who have joined the great army of the unemployed or who, as wage earners, must live below the minimum standard of decency. Children are disillusioned and maladjusted because their educational training does not deal with realities and give them the basis for intelligent judgment. Many, as a result, become disillusioned and even contemptuous of our national ideals. Failure and disillusion have also made millions in our adult population cynical of our national ideals or, worse, unresponsive to ideals of any kind. Many of those adults who are most concerned over the many maladjustments and contradictions found in American life are now attempting to reeducate themselves in order to see clearly the realities of our socio-economic situation and to determine upon desirable individual and social goals. They are attempting to achieve these desired goals and are increasingly turning to trained educational leadership for guidance in their efforts. T h e responsibility of educators to youth and to adults seeking educational opportunities in American society has been accepted in theory, but few of the vital problems which confront the American people today have found their way into education. A socially intelligent people cannot be produced in a day or even in a year. They must be trained from early youth to consider the important problems of their time, to weigh evidence, and to make thoughtful decisions. This is impossible except under the leadership of socially intelligent teachers. Educators cannot at any time maintain a neutral attitude toward the needs of society.1 Until social pressure

l6

SOCIAL

CHALLENGE

TO

EDUCATION

becomes too great, educators can refrain from dealing with needs that are uppermost in present-day American life—but this is not remaining neutral. It is evading the responsibility of the school in helping to meet social needs. It is inhibiting in children constructive thinking on matters which affect their lives. It is conditioning a nation against the achievement of social intelligence. In the light of the needs of American society and the responsibilities which have developed upon educators, the teaching profession must be ready for a new era in educational development. 2 T h e new era is one in which the schools will increasingly deal with socio-economic realities. Where the welfare of millions of American youth and an ever increasing group of adults as well is involved, attempting anything less than this is "to empty our profession of resolute character and intelligent service." 3 What are the ideals that should be taught? What shall be the direction of social movement? What social traditions shall be perpetuated in the reconstruction of social institutions? And what traditions shall be denied fruition in the new society? These questions are now uppermost in the minds of thinking Americans. T h e y lead one to the heart of both the social and the educational problem. T h e following ten chapters attempt to survey the broad fields of human living and to point out desirable direction for future social and educational development.

Ill SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY

Science and machine technology have not only made western civilization possible; they are the very basis of modern culture. 1 Science played a minor part in earlier world-civilizations. Ancient Egypt and Greece held scientific theories, made scientific discoveries, and applied science in more or less practical ways. But Egypt is chiefly remembered for its contributions to agriculture, mathematics, and the concept of writing; while Greece is re* membered for its art and philosophy. These cultures made their peculiar contributions. Although making use of science, they and the civilizations which followed are better known for cultural contributions which more definitely expressed their social philosophy. Rome is renowned for codified law; the Orient for its religions; Europe of the Middle Ages for a metaphysical type of philosophical speculation. Though modern western civilization includes many borrowings from such cultures as these, it has a peculiar contribution of its own to make to human history. Its contribution rests mainly upon science and is expressed in our machine culture. Nowhere are science and technology as cultural emphases so dominant as in America. This is due to a fortuitous combination of circumstances. T h e United States developed its basic economic structure in the same period of time that marked the rise of science and technology1 in Europe; no previous economic structure supported by vested interests had to be scrapped in order to establish

l8

SCIENCE

AND

TECHNOLOGY

it. Comparative geographic isolation made possible a new cultural emphasis, while the tenuous relationship with the older world made possible acquaintance with the knowledge of science and technology which was gradually growing up in Europe. T h e necessity of ministering to the physical needs of a population that was growing at an amazing rate, on a continent amazingly rich in natural resources, provided an unusual stimulus for the development of science and technology. T h u s the United States has become the most notable example of mechanized efficiency in the world today. As a result of this preeminence, technologists and students of society from all parts of the world make long pilgrimages to learn the most advanced techniques of our machine culture and to experience at first hand the strengths and weaknesses of a society dominated by mechanized technology. Today the intelligent man in America turns as consciously to the scientist for help and guidance as the man of an earlier day turned to the artist, the governmental expert, or the priest. When confronted by personal or social problems, his faith in science and respect for what "science says" dictate the action he takes in attempting a solution. 2 T h e industrialist depends upon science to lay out for him the most efficient organization of his plant in respect to installation of power and the routing of materials through his factory. He asks science to furnish him the most perfect machines for his particular manufacture. By scientific techniques, he attempts to choose the men who are to operate these machines; by scientific methods, he strives to determine the location and extent of his market and the quality and quantity of his product. 3 T h e farmer depends upon science for an analysis of his soil, for advice regarding the crops for which his ground is fitted, the breeding and care of his stock, the selection

SCIENCE

AND

TECHNOLOGY

ig

of the most useful agricultural machinery, the improvement of his farm, and the foreknowledge of weather conditions which affect his work and produce. 4 T h e housewife depends upon science for help in buying, preparing, and cooking food, in planning her menus; and for mechanical household appliances which save her time and energy in caring for the home. 5 T h e educator depends upon science to disclose to him the principles of learning, of administering school populations and finances, of constructing tests, of finding needed data. Government workers, business men, bankers, artisans, and even artists depend upon science for techniques or tools with which to carry on their professional affairs. Every man, woman, and child in the whole nation is affected by this religion of science. T h e i r safety, health, comfort, and general welfare hinge upon it. Food, merchandise, and people are transported over railroad systems, steamship lines, and air lines that are the products of science. Various mechanical systems of communication —the telegraph, telephone, and radio—are all direct applications of scientific knowledge and have played a far greater part in cementing national life than is usually realized. Our lighting, water, and sewerage systems, and other public services have been built to their present state of efficiency through the development and use of science. A l l these products are now basic to American life. It is not surprising, therefore, that Americans have an unfaltering faith in science and hold it in high respect. PRACTICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

IN S P E C I A L I Z E D

FIELDS

Practical achievements such as those which have been mentioned have been made possible by fundamental discoveries, inventions, and research in various fields of pure and applied science.8 Because this work is removed from

20

S C I E N C E AND

TECHNOLOGY

the public gaze, because much of it is abstract in nature, and because it is being done by a relatively few specialized workers, it is less obvious and therefore less familiar than the achievements themselves. Viewed from the standpoint of human welfare, it is unnecessary that the highly specialized laws, rules, and techniques used in such fields as physics, chemistry, or biology become common knowledge. It does seem important, however, that people should be more generally familiar with the type of work done by specialized scientific workers, particularly in the field of physics, chemistry, and biology. These are the sciences which have definitely affected our everyday living. For the most part, they grew up during the same period and were not narrowly circumscribed. T h e contributions of one field have been recognized and used in others. Physics has made industrial life possible by its ability to effect transformations of energy. T h e power stored in water and oil have been utilized because of the scientific principles and techniques worked out in physics. As a result of the painstaking work of physicists, the steam engine, the turbine, the Pelton wheel, the Diesel engine, and the internal combustion gasoline engine have been produced. T h e generator, converting mechanical energy into electrical energy, is the product of principles and techniques laid down by the physicist. T o appreciate these primary inventions and the everyday conveniences that have come to us through them, something of the story of these basic contributions in the field of applied physics should be known. Certainly such a survey is indispensable to understanding the whole tone and force of what we call our "machine age." T h e story of the expanding knowledge of chemistry, 7 of chemical changes and their effect upon the animate and the inanimate, is as romantic as the story of the circum-

SCIENCE

AND TECHNOLOGY

21

navigation of the globe by Magellan, or by Post and Gatty. And yet the knowledge has not been socialized. We are indebted to chemistry for the knowledge of curatives and palliatives in disease, for the techniques of pasteurization and sterilization, and the production of serums and vaccines. These contributions have revolutionized medicine and surgery and alleviated untold suffering. In industry, the chemist evolved the techniques by which various types of steel, synthetic fabrics, dyes, plastic materials, gases, and explosives have been produced. The chemist has found uses for waste materials and the by-products made from them have immeasurably benefited the human race. Biology aided in the development of the techniques and products evolved by chemistry.8 It has used the contributions and techniques evolved both by physics and chemistry to assist in work which lies more definitely within its own field—the study of microorganisms, diet deficiencies, endocrine disturbances, and similar phenomena. The work on microorganisms alone has been of inestimable worth; it has spelled the difference between life and death for millions. The achievements of biology in fundamental research on heredity and selection, and on the control of insect pests, has had social significance of immeasurable value. Psychology, an outgrowth of biology, is not yet rated as an exact science; yet its contributions have already thrown light on the more intelligent handling of human beings in industry and education," and in socio-religious and medical work. This field promises even greater practical value. Only a few of the primary contributions of these scientific fields have been mentioned. Knowledge and appreciation of them is not yet common property but the physical, mental, and material welfare of all of us seems depend-

22

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ent upon socializing such information. W e cannot really know the sources of power in our own society without such knowledge. Because we are inclined to trust the future of our civilization to science, there is need of a more basic understanding of it than is furnished by a knowledge of its achievements alone. It is necessary to know the foundations upon which science itself rests. Upon consideration of these foundations we discover that science rests upon faiths just as surely as religion rests upon faiths. What are these faiths of science? Do they limit science today and do they, perhaps, circumscribe its future possibilities? THE

FAITHS

OF

SCIENCE

10

T h e faiths of pure science are just as intangible as those of religion. T h e y cannot be seen, for, like all the faiths of men, they are ideas. Faiths are much more difficult to appreciate than products. W e can touch the fabric made synthetically; we can see the perfection with which the dynamo operates; we can witness the extermination of insect pests. W e can easily appreciate what science has achieved, for the products of science are ever with us. But the faiths which have made possible these products are less well known to the layman. Sometimes they are even forgotten by the scientist. One faith of science is the belief that all phenomena have a natural cause-and-effect relationship, that, in other words, there is order in the universe resulting from definitely established relationships. 11 According to this faith, phenomena which cannot be explained are not supernatural; their cause is merely unknown. A second faith of science is a belief that cause-and-effect relationships can be discovered by human beings. T h i s belief has stimulated the prodigious efforts of scientists in their attempts to understand the universe.

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AND T E C H N O L O G Y

23

A third faith of science is trust in logical processes. T h e logical procedures used in science have come to be known as the scientific method. This method consists, first, in "observing significant facts"; second, in "arriving at a hypothesis which, if true, would account for these facts"; third, "in deducing from this hypothesis consequences which can be tested by observations." 12 T h e scientific method may be thus briefly stated. However, there are three basic aspects of the method that are worthy of special consideration. First, the method is objective and uses quantitative measurement. Second, the method emphasizes an inductive process, i.e., the laws and principles of science are developed from the careful consideration of facts. Third, within the same field of experiment, the method sanctions deductions from laws and principles established by the inductive process. A fourth faith of science is that all conclusions scientifically arrived at should be regarded as tentative. Science holds that its "truths," principles, or laws should never be considered as final. This faith is necessary because of a reasonable doubt on the part of the scientist that all relationships which exist in the world have been taken into account. Therefore, principles and laws established by science must be tentatively held. These four faiths are basic beliefs upon which the structure of pure science rests. One other faith of science should be mentioned. It is less fundamental to the scientist in his professional capacity, but it is of particular importance to society. It is the belief that human control of most terrestrial phenomena is possible. It is a belief which holds that through the use of scientific knowledge, facts and events can be molded by human beings to human ends. Although this faith does not rank in the same category as the first four, it sets the direction of research work in applied science.

24

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TECHNOLOGY

T h e scientific faiths demonstrate that science is concerned with facts. T h e province of its work is to collect these facts without prejudice and to "let them speak for themselves." 13 It is primarily technique and a body of knowledge arrived at through technique. Science does not claim that it can determine what values in human life have most significance, or that it can make decisions regarding desirable or undesirable action in the field of human living. In essence, pure science is not concerned with human values, human relationships, or human meanings. Therefore, its scope does not include such fields as art, philosophy, education, or religion, excepting in so far as it may furnish objective and quantitative data relative to them. SCIENCE AND THE CURRENT SOCIAL EMPHASIS

14

No system of beliefs can develop as much power in a culture as has science in ours without affecting the fundamental attitudes and beliefs of that society. T h e typical appeal of the common man of all ages has been to "common sense"; but the meaning of "common sense" changes from time to time according to the guiding power which grips man's imagination and offers him hope and satisfaction. During the Middle Ages in Europe, "common sense" was dictated by theological tenets of the Established Church; today it is dictated by "what science says." Professional pronouncements of scientists have revolutionized modern beliefs. Such concepts as the vastness of space, the age of the earth, and the theory of evolution have had widespread acceptance. Inquiry into the vastness of space brings with it the knowledge that the world is not the center of the universe,13 and doubt that man is the special ward of a controlling deity. T h e age of the earth, as demonstrated by scientists, causes revaluation of books hitherto held too

SCIENCE

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25

sacred to be subjected to the indignity of rational justification. T h e concept of evolution, emphasizing as it does a constantly changing world, completely reorients us. From living in a relatively fixed world, we find that all is change and relativity. Everything is moving, growing, and shrinking; coming to birth and dying. This concept of change permeates the common-sense attitude of people. It has tended to destroy the belief that there are lasting values; that it is worth while to direct one's life according to clearly conceived ideals; or that it is either possible or necessary to direct social life according to carefully worked out plans. In thinking, "change" is confused with "progress," and this mental confusion inhibits the establishment of either personal or social controls. People reason that if change (i.e., progress) is inevitable, efforts towards control merely hinder and delay it. Due to the impact of the scientific method with its insistence upon exact measurement, the very nature of our concept of truth is changing. Aristotelian thinking which prevailed until the scientific era was well established necessitated querying the essence or nature of things. On the other hand, the statistical thinking of the modern scientific method requires that we ask: What are the relationships of this thing so far as we are able to measure them? T h e relative rather than the absolute, the relationships rather than the essence of things, are the requirements of the modern method of thinking. W e do not now insist upon a category which places an arbitrary demarcating line between extremes and throws every fact into one of two compartments. T h e division between the absolute "good" and the absolute "bad" is interspersed with relative "goods" and "bads." T h e classification into relatives rather than absolutes is a refinement of thinking in terms of truth. This change in our habits

26

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TECHNOLOGY

of thought differentiates us clearly from our forefathers of the prescientific era. T h e scientific faith in cause and effect has also filtered into the mass mind. It has largely freed us from fearsome superstitious beliefs. Witches and angry gods w h o send flood, drought, and pestilence have been outmoded, as the faiths of science have gained hold over the human mind. Relief from unreasoning fear has resulted from this scientific emphasis upon cause and effect. T h e scientific discretion which makes no pronouncement until it has carefully gathered, examined, and checked its facts has here taken hold of the popular imagination; and there is a tendency among the more intelligent to b r i n g every belief, shibboleth, and dogmatic statement under the spotlight of inquiry to test its truth. T h u s scientific caution has spread, and many recognized social agencies, such as education, are trying to make it the "common-sense" attitude of the great mass of the people. American thinking has been thus tinged by scientific faiths and findings, and the pronouncements of science have modified previously held beliefs and altered personal horizons. So strong a hold has scientific dictum upon the American people that if science has nothing to say regarding some phase of h u m a n interest, the "commonsense" inference is made that the matter can b e of little importance, or that it is non-existent, science not having proved its existence. SCIENCE

AS

DOGMA

T h e fact is too often forgotten that sceince does not consider certain matters within its proper sphere. It has set its own limitations upon its field, its methods, and its contributions. Because of a lack of appreciation of these limitations, it is easy for people to infer that there is no G o d , because science does not prove that there is one. It

SCIENCE

AND T E C H N O L O G Y

27

is easy to cast aspersions upon art and esthetic values, because science does not deal with them. It is easy to be relatively unconcerned with questions of philosophic meaning, because science makes no affirmation regarding them. T h e difficulty is that scientists do enter these fields, and that then, because of the valuable scientific contributions they have made and the popular predilection for science today, their statements on religion and philosophy tend to be accepted without question. This is often unfortunate, because the scientist has not been professionally concerned with such matters, and because, when he deals with them, he does so as a layman and not as an expert. Unfortunately, his professional training very often unfits him to speak with authority in those fields which have been built upon faiths entirely different from his own, for they often lie in the realm of values and are not primarily concerned with objective quantitative data. T h e influence of science has been so great that its faiths and some of its techniques have been carried over into other specialized fields. In economics, government, and education, the influence of the scientific faith in logical processes has had widespread acceptance, and scientific method has been adopted to a considerable extent. It has dominated much of the work of the educator. 1 " Certain governmental experts have tried to reduce government to a science. Many economists have even placed economics among the sciences. T h e careful analytical techniques of science applied in such fields have shed much light by yielding objective quantitative data. But the question should be raised whether a disproportionate amount of time and effort have not been given to scientific methods of research. In economics, the application of the scientific method has verified and refined certain laws which have been

28

SCIENCE

AND

TECHNOLOGY

deduced by empiric methods. Such careful verification and refinement, however, has not made possible the control of economic events. T h i s may be partially explained by a neglect to take into account the effects of social institutions, beliefs, and mores. W e may accept the law that "supply and demand determine price," but the actual price we pay is affected by such factors as decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission, farmers' leagues, labor unions, stock exchange pools, and tariffs which arbitrarily affect prices, forcing them up or down. T h e refusal of the public to buy foreign-made goods for one reason or another may also for a time have an unforeseen effect upon prices in the home market. These very important human and cultural elements have been omitted from the consideration of economists who are completely under the influence of science. In government and education, as in economics, the same human factors are found which limit the uses to which scientific method may be put. Where human desires, values, and controls enter, science must necessarily play a restricted and a subordinate role. T h e careful application of the scientific method has demonstrated the need for specialization in every field of human activity. Invaluable knowledge has resulted. But when the specialist is completely dominated by scientific procedures and laws, he is content to do his little job within his field without bothering to ask of himself whether it is really significant for society. Specialization then becomes a dogma which grips the specialist quite as completely as the formalized religious service gripped the medieval theologian. In education, the statistician becomes so concerned with his technique that he ceases to ask concerning the significance of his data, or even of his original problem. T h e measurement expert is content to measure the attainment of existing subject material

SCIENCE

AND

TECHNOLOGY

29

without asking whether or not such subject material has any earthly use. T h e "scientific" economist becomes so engrossed in a survey of past economic cycles that he can say nothing which is significant on the subject of present economic maladjustment. T h e prestige of science and the scientific attitude is so great that this narrow attitude of mind, far from being thought a vice, is held a virtue. T h e best minds and the best thinking too often go into the pursuance of relatively narrow scientific problems. None would deny the need of specialists in our complicated society; but there is a need for specialists with social consciences, specialists who conceive their problems in terms of social worth. DIRECTION AND CONTROL

17

Accepting the dominant cultural emphasis of science and technology, how can these best be employed in our society? Science has made rich contributions to our welfare. It necessarily has definite limitations. But within these limitations what are its future possibilities? How may it be directed and controlled to socially useful ends? T h e proper application of science and the scientific method could contribute immeasurably toward the creation of a splendid new civilization. Although scientific research in biology and its allied fields—medicine, surgery, and psychology—has already done much for the improvement of mental and physical health, there is a tremendous need for further research bearing on mental and physical health. T h e problem of mental health is a colossal one in our industrial society. Mental cases increase from year to year. T h u s far we have concentrated our attention on mental therapy—but the crucial problem is that of prevention rather than cure. Even our present scientific knowledge dictates fundamental revision of many aspects of Amer-

30

S C I E N C E AND

TECHNOLOGY

ican life, if such maladjustments and mental diseases are to be abolished. Psychoanalysts and practical psychologists tell us that under the conditions of modern industry the length of working hours must be cut down, the conditions of work enormously improved in the interest of sound bodies and sound minds. Financial security needs to be guaranteed if mental diseases are not to continue to increase, for economic security is basic to mental health. T h e prevention of crime, the physical and mental rehabilitation of criminals to fit them for normal living, the intelligent care of the feeble-minded and the abolition of feeble-mindedness and insanity present challenging problems for science. Scientific knowledge has already made clear that the disease-breeding buildings of slums everywhere should be razed and replaced by sanitary buildings. More sunlight and fresh air are needed in homes, factories, and shops. Smoke and noise nuisances need to be eliminated. Physical health could be much better provided for in living and working conditions, if the scientific knowledge regarding the effects of rest, sun, and fresh air which is already available were utilized. In putting this knowledge into practice, esthetic values should be taken into consideration. 18 Scientists who have carefully collected facts bearing upon such problems, and workers in social fields who have interpreted them in terms of social welfare, have already indicated in part the tremendous need for such changes and the ways in which they might be brought about. A greater concentration on research of this kind would give us further knowledge. Bringing mental health and happiness to the millions of people in modern America not only requires a change in our material environment; it requires a change of habits and ideals as well. T h e work of scientists and workers

SCIENCE

AND T E C H N O L O G Y

gl

in ñelds attempting to use the careful methods of science can accomplish little to relieve the psychoses and neuroses which are the results of the stress and strain inherent in present-day society. Technicians, for example, can concentrate their energies upon the invention of efficient machinery and labor-saving devices, but they have no power to insist that these improvements be used. Today inventions and patents which would benefit worker and consumer are often relegated to oblivion by private business in the interest of private profit. Scientists working in industry can determine by careful scientific methods that a coal mine, a factory, or a railroad menaces the public welfare, but they have no power to scrap it. As a group, they may demonstrate that war is destructive of much that is best in human nature and human culture, but until society here and abroad changes dominant habits, ideals, and institutions, we shall continue to have the threat of war hanging over us, as the peoples in prescientific eras were ever menaced by scourge and pestilence. In our undirected and uncontrolled world society, it is perhaps characteristic that those scientists who are working to produce the most efficient lethal gases and deathdealing machinery and explosives are highly respected and are necessary members in each national group, including our own; whereas, if society were guided and planned intelligently, persons undertaking such work would be considered a menace to civilization. In the foregoing survey certain basic assumptions and facts bearing upon science and technology are presented. But the survey is more than the presentation of scientific and technological facts and assumptions. T h e whole discussion has been carried on from the point of view of the American tradition which has previously been outlined. T h e description has been made in terms of the welfare of the great mass of the American people. T h e point of view

38

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has been developed that scientific and technological achievement are of tremendous social value, that these factors are basically changing society, that control of scientific development is possible and that in the interests of the great mass of people coordinated direction should be given in the United States to all applied scientific work, to much of pure science, and to the work of experts in all such non-scientific fields as economics, government, education, and the like, where much of the careful methodology of science is already being used.

IV ART

IN

A

MACHINE

CULTURE

With the American tradition as a basic guide and criterion for judgment, a survey will now be made of art in our machine culture. T h e United States, with its cultural emphasis on science and technology, succeeded in doing a Herculean task in the short space of a little more than 150 years. It provided the physical basis for the national life of a people which grew from about 4 million to nearly 130 millions. During all that time, however, little thought or energy has been devoted to the satisfaction of esthetic desires. Today the result of this intensification of thought and effort may be seen in our industrial cities, own children of science and technology. Street after street of soot-covered houses, identical as to paint and pattern: mere shelters from the rain, cold, and heat, thrown together with no thought but to provide a roof. Waterfronts of great natural beauty, marred by the needs and the refuse of great ugly factories, railroad yards, and docks. A i r and water polluted by the waste products of industry. Crowded blocks of apartment houses and office buildings, rearing up here and there, shutting off light and air from the streets below. A few small breathing spaces—parks, plazas, or playgrounds—testimonials more to consciousness of health needs than to need for beauty. Yet in every industrial city may be found innumerable evidences that the love of beauty is by no means extinct

34

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IN A

MACHINE

CULTURE

in America. In back yards, flower gardens struggle for sustenance from the impoverished soil and the soot-filled air. Almost every home discloses some evidence that not all its contents have been chosen because of material needs. A piece of hand-made lace or embroidery, mute evidence of an interest in design or color; bric-a-brac and other doodads which have no possible meaning but decoration—even the lowliest home contains such things as these. In the minds of the tenants of these homes, there is an apparent cleavage between the useful and the beautiful. T h e useful is necessarily ugly; the beautiful, necessarily useless. A few evidences may be found to disprove the idea that there can be no union between the functional and the beautiful. 1 In or near large cities, a bridge or two, occasional skyscrapers erected since the World War, and a few new factories show that designs of unusual beauty may be embodied in steel, concrete, and glass, the materials of construction in our practical age. In the homes of people of means, where opportunity for greater variety in choice and contact with the Old World has developed a consciousness of art problems, fabrics and furniture in new materials and in designs that are characteristic of our machine culture have occasionally resulted in a real union of beauty and utility. These evidences are too few to prove that functional art has become an integral part of our culture. That there are these evidences today, and that the American people still retain a desire for beauty, is hopeful, for Lewis Mumford points out that there was almost a total lack of such evidences between 1830 and 1890, the period when the machine began to grip the imagination with real intensity.2 Can beauty play a vital part in a culture dominated by science and technology? Can art and the efficiency which

ART

IN

A

MACHINE

CULTURE

35

machine technology demands be combined to give new cultural emphasis to our "ugly civilization"? A R T T H E O R I E S — P A S T AND PRESENT

In other civilizations, art and artistry have been of vital concern in daily living. According to J o h n Herman Randall, the Greeks had no word for art that meant other than the skilled technique of a craftsman living up to the level of his predecessors. T o the Athenians, the art of performing tragedies in honor of Dionysius or of carving marble for Athena was like the art of cobbling or the art of navigation, beautiful in its mastery, satisfying to do well.3 In the Middle Ages, the beauty and perfection of a cathedral represented the supreme achievement of a people's aspirations. T h e daily work in and around the home —cabinet-making, the weaving of cloth, the planting and harvesting of crops—was made meaningful both because of the artistry which went into them, and the plays, songs, stories, and festivals which were connected with these activities. Art was not merely a way of expression. It was a way of life. T h i s was an attitude which allowed wide play to the imagination, valued careful technique, and invested the utilitarian with beauty through art. T h i s close union of art and utility is characteristic of many peoples who remain today relatively untouched by science and modern industrial life. Stuart Chase clearly depicts such a relationship in his description of the daily lives of the Mexican people. 4 Anthropologists have discovered the same close union of art and utility among almost all the primitive peoples of the world. Art still assumes a functional place in the daily lives of many people. One of the chief difficulties in any attempt to develop in America a functional art which would exert a driving

36

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CULTURE

force somewhat comparable to economic motives has been the confusion among artists, art teachers, and art patrons as to the scope and place of art in a machine culture. Shall art include photography and the cinema, which have been made possible by science and modern industrialism? Shall art include machines—motors, turbines, steam engines? Can machine-made products—steel railway cars, automobiles, furniture, implements, household utensils, clothing—be considered as art? 5 Or shall art be limited to such conventionally recognized fields as music, painting, sculpture, architecture, and our relatively few handicraft products? T h e answers to these questions have thus far been overwhelmingly in favor of limiting the scope of art to the conventionally recognized art and art-craft fields. T h e prints of a few photographers have grudgingly been admitted as art products, but the photography of the cinema has been excluded. Machines and machine-made products, regardless of any evidences of harmony in line, form, or blending of color, are disdained as being merely commercial and not to be admitted into the select brotherhood of the fine arts. Such a narrow concept of art virtually excludes it as a vitalizing influence in a mechanical civilization. If the significant techniques and products of our machine culture are neither to be considered as art, nor used as a basis for a new art, then vital art experience is impossible for most modern men and women. Art and esthetics will continue to be divorced from any functional place in the workaday lives of modern people. A relatively small group of artists have objected to such a divorce of art from the modern scene and have attempted to build up an art theory which accepts the machine and machine technology, but the majority have virtually adopted the non-functional art theory.

ART

IN

A

MACHINE

CULTURE

37

T h e conventional concept carries with it a number of very significant implications. If mechanical techniques and the creation of machine products which engage modern men and women are not in the field of art, then art must be "taken on" in one's leisure. If art is not concerned with the present, then it must be concerned with the past. A n d if art is not interested in present-day reality, it must be interested in an escape from reality. While the scientific and economic world has been experimenting and creating a new civilization, many artists have withdrawn from it and have formed colonies of their own kind. T h e y have not embraced American culture and made their art a significant reflection and commentary upon it. Most artists have been content to copy the techniques and themes of the past in painting, in architecture, in music, in the drama. Art products are collected and guarded in museums, the mausoleums of the dead past, as something apart from life, as indeed most of them are. Art is enjoyed by a small group of the leisure class. Many take it on as a mark of "culture," just as they take on formalized religion as a mark of respectability. Art often becomes something to be played with in one's leisure, or in one's youth, before one gets down to the really important business of living. T h e universities offer courses in appreciation of such arts as painting, literature, sculpture, and architecture. These courses are predominantly concerned with the story of past achievements in those fields. T h e y offer no indication of the fundamental place of any of the arts in a mechanized world; they give little inkling of the pervasiveness of artistry in past civilizations. Such courses do not indicate that esthetic values can influence all one's thought and action. T h e apotheosis of this maladjustment of art in the modern world is found in the theory of "art for art's sake."

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IN

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MACHINE

CULTURE

By adherence to this theory, art can be completely divorced from any recognizable contact with the actual world; whereas modern art could be a protest against the lethargy, indifference, ignorance, and errors of human beings in our civilization, and a call to significant living. VITAL A R T IN THE MACHINE A C E

Art cannot be vital unless it is a dynamic part of a culture and an expression of that culture. T h e art of ancient Greece, of Europe of the Middle Ages, and of the modern primitive peoples exhibits the social philosophy of each culture. "Art is a way of living" and the mores of the people are reflected in their art. T o the Greek, art was the expression of the dominant emphasis on beauty. T o the medieval man, art was the expression of the dominant emphasis on religion. T h e dominant emphasis in America is on science and machine technology. T h e opportunity for developing a vital art in our twentieth-century civilization lies in the willingness of those working in the fine arts to accept our machine civilization and make a significant commentary upon it. T h e materials for their interpretation and comment are our significant and unique cultural expressions—machines used in industry and agriculture, subways, railway trains, elevated stations, grain elevators, milk dispensaries, skyscrapers, steel bridges, airplanes, ocean liners, modern city streets. These and the workers in our machine culture provide natural themes. T h e reinterpretation of this civilization—of the innate beauty or innate ugliness that is withheld from the eyes of those who are not trained to see—holds a challenge to instill new appreciations or redirections. A definite attempt has already been made, by a small but increasing group of artists, to develop in painting, literature, and music, the indigenous themes of our ma-

ART

IN A M A C H I N E

CULTURE

39

chine culture. Only the machine age could have inspired such plays as Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape, Dynamo, and The Great God Brown; Sophie Treadwell's Machinal; Elmer Rice's The Adding Machine, and John Howard Lawson's Processional. Musical compositions such as Honegger's Pacific 2JI, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, and George Antheil's Ballet michanique distinctly reflect our machine culture and could only have come out of it. Carl Sandburg's Chicago, Vachel Lindsay's The Santa Fe Trail, and Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy could not have been conceived in a non-industrial age.* In painting, Diego Rivera in his Pneumatic Drilling, Frozen Assets, and November 17; and Benton, Sert, and Orozco in their murals have made significant interpretations and commentaries on modern American life. But even if all those working in the fine arts turned away from the ideal of "art for art's sake" and the fine arts became media for interpretation and comment upon our machine civilization, much would still be lacking to make art a vital part of American life. John Dewey writes: I can think of nothing more childish . . . than the attempt to bring "art" and esthetic enjoyment externally to the multitudes who work in the ugliest surroundings and who leave their ugly factories only to go through depressing streets to eat, sleep, and carry on their domestic occupations in grimy, sordid homes. The interest of the younger generation in art and esthetic matters is a hopeful sign . . . But it will readily turn into an escape mechanism unless it develops into an alert interest in the conditions which determine the esthetic environment of the vast multitudes who now live, work and play in surroundings that perforce degrade their tastes and that unconsciously educate them into desire for any kind of enjoyment as long as it is cheap and "exciting".7 T h e point of view expressed in this statement should color our whole approach in developing a functional art

40

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CULTURE

and an appreciation of beauty which may be woven into the fabric of American life. 8 Architecture essentially straddles both fields—science and art—for it must work hand in hand with engineering. It is perhaps natural, therefore, that modern architects should have gone farthest in their acceptance of the themes and products of modern civilization and have combined in them usefulness and beauty. They have adopted those materials of our age which have strength and efficiency—steel, concrete, and glass. In design, the new lines are determined by the new materials and the use to which the architectural products are to be put. T h e George Washington Bridge which spans the Hudson River is a triumph of the blending of art and science in the modern machine age. Great skyscrapers which display new trends in design, as the Daily News Building, the Telephone Building, and the Empire State Building in New York City, and many of the buildings at the Chicago Fair of 1933 and 1934, could not have been conceived except through the use of glass, steel, and concrete. Few of the new bridges or buildings show the perfection of form which characterize those mentioned, but numberless new architectural products make use of modern materials and industrial techniques. Norman Bel Geddes and other modern designers are leading the way toward combining utility and beauty in factory construction and factory products. Buildings whose frames are made of steel and concrete and whose sides are almost entirely of glass are set well back from the streets and surrounded by lawns and flower beds. In them beauty, utility, and efficiency have been combined. T h e i r placement and construction allow for a maximum of light and air. Their materials are strong enough to withstand the vibration and weight of machinery. Many of them use electric power from central stations, thus doing away with

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unsightly smokestacks and their attendant soot. T h e y have been planned with an eye for esthetic values as well as for efficiency of operation. Those artists who are working in applied design have also pointed the way by which beauty and utility can be combined. In designing scales for the T o l e d o Scale Company, Norman Bel Geddes offers an example to industrialists of what can be done to combine utility and beauty. Commissioned to redesign scales, he sent his assistants into stores and wholesale markets to investigate the needs and desires of those who actually use scales. These assistants talked with hundreds of people. T h e result was the production of a scale without awkward external lines and with its delicate levers and other moving parts carefully designed to fit within a casing. In this design, the working parts have been actually simplified. T h e result is the production of a scale of greater usefulness and one which is not unsightly. T h r o u g h an approach similar to that of Mr. Geddes, many other machine-made products are being made more beautiful. Machine-made furniture is beginning to receive the attention of artists. Such exhibits of modern household furnishings as the exhibit "Design for the Machine," at the Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia in 1932, have shown this tendency to beautify the utilitarian. Such exhibits are creating interest in functional art in the home. Sherwood Anderson stated the point of view of such modern designers when he declared that in coming into an industrial establishment, the artist in applied design must accept the limitations of the machine as the poet accepts the limitation of the sonnet form. Having accepted this limitation he may say, "Here is something gay that might be done, something joyous." " Unfortunately, there are too few of these new factories

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and new factory products in existence for us to classify them as characteristic of American culture, but they indicate a new trend. Through American insistence upon speed, science has discovered that more efficiency of motion may be attained through the use of backward-slanting lines and forwardpointing angles which cut down resistance to the wind. Through the acceptance of this scientific principle, ships have been designed whose lines are drawn for efficiency as well as beauty. The designs of such ocean liners as the Bremen and the Europa, with their rakish hulls and streamline construction, have made such ships as the Leviathan and the Berengaria suddenly seem squat and ponderous. Airplanes, automobiles, and railway trains have the same problem of cutting down wind resistance. Their lines have been modified with both beauty and utility in mind. In a few years, the present design of these products will probably seem as antiquated and as lacking in beauty to us as the models of an earlier day seem to us now. There can be little doubt that in these fields artists in applied design are striving for utility combined with beauty, and that the effects of this work are beginning to be noted in popular demand. Perhaps through its industrial products America may early become more beauty-conscious. If art is to assume a significant place in our machine culture, fundamental changes will have to be brought about in our society. Not only must natural beauty be preserved, but, in an alliance with science, art must serve to beautify and make contributory to human welfare areas which have little natural beauty but great possibilities. City planning can show far more regard for human values than it has shown in the past. T h e erection of huge office buildings in already congested areas is not conducive to human welfare; neither is the pollution of both water and air by

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industry and commerce, or the use of insanitary and unscientifically planned buildings. A positive program based on human needs—physical, economic, social, and esthetic—would also seem to indicate certain fundamental changes in housing. 10 In describing the actual condition of housing in this country, the Committee on Large-Scale Operations of the President's Conference on Home Building reports that "today the houses of the country constitute our largest mass of obsolete and discredited equipment." Through cooperative planning by public and private agencies, and the use of governmental funds borrowed at low rates of interest, both health and esthetic values might be much improved in modern urban life. 11 Scientific research has already made clear the devastating effects of our germ-laden slums upon the health of the American people." T h e buildings in such districts should be razed and replaced by structures made from the safe, sanitary products of science—glass, concrete, and steel, with consideration for both beauty and utility of form. No house would have to be more than two rooms deep and every room could have direct exposure to sunlight. T h e r e could be abundant playground facilities around these dwellings. Such houses could be rented at a considerably lower rate than now obtains even in slum districts. One of the chief obstacles to low rentals is the prohibitive valuation now placed on land. Intelligent city planning would prevent the congestion which creates such land values, and further decentralization of industry would relieve the congestion which breeds unhealthful living and working conditions. Shops, stores, and factories could be remodelled, or rebuilt, if necessary, to provide adequate sunlight and air for the workers. Numerous parks and playgrounds, conveniently located throughout urban centers, could also

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minister to these physical and esthetic needs. Commercial avenues for trucks and public transportation lines could be more generally routed through non-residential areas in order that less noise and greater physical security might result. Smoke nuisances could be greatly reduced through the use of electric power, distributed through central service plants, and the application of other scientific knowledges and methods. Health, use, and beauty should be borne in mind in planning every phase of community improvement. In industry, it seems impossible for workers to be really concerned about turning out beautiful products so long as they do highly specialized work and have no interest or control over the kind and variety of their products. If we accept machine production as we must, minute specialization is inevitable. Through the efficiency produced by specialization, the further lessening of hours of work is possible, and with it increased hours for the enjoyment of leisure-time activities which in themselves might be of an esthetic nature. If the concept of workers as "human tools" devoid of human feeling were altered, workers might be taught to see their machine contribution in relation to the whole. Realization of the value of their particular machine operation might lend dignity to the work. Appreciation of the final machine product that is beautiful in its conception and in the perfection of its parts might add to the workers' esthetic experience. T o bring all these things about, however, a new social point of view will have to permeate modern industry. T h e machine age needs humanizing. T h e best modern art forms do not merely reflect modern scientific technology and the machine. They respect the people who use them. T h e argument which has been here advanced is not to turn art over to the needs of the machine. It is rather that artists in the fine and applied arts should ac-

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cept the essential nature of the modern world, should give it significant meaning in terms of human values; and should, with critical imagination, attempt to direct human activity in such a way as to produce a more beautiful and more happy world. O u r society has developed magnificent power. Our task is now to turn this power to more human ends. A vital art which is really indigenous to modern industrialism could perhaps do more to bring this about than any other human agency. T h e emphasis in this chapter has been on the proposition that art in the United States should so unite the functional and the beautiful as to be in harmony with our scientific industrial society. Furthermore, it has been assumed that the controlled direction of artistic development is not only possible but highly desirable. It seems desirable from the point of view of the democratic tradition which emphasizes the welfare of the great mass of the American people. T h e furtherance of this tradition requires that American artists accept the modern themes, materials and techniques which are common to the workaday lives of the American people. Only then can art and beauty be understood, appreciated, and created by the great mass of the American people.

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T h e basic development of American economic life is here examined from the point of view of the American democratic tradition. In the United States today, a new, peaceful, industrial revolution is under way which promises to change economic process and social life even more fundamentally than did the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As in the earlier period, this revolution is being brought about by science and technology. These are still the revolutionary forces in the world today. In order to grasp what they have already accomplished and to gain a vision of what they are yet capable of accomplishing, one must understand certain of the amazing changes that have already taken place in methods of production. Some indication of what has happened is evident from the story of the A. O. Smith Corporation of Milwaukee. In 1930, two factories belonging to this company were producing an equal number of automobile frames each year. T h e older of the two employed 2,000 men. In the new factory, 200 men did all the work necessary to turn out an equal amount of product, and only 50 of them actually touched it. Technological improvements were responsible for the difference in the number of men employed in these two plants. T h e newer one is a huge conglomerate of machines which respond with superhuman perfection to the touch of the electric button. In

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this modern plant the man-hour production has been increased by 900 percent. I t is conceded that technological improvements introduced in the course of this new revolution have not produced such startling changes in all industries, yet the available data from such sources as the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the President's Committee on Social Trends, and the National Bureau of Economic Research support the conclusion that technological improvements have revolutionized industry within an amazingly short span of time. T h e productivity of workers has been enormously increased in almost every industry. 1 T h e following table, compiled from statistics issued by the Bureau of Labor, illustrates what occurred within a period of eleven years. Although it is obvious that not all industries were being mechanized at the same rate during the period 1 9 1 4 - 1 9 2 5 , these figures indicate a universal trend in industry. T h e table shows that each worker employed in the steel mills in 1925 turned out more than one-and-a-half times the product of which he was capable in 1 9 1 4 ; that each worker in the automobile factories of America in 1925 produced more than three times the amount of work which was possible under the technological conditions of 1 9 1 4 , and so on through the list. TABLE I MAN-HOUR P R O D U C T I O N IN 1925 BASED ON A 1914 INDEX OF 100 2 Steel works and rolling mills Automobile manufacturing Boot and shoe manufacturing Paper and pulp making Cement making Leather working

153 0 310.0 116 5 I2 5-7 157 8 128.2

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Flour milling Cane-sugar refining Petroleum refining Slaughtering and meat packing Rubber-tire making

LIFE

>39-0 127.3

177-3 110.7 311.0

T h e technological tendencies shown in the above table have continued at an accelerated pace. Stuart Chase points out that the output per man-hour in manufacturing rose 50 percent in the nine-year period 1920—29, and 30 percent in the succeeding four years (1929-33). This wellknown authority sums up a mass of quantitative data bearing on the subject with the statement " I think we are reasonably safe in concluding . . . that not more than 71 men, working not more than 43 hours a week, can produce as much manufactured goods as 100 men, working 50 hours a week, did in the period from 1923 to 1925 " 8 Technological improvements have not been confined to manufacturing alone. As in manufacturing, the tempo of production per man-hour has been increasing in farming, mining, and transportation. During the period 18991925, Hunt reports that the per capita increase in these industries was about 60 percent.* As a result of this new technological revolution, we already had, by 1929, a national plant which, according to industrial engineers like Charles R . Stevenson, was capable of producing from 30 to 100 percent more than necessary to fill the demand for goods and services under the conditions of our economic order. Even the conservative report of the Brookings Institution in Washington estimates that our economic system, if run to capacity in 1929, could have produced roughly 20 percent more than was actually produced in that "boom year." 6 If such productive estimates are true, the possible future

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productivity of our industrial system, still further accelerated as it promises to be by the increased use of machine technology, can only be conjectured. In a country endowed with unusually rich natural resources and equipped with a national plant capable of turning that raw material into consumable products, the possibilities for the economic future of Americans are such as to challenge the imagination." T H E DISTRIBUTION OF T H E PRODUCT

T h e new industrial revolution has made possible a higher standard of living than the world has ever known through the perfection of the productive system. It is the problem of distribution which now prevents the achievement of the high standard of living which this productive system makes possible. 7 How are our material resources distributed? It is through the distribution of individual income and wealth that one can best discover the distribution of our entire national economic product. In a thoroughgoing survey of the distribution of the national product in terms of dollars, Morris A. Copeland estimated that 90 percent of the people received only two-thirds of the national income in 1925. In the same year he estimated that wage earners in the United States averaged a yearly income of only $1,384.® Moreover, the 1932 report of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue indicates that 340,000 persons in the United States had incomes of $5,000 a year or over and a total income of more than $5,000,000,000. T h i s total is approximately equal to the income of 6,000,000 farmers in the United States and is greater by more than $120,000,000 than all the wages paid factory workers. 9 T h e distribution of wealth has been even more inequitable than that of incomes. Most workers own no real

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property and practically no personal or household property. They are renters who acquire a few hundred dollars' worth of furniture during the course of their lives, the weekly pay checks being almost completely used up for food, clothing, and shelter. Like income, wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few. King made an estimate based only on property owners in the United States in 1921. He found that "the poorest 25 percent possessed only about 31,4 percent" of the national wealth, while 10 percent owned nearly two-thirds, or 64 percent, of it. 10 T h e control of wealth is also concentrated in the hands of the few. 1 1 T h e corporate unit has made possible the amalgamation of fortunes and the pyramiding of capital. In six industries there are one or more billion-dollar companies. Berle and Means report that the two hundred largest non-financial corporations in 1929 not only received over 43.2 percent of corporate income, but controlled 49.2 percent of all corporate wealth, 38 percent of all business wealth (other than banking), and 22 percent of the national wealth which was estimated by them at $367,000,000,ooo. 12 S O M E E F F E C T S OF T H E I N E Q U I T A B L E OF I N C O M E A N D

DISTRIBUTION

WEALTH

T h e data on the distribution of income and wealth illustrate why, even in pre-depression years, it was difficult to maintain a balance between consumption and production in our national economic plant. T h e great potential consuming public had an insufficient total purchasing power to absorb the national product. T h e inequitable distribution of wealth and income must be considered directly from the point of view of the well-being of millions of men, women, and children. T h e United States Bureau of Labor's estimate of the "Minimum Quantity Budget Necessary to Sustain a Worker's

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Family of Five in Health and Decency," includes a detailed list of articles required by a family of this size. Articles were priced in various cities at the 1928 level. T h e amount of income needed per year varied between $2,000 and $2,500, depending on the locality in which estimates were made. T h e minimum standard used was exceedingly moderate. For example, a family of five was allowed each week 8.5 pounds of meat and fish, 16 eggs, and less than 2 pounds of margarine and butter. T h e estimate provided that every three years the husband could buy one winter and one summer suit. T h e wife could buy a new summer hat every year, but she could acquire a winter hat only once in every two years. No vacations were included, no radio, no automobile, no silk stockings, and no extraordinary doctors' bills. 18 T h e National Industrial Conference Board drew up a budget similar to that of the United States Department of Labor. Its total of minimal essentials was about $1,740. Mr. J . George Frederick, assuming that the estimates of a minimum decency and health wage compiled by the United States Department of Labor and the National Industrial Conference Board might have been somewhat influenced by their particular predilections, averaged the figures issued by both these bodies to rule out possible biases. His revised estimates indicate that during the period 1920-30 a weekly wage of from $35 to $40, or a yearly income of $2080, was needed to maintain an average worker's family at the minimum American standard of living. 14 A comparison of Frederick's figures with those compiled by Copeland on average earnings during 1 9 2 5 1 5 shows that, on the average, workers were receiving roughly twothirds of the minimum decency wage. From whatever source figures are taken, the fact remains that wage earn-

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ers have received less than is needed to maintain them at an American standard of decency and health. T h a t there is a distinct correlation between wage and health is attested by such studies as those made by Edgar Sydenstricker, Director of Research of the United States Public Health Service. One study published by Sydenstricker in 1920 in collaboration with W . I. King shows, for example, that among the textile workers in South Carolina those who received the smallest incomes had a "rate of disabling sickness" of 70 per 1,000 as against i g per 1,000 among the textile workers who received higher wages. 16 T h e United States Department of Labor, in studying infant mortality in the same year, reported that in New Bedford, one of the important textile centers of the North, the mortality rate during the first year, among babies born to those earning $450 annually or less, was 20 out of every 100 as against 6 out of every 100 born to those earning $1,250 or more." 17 A recent survey made by the statistical and research department of the United States Public Health Service covered the economic records of 12,000 families of city workers, coal miners, and textile workers for the period 1929-32 and their health records in 1933.18 A preliminary report of the study of more than 11,000 individuals shows a distinct correlation between income and the incidence of illness. Illness was highest in those families in which there were no employed workers, and lowest in those families in which there were workers employed full time. Even an annual per capita income of $150 seemed to make a difference in the incidence of illness in a family. Illness was especially prevalent among those families whose incomes had been materially lowered during the current depression. Dietary deficiencies, insanitary living conditions, and

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worry undoubtedly account largely for this relationship between income and health. T h e following is a description of the bad housing conditions in certain poor sections in New York state. It is quoted from an official report of a Housing Committee appointed by Governor Alfred E. Smith. The survey disclosed that families were crowded together in dark, ill-smelling apartments and were unable to find better quarters. Many landlords were taking no care of their apartments. Underpaid janitors neglected their duties. In some cases, there were no janitors, and the stairs were never cleaned except by the tenants. In every block were found illkept apartments, in fact, certain of them were not kept at all. They had been allowed to fall into decay. The roof leaked, the plaster was falling off the wall and the stairs needed repair. The water did not run, the landlord refused to repaper or paint the dirty walls. The rubbish collected in the basements. Yet every apartment was full and the tenants were afraid to complain to the landlord for fear he would dispossess them.19 Edith E. Wood, Consultant to the Housing Division of the Public Works Administration, says of such slum areas: These are the districts where death rates are highest, where epidemics start and from which they spread—the districts which have delinquency rates four or five times above the community average and fifteen to twenty times the rate in favored areas.20 T h e inequality of income also results in inequality of cultural advantages. T h e incomes of states and their expenditures for education vary tremendously. T h e Legislative Commission of the National Education Association reports that . . . In 1930 the highest income, or earnings per child of school age in any state, was $4,299 while the lowest was $930, a ratio of nearly five to one. . . . The highest school expen-

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diture per child in average daily attendance was $191.87 while the lowest was only $34.52.21 Most of the children of parents receiving less than a decency standard of wages must find work before they are prepared for any employment which will later guarantee them a better living than their parents, and before they have even had much opportunity for investigating possible choices among the jobs for which they are fitted. Thus their physical, economic, and cultural levels are fixed, more frequently than otherwise, by the economic level of their families. T h e total effect upon American culture of the inequitable distribution of income and wealth is incalculable. It seems clear that the distribution of the economic product in terms of income and wealth (even were the conditions of the predepression years in the United States to be restored) represents a vital social problem as well as an economic one. Few Americans can take advantage of our tremendous national productive capacity because the great masses of our people have pitifully small incomes and almost no reserves. In a society which contains all the potentialities for a high national standard of living for all, minimum standards of American decency cannot be maintained, and lowered national health, morale, educationculture, in short—have resulted. Can this situation be remedied? No socially intelligent decision can be made which does not take into account our prevailing economic institutions. T H E T R A D I T I O N A L ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS

T h e economic destiny of America has been guided by four institutions—private property, private profit, freedom of contract, and freedom of competition. These institutions are too well known to necessitate definition. They are based upon faiths just as science is based upon faiths.

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T h e y are the fundamental institutions which underlie our economic system. T h e y are the essential guarantees of laissez faire and individualism. T h e i r relationship has been stated thus: Private property is a system which determines who shall hold and control the resources of society. Profit making is the bait that lures individuals and corporations into industry, impels them to produce goods, and thus forces them to serve the community. Contract [is] a scheme which provides for bringing different instruments together in the productive process. Competition . . . holds . . . profit-making within appointed limits and directs it into the service of the community.22 T h e theory underlying each of these institutions may be stated as follows: Under the institution of private ownership, individuals or groups of individuals may own land, goods, mineral deposits, manufacturing plants, public utilities, and almost all the material wealth of the nation, provided, of course, that they have the wherewithal to purchase it. Under the institution of private profit, wealth—capital —becomes the source of private profit, the individual using his possessions to satisfy for pecuniary returns the wants of the social group. If he lacks material possessions, he may, of course, regard his strength or intellect as capital and sell it for private gain, provided there is a market. Under the institution of freedom of contract, the possessor of material, physical, or intellectual capital may do with it as he will. Subject only to certain regulations by the government, a person may "do what he will with his own." He may use his possessions for profit or withhold them from use, provided, in the case of the owner of capital, that he does not go bankrupt, or in the case of the laborer, that he does not starve in the process.

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Under the institution of freedom of competition, a premium is offered for efficiency; therefore capital, labor, and the public at large should benefit. Employer competes with employer to secure and hold workers, and workers compete with each other to raise standards of efficiency. Those who have products to sell must compete with others in the disposal of their goods, and no concern can for long offer an inferior product for sale or reap an exorbitant profit. T h e competition of workmen for jobs and of concerns for customers allows only the efficient in industry to survive, and the general consumer is therefore supplied with good, cheap products. Thus, it is believed that competition guarantees justice and the economic welfare of all. These four institutions regulate our economic world and are in theory its presiding deities. They are based on the assumption that the general welfare is best served when each individual strives without hindrance for his own economic gain. T h i s is the theory underlying our economic system. As has already been pointed out, the distribution of the national product in terms of our economic and social wellbeing indicates that in actual practice the institutions have not insured the "general welfare." But in spite of basic and obvious maladjustments these institutions have been guaranteed either directly by the Constitution or, subject to certain limitations, by Supreme Court interpretations. These institutions have also received additional support through congressional enactments. Thus they have become firmly entrenched in our national life. G O V E R N M E N T AND O U R

ECONOMIC

INSTITUTIONS

T h e Fathers of the American Constitution, being propertied men themselves, the pillars of the society of their day, were much concerned that the new government whose

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foundations they were establishing should adequately protect private property. Gouvemeur Morris stated that "property is the main object of government." Alexander Hamilton, firm in the belief that property and birth are inseparable, gave as his opinion that "the wealthy and well-born should be given power to control the future government." T h e Constitution as originally accepted clearly showed that the founders protected property rights as such.28 It forbade Congress to tax exports. It stipulated that duties, imports, and excises must be uniform through the United States, a clause which, except for two short periods of our history, made illegal a graduated income tax. T h e much vaunted check-and-balance system finally agreed upon was intended to serve as a check on the common people who might choose to attack vested economic rights.24 T h e Bill of Rights considerably liberalized the original document. T h e Fifth Amendment, however, in its guarantee that no person "be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law" and its further provision that private property shall not be taken "without just compensation," tremendously strengthened property rights in the United States. T h e Fourteenth Amendment, added to the Constitution in 1868, ostensibly for the protection of Negroes, also provided that no state had the right to deprive any person of property "without due process of law." But none of these specific provisions in the Constitution has been as important as the power which the Supreme Court of the United States has come to exercise over legislative enactments. T h e power of the Supreme Court transcends the power of state legislatures and even that of Congress. T h i s power was gained through the exclusive right of the Federal Courts to interpret the Constitution and, as Beard and Beard point out, "It is the Supreme Court . . . that [to-

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day] stands as the great defender of private property against the attempts of popular legislatures to encroach upon its fundamental privileges." 28 Under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, the Supreme Court interpreted "due process of law" to include "just compensation," hence confiscation of property has been held illegal. T h e Court also defined "property" to include vested rights which have been acquired with due regard to the law.2* It even became progenitor of a new type of human being—a corporation. T h i s new species of the genus homo came into existence when the Supreme Court in 1898 handed down a decision that " A railroad corporation is a person within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment." 2r T h e life, liberty, ano property of these new beings, i.e., business corporations, must not be taken away "without due process of law." T h u s the institution of private property, recognized in the Constitution, was upheld and further protected by the power of the Supreme Court. T h e second economic institution, private profit, was protected at the same time as private property under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. As has just been pointed out, property has been so liberally defined by the Courts that it includes not only tangible goods but vested rights as well. T h e right to make a profit is one of these vested rights. In the interests of public welfare, certain privately owned and privately operated industries—public utilities and public carriers, insurance companies, stock yards, and packing companies—have been subject to state or Federal control. But it lies within the province of the Supreme Court to decide which industries are "affected with the public welfare." 28 If it is decided that the industry is affected with the public welfare and an attempt is made by legislative action to regulate rates, the Court, according

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to precedent, j u d g e s the p r o p o s e d rate o n the basis of a " f a i r r e t u r n " o n the capital invested b y the affected companies. T h e basis for j u d g i n g a " f a i r r e t u r n " must in each case b e d e t e r m i n e d . C h a r l e s A . Beard estimates that 8 o r 10 percent profit has b e e n a d j u d g e d fair in the " g e n e r a l r u n of c o u r t decisions." 29 Keezer and M a y r e p o r t o n e case in w h i c h d i v i d e n d s (i.e., profit) of over 300 p e r c e n t w e r e a l l o w e d by t h e S u p r e m e C o u r t on c o m m o n stock. 30 T h e r i g h t to m a k e a profit seems to have b e e n a b u n d a n t l y w e l l protected in this case at least. Regardless of t h e rate of profit a l l o w e d , it is clear that the i n s t i t u t i o n of private profit has b e e n strengthened and p r o t e c t e d t h r o u g h decisions of the S u p r e m e C o u r t . T h e third e c o n o m i c institution, the r i g h t of contract, is specifically recognized in the l a w of the land. T h e Constit u t i o n (Article I, Section 10) declares that n o state shall pass any law " i m p a i r i n g the o b l i g a t i o n of c o n t r a c t . " T h i s institution was recognized by t h e S u p r e m e C o u r t as early as 1819, in the f a m o u s D a r t m o u t h C o l l e g e Case, w h e n " c o n t r a c t " was interpreted to i n c l u d e grants of p r i v i l e g e a n d p o w e r g i v e n by a state. B e c a u s e of this decision it seemed for a t i m e as if states c o u l d e x e r t n o c o n t r o l o v e r charters o n c e granted to private business interests. T h i s was m e t by i n c l u d i n g in later state charters t h e specific provision that " c o m p a n i e s chartered in the f u t u r e shall be s u b j e c t to the regulation and general p o l i c e laws of the state." 81 Such provisions l i m i t e d t r e m e n d o u s l y the absolute sanctity of contract established in the D a r t m o u t h College Case, for the police power of the states gives t h e m the right to protect the lives, health, a n d safety of their citizens, and police p o w e r is recognized b y the F e d e r a l courts to be superior to contract. 3 2 U n d e r the " d u e process" clause of the Fourteenth A m e n d m e n t , h o w e v e r , states c a n n o t rev o k e charters once granted w h e n such r e v o c a t i o n w i l l

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deprive stockholders of their property without just compensation. Summing up the situation, James T . Young states that The protection given by the "obligation of contract" clause is a broad and substantial one; it covers not only those contracts which the state itself has made, but also agreements made between private individuals, and safeguards them from destructive state laws." Historically the fourth economic institution, free competition, found some measure of protection through the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 and the Clayton Act of 1914. These bills were passed in the era when trusts and mergers were growing at a rate that was alarming the public and driving small business men to the wall. The intent of these acts was to insure the unrestrained operation of the institution of competition by prohibiting monopolies, combinations or conspiracies, agreements in restraint of trade, and unfair business practices.84 Interestingly enough, size alone has not been adjudged sufficient cause by the Supreme Court for the dissolution of corporations. In the cases of the United States Shoe Machinery Company and the American Sugar Refining Company, controlling more than 90 percent of the production in their fields,35 and the International Harvester Company, controlling about 65 percent of the farm-machine production,8' the Supreme Court handed down decisions that these corporations were not monopolies or combinations in restraint of trade. However, the Standard Oil Company and the American Tobacco Company, controlling substantially more than half the business in their respective fields, were dissolved by court order, not because of their size, but because unfair business practices militating against free competition were proved against them." Even though various of its decisions may seem to be lacking in consistency,88 the power vested in the Supreme

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Court is virtually absolute, through its right of interpretation of what constitutes "free competition." Along with the attempts to enforce competition through the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and Clayton Act, Congress has passed numerous laws which determine the condition under which competition may operate. Such control legislation as the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, the Pure Food and Drug Acts of 1906, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, and others,39 have been put through in the interest of the welfare of the great mass of American citizens. T h e institution of competition assumed new meaning as measures were taken which attempted to curb dishonest or unethical competitive practices. But so strong was public sentiment against governmental interference, or governmental paternalism, that regulatory measures were only adopted after abuses had become widespread and almost intolerable. T h e fundamental institutions as such were rarely questioned, even though practices which had grown up as a result of their entrenchment were often recognized as evils which must be prevented. As a result of past government protection given to all our fundamental institutions—those of private property, private profit, contract, and competition—propertied interests have acquired great power in the United States. Arthur T . Hadley, former President of Yale University, has written that "the sum of the condition which affects their standing . . . is far stronger in the United States" than in any other country. He has declared that the general status of the property owner under the law cannot be changed by the action of the legislature or the executive, or the people of a State voting at the polls, or all three put together. It cannot be changed without either a consensus of opinion among the judges, which would lead them to retrace their old views, or an amendment of the Constitution of the United States by the slow and cumbersome machinery provided for that purpose, or, last . . . by a revolution.40

6a

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There is abundant evidence that this statement is as true today as when President Hadley made his diagnosis in 1908. T H E F A I L U R E OF O U R ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS

For generations, tradition and government protection bolstered our economic institutions. Social thinkers had long pointed out the weaknesses and inadequacies of these institutions, but the dislocation of our economic system beginning in 1929 came without warning to the great mass of Americans. It is now obvious that our economic system has failed us. Indeed, many competent observers believe that fundamental institutional changes are necessary. T h e reason any system of ownership, under socialism or capitalism, is allowed to function is that those who own or control wealth are responsible for its use. They must see that it is used for the welfare of the social group. Under capitalism in America, our economic institutions have been showing less and less of such responsibility. Capitalistic development in the modem world has brought about the concentration of enormous amounts of private capital which is invested in large economic units. These large units tend to be more efficient than small ones. Cost of production is materially reduced, and speed of production is increased. Abundant financial resources make possible the purchase of labor-saving machinery beyond the power of smaller economic units to acquire. Raw materials are purchased in such quantities that more favorable prices and terms may be secured. In such units, experimental laboratories are set up to discover, among other things, processes for turning waste into by-products. Large sums of money are spent to effect the most efficient shop management and to increase sales. T o gain the greatest efficiency in production and marketing, subsidiary companies are organized for the purpose of controlling the

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63

sources of materials and facilities used in the industrycoal and iron mines, railroads, and manufacturing plants as well as needed materials such as glass, and steel. Such consolidation of capital has undoubtedly increased productive efficiency, but it has almost divorced social responsibility from the use of wealth. 41 Under the current system of corporate ownership, those who have capital invest it in huge concerns. They become partners with tens of thousands of others in a joint enterprise which may run into hundreds of millions of dollars or even reach and pass the billion dollar mark. Many of the investors in each corporation have no voting rights and therefore no power to exert any influence in determining how their money shall be used. Of those who have voting rights, many fail to exercise them, for they realize that their votes can have little influence when there may be tens of thousands of others who have a like privilege. T h e y are content to take their profits and play no active part in the firms in which they have invested their money. Others attempt some control through delegation of their voting rights to proxies when important policies are to be determined. T h e extensive use of proxies is, of course, inevitable, because of the geographic spread of stockholders which prevents personal attendance at meetings where important policies are to be determined. But such stockholders are obliged to trust to the judgment of their proxies, who may have some personal or ulterior interest in the result. T h e social responsibility for the use of wealth which is a fundamental requisite to ownership is thus necessarily abrogated by millions of owners. T h e control of huge industrial corporations therefore tends to rest in the hands of a few owners who control solid blocks of voting stock, even though these blocks may be small in comparison with the total, and perhaps exceedingly small when compared

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with all the money invested in any given business. It tends to rest with boards of directors. Many of them may own little stock in the concerns they direct, but may have gained inside financial control through having at one time organized or reorganized the firms in question. It tends to rest with the managers of the actual business concerns who are put in direct operating control by boards of directors and who may or may not own stock or bonds of the companies they manage. In this type of economic organization, the welfare of workers is subordinate to the welfare of owners, and the welfare of the majority of owners is often subordinated to the welfare of a few inside manipulators. As a result, the social responsibility of each industry to contribute to the general economic good seems almost totally subordinated to the scramble for pecuniary profit. T h e majority of owners of stocks and bonds in great modern corporations rarely know the wages received by employed workers, or even the wage scales, in the industry from which they draw an income. They do not know the conditions under which these employees work. Immediate control of such matters is vested in corporation managers who are required to render reports on profits, not reports on contributions to the welfare of workers. Naturally, such managers are primarily more concerned over profits than over the welfare of employees. Consequently, men and women in industry tend to be treated not as human beings but as instruments of production. They are hired and fired according as money can or cannot be made through the use of their services. Boards of directors and actual managers find it relatively easy to use their inside knowledge and control to benefit a small inside group at the expense of the great mass of owners whose interests they are supposed to represent.42 It is easy to speculate in the stock of the company one

AMERICAN

ECONOMIC

LIFE

65

controls, buying short or long in the open market on the basis of advance information which has not yet been made available to stockholders or the general public. It is easy to vote huge bonuses or salaries to managers and directors at the expense of the great mass of owners.43 Social responsibility thus seems to be divorced from both the ownership and the control of wealth, in our society where wealth has been free from large-scale social controls.44 In a very real sense, we have been describing the operation of the institution of private profit in considering the divorce of responsibility from ownership. In the interest of private profit, workers are discriminated against in favor of owners. Dominated by the private-profit motive, inside manipulators may take for themselves a disproportionate share of earnings or profits through the use of inside information. Perhaps the basic criticism of uncontrolled private profit is that far too large a share of the national income goes to owners, to business organizers, and to executives; and that far too little goes to workers for consumption goods.45 When profits are large, they are often distributed in bonuses to a few corporation officials. T h e y are paid to owners in increased dividends, or they go into huge corporate surpluses which at some time in the future may go to owners, to financial organizers, or to corporation officials. T h e increased incomes of business firms do not go into the consumption buying of workers through increases in wages, or into better working conditions, or into various devices which guarantee the future economic security of workers, in anywhere near the proportion that they go to increase the profits of owners, managers, and other officials. Like private property and private profit, the institution of contract shows signs of fundamental maladjustment when viewed in relation to large-scale social needs. In order that freedom of contract may function bene-

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ficially in a democratic society, certain assumptions have to be made. It must be assumed that the parties who enter into contracts are roughly on an equal basis or have equal bargaining power. That is, one party to a contract must not have so much more influence and power than the other that, as a matter of fact, the latter is forced to accept contract conditions which are highly unfavorable to him. It is difficult to believe that there is even a rough equality of bargaining power between a billion-dollar corporation and a small twenty-thousand-dollar concern. Just as a large concern has a distinct advantage in bargaining power over a small one, so employers have distinct advantages in bargaining power over employees. T h e organized labor movement in this country has almost never protected unskilled workers against undue discrimination exercised by employers. It has partially protected only a relatively few workers in skilled trades. T h e open shop, with its individual bargaining between the industrial laborer and the relatively powerful business concern, has represented the traditional American relationship between capital and labor. Indeed, today, the conditions which are supposed to make contract a socially desirable institution often seem hardly to exist. T o the degree that inequalities of bargaining power do exist, the institution of contract is unjust and therefore not socially desirable. Money is power. It brings to the upper-income receivers and to corporation officials superior social position and all that goes with it—the control of legal talent, influence over newspapers and legislative assemblies. These economic and social conditions are not such as to favor the socially just operation of contract. Therefore, if this institution is to be made to work to the social advantage of the great majority, its operation must be made subject to legally binding controls which will prevent the economically and socially

AMERICAN

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67

strong from exploiting the economically and socially weak. There is another erroneous assumption which lies back of our present institution of contract, besides that ol equality between contracting parties. It is the assumption that the value of the money (that is, the value of the dollars) in which the terms of a contract are written, remains roughly the same. Money units do not remain of the same value. 44 They may even fluctuate rapidly. After 1929, we went through a rapid process of deflation. Dollars bought more goods than previously. Now we seem to be entering on an inflationary period, which means that money will buy less in the future. Debts contracted just before the inflationary period will be paid in the future in dollars which have less purchasing power. When no one knows what the value of dollars will be when future payments of interest or principal must be made, contracts made in terms of money units are obviously unfair to the contracting parties. Large-scale social controls are needed in order to stabilize the value of money. Furthermore, it nows seems clear that contractual credit relationships have been allowed to go far beyond the point where these can be fulfilled, or could have been fulfilled, even if the value of money units had been held relatively stable. In predepression years, consumers bought on credit, manufacturers borrowed on credit, farm producers borrowed on future crop yields, owners borrowed on homes and farms—and all these credit relationships were allowed to pyramid until thousands of banks and business firms failed because contractual obligations could not be met. It also seems extremely doubtful that hundreds of millions of American dollars invested by private capital in foreign industries and in guaranteed foreign governmental bonds will ever be collected. Credit operations between Western nations have also reached colossal proportions. It is now clear that the billions of dollars owed the United

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States by foreign governments, debts which represent solemn contractual obligations, will never be paid. Such phenomena, both at home and abroad, have led numerous observers to believe that the institution of contract is indeed breaking down. As the breakdown proceeds the sanctity of contract disappears. Although the institutions of private property, private profit, and contract are being seriously questioned, it is the institution of competition which is now undergoing the severest criticism and condemnation/ 7 Such criticism has been leveled by many widely divergent social groups— by business men, wage workers, preachers, educators, and even judges. It is pointed out by many observers that the development of our competitive economic system is, strangely enough, producing more and more non-competitive industries. Unbridled competition of railroads has often been shown to be ruinous. T h e expense of financing and operating competitive gas lines, water systems, electric light companies, telephone systems, and other so-called public utilities is recognized to be economically unsound. In a system which is primarily based upon free competition, billions of dollars of the national wealth are invested in industries in which competition in prices and rates no longer operates. Then, too, the increased consolidation of business concerns into larger corporations and holding companies, which control half or more than half the product in their respective fields, is a tendency which easily leads to limitation of free competition." Although binding agreements for the limitation of output were long forbidden by the Sherman and Clayton Acts, this prohibition has in fact often been circumvented. T h e fewer the number of concerns operating in any given field, the easier it has

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69

been to put into effect unofficial agreements of various kinds. T h e story told of "the Gary dinner" is a famous instance of such an agreement. It is said that Elbert H. Gary, sometime head of the United States Steel Corporation, was accustomed to hold an annual dinner to which he invited representatives of all the steel companies in the United States. At this dinner, it was easy to discuss, informally, prices and other pertinent topics bearing on production. Prices of steel products could in this way be "set" for the ensuing year. Such agreements were, of course, verbal and unofficial, and so not subject to prosecution under the anti-trust laws. Tom Johnson, reform mayor of Cleveland, admitted that when he was financially interested in the iron and steel industry, prices were fixed in some such informal way.4" By the use of such methods competition can be made practically non-existent in any industry. One criticism of the National Recovery Administration has been that it encourages the formation of trade associations which tend to limit competition through the free exchange of information on costs and prices.50 Critics point out that in industries where competition has undoubtedly operated it has not always been a thoroughgoing success. Indeed, three of our basic industriescoal, textiles, and farming—have seemed to suffer not from too little competition, but from too much of it, as surveys of these fields show.51 T o these industries are attached no fewer than 12,000,000 workers, of whom approximately 620,000 belong to the coal industry; 950,000 to textile manufacturing; and approximately 10,500,000 to farming." These industries have been left almost entirely to the unrestricted operation of private enterprise, and, though

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other factors are undoubtedly involved, abundant evidence has been presented to confirm the judgment that unbridled competition is, in fact, detrimental, if not ruinous, to them. When one considers the millions of workers and their families who are dependent upon them, the failure of competition to work satisfactorily in these three great industries is a very serious charge against this accepted economic institution. It now appears clear that the laissez faire conception of the institutions of private property, private profit, contract, and competition which we have just been examining are primarily responsible for our current socio-economic maladjustments. An individualistic conception of these institutions may have worked reasonably well in the early stages of our agricultural and industrial development. We have seen, however, that under modern economic conditions such a conception leads to maladjustments and chaos. Fundamental and comprehensive controls of these institutions are needed if they are still to serve as a basis for socio-economic reconstruction. Controls need to be established which bring about a more equitable distribution of private property and make possible much higher standards of living for the great mass of the people. It may very well be that industries such as the railroad, coal, oil, and power industries, which affect the great mass of the people, and which are owned by and operated in the interest of private property owners, should be owned and operated by the government in the interest of all." Controls need to be set up to ensure that a larger proportion of the profits of industry are distributed among those whose actual work helps to produce them. Controls of this kind will obviously help to put worker and employer on a more equal footing as regards the institution of contract. Further controls in the form of stabilization of currency and the regulation of credit need to be set up,

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however, to permit this institution to function more fairly. Controls for the regulation of competition in those industries on which the public welfare depends need also to be established. T h e examination of American economic life which has just been made points out the far-reaching changes which are now under way in our economic system. Basic economic institutions are examined along with the conditions which they have helped to create. It has been shown that the tremendous concentration of wealth which has developed in the United States prevents rather than furthers high standards of health, housing, education, and the general welfare of the great mass of American citizens. Such concentration of wealth is, therefore, opposed to the American democratic tradition. It has been shown that the protection of our individualistic economic institutions by governmental agencies is similarly opposed to the democratic tradition. T h e actual operation of these institutions has been examined in some detail with the conclusion that the way in which they now operate is ruinous to the best interests of the great mass of people—stockholders, workers, and consumers alike. Far-reaching and mandatory social controls of these institutions are now necessary if American industrial society is to prosper.

VI E C O N O M I C P L A N N I N G FOR A N OF

ECONOMY

PLENTY

On March 4, 1933, President Roosevelt, in his inaugural address, raised the basic challenges and pointed the desirable direction of movement toward a planning economy. Our distress comes from no failure of substance . . . Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of supply . . . The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we supply social values more noble than mere monetary profit . . . If we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army, willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress can be made, no leadership become effective . . . We aim at the assurance of a rounded and permanent national life. 1 Here is recognition of the need for new emphases on human values and for economic planning for an economy of plenty. Not mere balance between production and consumption is sought. Such a balance might perpetuate or further contract the already lowered national production. What is needed is balance at an increased rate of production and consumption, in order that the benefits of our national industrial plant may be used to raise the national standard of living. T o accomplish this goal, thoroughgoing, long-time economic planning is essential, a type of planning and mandatory control for which the American people are probably not yet prepared. We all demand economic

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security and the high standard of living which the productivity of our economic system makes possible. But we are not yet ready to give up the many individual privileges and old vested rights which some of us now enjoy, even to gain the basic conditions in which real individual freedom may operate, namely: a situation in which we are all relieved from malnutrition, preventable disease, drudgery, unemployment, and all the various types of economic insecurity now prevalent in American society. We are still in the stage in which we demand this new freedom and yet will not give up old points of view and vested rights which prevent its actual fulfillment. 2 In order that a well-rounded and permanent national life may be established, a thoroughgoing, consistent, and comprehensive national plan would have to be worked out as a guide for the reorganization of our economic system.* Such a plan seems to require that basic surveys be made to determine: (1) the needs of the American people in terms of clothing, housing, foods, services, quite apart from present ability to buy; (2) the present capacity of the national plant to furnish such goods and services; and (3) the reconstruction of the national plant to meet economic and social needs. Following such surveys, millions of persons at present unemployed would have to be put to work to furnish the goods and services required by the goals set by the survey. Under a planning economy in which private property and private profit operate, wages and salaries would be determined and guaranteed in order to ensure a money demand for the goods and services thus created. Hours of work would be periodically lowered and wage scales raised in accordance with increased technological efficiency and new surveys which set new standards of achievement and higher standards of living. T h e conflicting interests of economic groups of indu§-

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trialists and agriculturalists, of employers and employees, would be honestly recognized. Social controls by governmental or semi-governmental agencies whose personnel could be trusted to administer and arbitrate wisely in the interests of conflicting groups—of owners, workers, and consumers alike—would be set up. Any planning economy must of necessity be fundamentally concerned with real wages instead of money wages.4 Merely raising wages without the control of commodity and retail prices is not sufficient. Prices, also, would have to be controlled. In a thoroughgoing planning economy, profits would be limited in order that wages might be maintained at a high level and prices controlled. At the same time, if we are to continue to operate under a private-profit system, fair profits must be allowed. Under a mass-production program, however, it would be possible to limit the profits per unit of production and still insure a fair return to the investor.5 Not only would profits have to be controlled, but private property itself would be regulated. Controls would be set up in order that those who have the investor's money in their keeping might be held responsible for its use. At the same time, in a planning economy, the investment of funds in various economic and social enterprises would be directed and controlled in order that one industry or service might not be overexpanded to the detriment of others that are necessary in carrying out the desired socioeconomic program.* In a planning economy, credit would also be controlled and stable currency maintained in order to further sound contractual relationships.7 In the reorganization of such economically unsound industries as railroads, agriculture, coal, and textiles; in the development of huge power resources, conservation proj-

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75

ects, housing, health, educational, and recreational programs, billions of dollars would be spent by both private and public agencies. But with fair profits and high wages guaranteed, a substantially increased income base would be established with which to finance such economic reconstruction. Governmental expenditures would necessarily be heavy, but huge sums of money could be collected through heavily graduated income and inheritance taxes to put through the major aspects of the program. One of the foremost goals in such a planning program would necessarily be the achievement of economic security.8 In times of temporary unemployment, sickness, and old age, it would be one of the responsibilities of society to insure this security by providing incomes which make possible a continuance of the decent standard of living which had been generally established throughout the country. T h i s insurance program might be financed by the government, by employees and employers, or by all three. In the interest of all consumers—of all those who use goods and services 9—Federal government agencies would assume the responsibility of setting up standards for testing all goods, investigating all services, and evaluating them in the light of these standards. These findings would be publicized so that such knowledge would be easily available to all consumers in the United States. Such a service alone would tend to make producers responsible for furnishing "quality goods" at reasonable prices. In order to make possible and effective this wide-scale socio-economic planning, not only would machinery have to be set up but a program both of adult and child education would have to be put in motion. Such a program would have to emphasize not laissez faire individualism, but the interrelationships of individuals and the social responsibility which makes the good life possible for all.

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T h e success in the United States of any planning economy that is founded on social values depends upon the understanding of the American people and the spirit of fair play that is engendered. ECONOMIC

PLANNING AND THE N E W

DEAL

10

With tremendous energy and great resourcefulness the Recovery Administration is attempting to help meet the needs and establish controls over our economic life. One measure after another has been quickly set up to meet a particular emergency in some department of our economic life—banking, agriculture, the railroads, manufacturing. But the plan in its totality lacks consistency and comprehensiveness. It has fallen short of its aims and is inadequate to make possible the social goals for which it strives. Indeed, some of the measures of the program seem to be moving in the direction just opposite to that which must be taken to achieve these goals. Nor is this to be wondered at, when the complexity of our economic life is considered, and account is taken of the haste with which emergency legislation has been passed. Nevertheless, the recent national legislation and the new administrative organization made possible by such legislation have constituted an attempt at social planning. Without a national survey of the economic needs of the American people and the present and potential capacity of our economic system to meet these needs, machinery has been set up which directly or indirectly serves to limit production. In agriculture, we have set up controls under the Agricultural Adjustment Act which cut production at a time when millions of people are in dire need. 11 W e have destroyed cotton and limited the production of wheat and other foodstuffs when millions are inadequately clothed and fed. In industry, the production of manufac-

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t u r e d goods is b e i n g arbitrarily l i m i t e d by industrial leaders i n the interest of a short-sighted conception of private profit. 1 2 H u m a n needs and "social v a l u e s " are all b u t forgotten. T h e codes established u n d e r the N a t i o n a l Industrial R e c o v e r y A c t attempted to raise the purchasing p o w e r of the great mass of the w o r k i n g p e o p l e b y setting m i n i m u m wages. T h e h o p e was repeatedly expressed by the A d m i n istration that the wages of those w h o ordinarily received m o r e than the m i n i m u m w o u l d be raised. H o u r s of l a b o r h a v e also b e e n shortened in order to spread the w o r k and p r o v i d e for the e m p l o y m e n t of m o r e workers. T h i s p r o g r a m has n o w gotten u n d e r way sufficiently to indicate the difficulties of a t t e m p t i n g to raise the general standard of l i v i n g w i t h o u t t h o r o u g h g o i n g control of wages, prices a n d profits. T h o s e persons f a m i l i a r w i t h the effects p r o d u c e d b y state m i n i m u m wage laws h a v e l o n g been c o n v i n c e d that the f i x i n g of a m i n i m u m w a g e w i t h o u t setting the level of wages all a l o n g the line tends to r e d u c e all wages to the m i n i m u m . 1 3 T h i s has in fact b e e n the result of the establ i s h m e n t of m i n i m u m wages u n d e r the codes. W e n o w find that e m p l o y e r s all over the c o u n t r y have lowered wages a b o v e the m i n i m u m in o r d e r that they m i g h t pay the m i n i m u m wage fixed in the codes. 1 4 M r . G e o r g e R . Leighton, in m a k i n g a survey of the effects of the N . R . A . , reports his conversation with an official investigator in a state L a b o r D e p a r t m e n t . A f t e r discussing the mechanical details of c o d e p r o c e d u r e , M r . L e i g h t o n reports that this official declared: " O n e of o u r jobs here is to copy pay rolls througho u t the State. T h e y tell the story. E v e r y w h e r e wages are b e i n g c u t to the lowest m i n i m u m allowed. T h e r e is n o m a x i m u m any longer. T h e r e is only a m i n i m u m . " 15 T h e practice w h i c h this statement reveals seems to b e general t h r o u g h the c o u n t r y .

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Several million men and women have returned to work or have gained employment in Federal government projects. As a result, there has been a spread of income over a larger working population. However, the failure to control wages and prices in the interest of higher purchasing power tends toward a lower national standard of living." Any planning group attempting to raise the general standard of living must necessarily be concerned when the increase in wages is not commensurate with the increase in prices. T h e activities of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration and of the N.R.A., coupled with the devaluation of the dollar, have all tended to raise domestic prices throughout the country. Moreover, these prices in many instances are being set above the added expense due to Federal processing taxes and code provisions. T h i s is abundantly demonstrated by such studies as that made by Consumers' Guide, which found that prices on a list of 31 articles have increased from 8 to 85 percent above the added cost due to processing taxes and code provisions." Consumer interests were recognized by the N.R.A. in the drawing up of industrial codes. A consumer's representative was added to the boards which drew the codes. It is, however, difficult to see how the consumer can be protected by the type of person who was chosen to represent his interests. For example, Mr. Nelson of the National Association of Real Estate Boards and Mr. Lessing Rosenwald, President of Sears, Roebuck, and Company, were named Consumers' Adviser for the building and men's clothing industries respectively. Such appointees may have consumer interests sincerely at heart, but the economic class to which they belong would obviously make them purblind to the wishes and problems of the great mass of the consuming public whose purchasing power must be raised. One long-established governmental agency, the Bureau

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of Standards, is w e l l p r e p a r e d to aid the c o n s u m e r . It c a n n o t c o n t r o l prices. It c o u l d , h o w e v e r , m a k e p u b l i c t h e results of tests of c o n s u m e r goods a n d o t h e r data w h i c h it has c o m p i l e d over a p e r i o d of years. B u t u n f o r t u n a t e l y , as F. J. S c h l i n k , T e c h n i c a l D i r e c t o r of C o n s u m e r s ' Research, points out, It is impossible . . . for a private consumer to secure access to the findings of the Bureau of Standards, paid for in every major respect by general taxation of consumers . . . Consumers are invariably refused access to the information which would aid them in buying door-bells or flash-light batteries, or anything else. 19 T h e i n c i p i e n t a t t e m p t u n d e r t h e N e w D e a l to g i v e protection to consumers t h r o u g h the T u g w e l l bill, w h i c h later b e c a m e the C o p e l a n d b i l l , was d e f e a t e d in Congress. A n a t i o n - w i d e c a m p a i g n to fight this m e a s u r e was successf u l l y c a r r i e d o n b y p r i v a t e business interests, even t h o u g h the b i l l as finally w r i t t e n m e r e l y a t t e m p t e d to p r e v e n t t h e m a n u f a c t u r e and sale of certain i n j u r i o u s types of products and p r o h i b i t certain business practices w h i c h are n o t in the interests of consumers. Such restrictions are h i g h l y desirable, b u t they d o n o t sufficiently protect consumers. T h e r e was n o t h i n g in the C o p e l a n d b i l l w h i c h p r o v i d e d that administrative m a c h i n e r y b e set u p f o r the testing of all p r o d u c t s and services sold f o r p r i v a t e profit. N o r was there a provision f o r t h e p u b l i c i z i n g of the results of such tests. A f u n d a m e n t a l c o n c e r n f o r A m e r i c a n citizens i n their d u a l capacity as b u y e r s a n d as c o n s u m e r s r e q u i r e s that such administrative m a c h i n e r y b e actually set u p . For all practical purposes, the c o n s u m e r is still the " f o r gotten m a n . " H i s standard of l i v i n g m u s t b e raised a n d this c a n n o t b e d o n e w i t h o u t t h o r o u g h g o i n g c o n t r o l of wages, prices, and p r i v a t e profit, c o u p l e d w i t h the dissemination of accurate i n f o r m a t i o n r e g a r d i n g t h e v a l u e of all p u r c h a s a b l e goods a n d services.

8o

ECONOMIC

PLANNING

T h e difficulties of attempting to put into effect a national plan in our individualistic, private-profit economy, where vested economic groups are struggling for power, are insuperable without mandatory social controls, and the enforcement of these controls by governmental and semigovernmental officials who can be trusted to enforce laws and administrative rulings. T h e Roosevelt Administration put through code provisions regarding child labor, m i n i m u m wages, and collective bargaining, which are being deliberately broken or largely disregarded by employers. Early in February, 1 9 3 4 , Secretary Perkins of the Department of Labor, before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations, stated that her

investigators

found an industry

(shirt

manufacturing in Pennsylvaina) which had degenerated almost

to the

point

of employing hardly

anyone

but

children, and where general wages were around two and three dollars a week. "I dare say," she reported, "the same conditions exist in N e w Jersey and Delaware."

18

Under the Roosevelt Administration the right of industrial workers to bargain collectively was specifically guaranteed by Section 7a of the National Industrial Recovery Act, which states that workers may "organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing and shall be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of labor or their agents in the designation of such representatives . . ." T h e terms of this provision are clear. H a d they been enforced, labor organizations might have prevented the lowering of wages above the minimum and infringement upon the m i n i m u m itself. B u t many of the industrial leaders have persisted in their old attitudes and practices toward

labor. T h e y

have

prevented

the

formation

of

unions other than company-controlled organizations or havp rpfiKctl tn rcrntmirp surh uninnc when fnrm«1

ECONOMIC

PLANNING

8l

By defiance or by evasion many employers have attempted to thwart collective bargaining. Senator Robert F. Wagner, Chairman of the National Labor Board, in March, 1934, quoted a "thoroughly reliable study" of unions covering one-fourth of all the workers engaged in mining and manufacturing. He accepted this study as indicative of conditions in American industry. T h e survey showed that only 9.3 per cent of employees are dealing with employers through trade unions, while 45.7 per cent were bargaining on an individual basis and 45 per cent are enlisted in company unions. Less than 14 per cent of the employers embraced by the study are recognizing trade unions.20 Unfortunately, General Hugh Johnson and the National Labor Board early discouraged the use of the only weapon which the worker holds to make collective bargaining effective, namely—the strike. 21 The local N.R.A. Committees and Compliance Boards have been no more effective in protecting the worker than the National Labor Board, for, in addition to having too little power, they have been made up of individuals who had little sympathy with the rights of workers. T h e memberships of such boards have been largely drawn from the local Chambers of Commerce, Rotary, or Kiwanis Clubs. Naturally enough, the local boards composed mainly of employing and managerial groups reflect their social and economic views. Distrust of such local boards and fear of losing jobs or of being blacklisted prevent workers from submitting legitimate complaints. 22 The effectiveness of these controls which were established through the N.R.A. are more easily evaluated than other controls which were later set up, for they were among the first of the measures instituted under the New Deal. The Senate Banking and Finance Committee, under the

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direction of Ferdinand Pecora, did a great deal of excellent work in unearthing some of the evils which have grown out of the great concentration of wealth in the United States and the nature of our financial system. T h e general socio-economic situation has led the administration to attempt to reestablish social responsibility in the use of wealth through the Securities Act, Federal Deposit Insurance, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. T h e effectiveness and adequacy of such controls is still uncertain, but the direction in which they are moving seems to be in accord with the general welfare and the larger aspects of a planning economy in a capitalist system. T h e r e will undoubtedly be changes in such measures, but whether these changes will be adequate is still uncertain. Naturally enough, in a society in which large-scale planning is being attempted, there is an effort to stabilize contract and protect private property. During the rapid deflation of property values in the early years of the depression all contractual relations were threatened. T h i s was the period which witnessed the failure of tens of thousands of banks and business concerns. T h e Federal government is attempting to return to a sounder contractual relationship, and, in general, can be said to be using two methods to achieve this. First, there is the general attempt to raise prices under the N.R.A., the A.A.A., and the currency devaluation program, which also has the effect of raising prices. T h e major difficulties in a planning economy which is not carefully worked out in detail before it is put into effect may here be clearly seen. For in proportion as prices are raised in order to reëstablish the predepression parity of contractual relationships, the real wages of the great mass of American people are lowered—and in a planning economy, the achievement of a high standard of living is the basic economic problem.

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PLANNING

83

Second, the Recovery Administration is attempting to reestablish sound contractual relationships by lending billions of dollars to banks, insurance companies, railroads, and industrial concerns through the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and by providing some financial relief for farm and home owners. But the manner in which aid was first given to property owners in the United States does not appear to be wholly in accord with the social aims of the New Deal. T h e R.F.C. early lent hundreds of millions of dollars to big business concerns, protecting them from failure and bankruptcy without giving equal protection to tens of thousands of small business concerns. In the Emergency Farm Mortgage Act and the Home Owners Loan Act, some provision has been made to lower interest rates, temporarily waive principal payments on mortgages, and refinance mortgages. Each of these acts originally authorized the issuance of two billion dollars worth of bonds for the purpose of aiding mortgage debtors. Congress added an additional billion dollars to be used in aiding home owners in April 1934. In lowering interest rates and temporarily waiving principal payments, these acts have afforded much-needed relief, but their total effect has been disappointing. T h e difficulty has been that the Home and Farm Mortgage Acts leave the decision as to whether mortgages are to be refinanced in the hands of mortgage holders. T h e fact that mortgage holders are given the power of decision in these matters allows them to refuse to refinance if greater financial benefit can be otherwise obtained. Mortgage holders are less likely to refinance and more likely to foreclose mortgages on which debtors have already paid large amounts than on those on which debtors have paid little. Thus the thrifty and industrious suffer. A number of states have passed mortgage moratoria, but the total number of foreclosures in the United States was actually

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greater in 1933 than in 1932, while in spite of better business conditions in 1934 the number of foreclosures dropped only 11 percent for the first nine months of that year, as against the comparable period of 1933.23 T h e social philosophy behind the New Deal seems to be more effective in the relationship of the Federal government to the unemployed. For the first time in history, the Federal government has assumed the responsibility of giving direct aid to the unemployed. In accordance with the President's assurance that no one would be allowed to starve, several billions of dollars are being spent on relief and self-liquidating work projects. T h e Civilian Conservation Corps has been established. T h e Federal Emergency Relief Act provided $500,000,000 for direct relief to be distributed by the states. Several million workers have been temporarily employed by the Federal government, while provision has been made for spending large sums of money on long-time public projects which are intended to stimulate employment. T h e Tennessee Valley Authority has been set up to carry on a huge reconstruction project in the Tennessee Valley, which spreads into seven of the southern states. Its immediate object has been the employment of great numbers of people. However, there is a more far-reaching purpose. It is the general intent to develop cheap power, rehabilitate land areas, and raise the general standard of living of all the people in this area. It is felt that to the degree that this project is successful, it will serve as an example of what can be done in large-scale reconstruction of other large areas in the United States. Certainly, the far-reaching aims of the Tennessee Valley Authority do imply planning on a wide scale. T h e first community to benefit directly from the cheap power development at Muscle Schoals was T u p e l o , Mississippi, which now purchases its electricity from the

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PLANNING

85

Federal power plant at Muscle Shoals at a rate 60 percent lower than it formerly bought it.24 Just how far the aims of the T.V.A. will be achieved are as yet uncertain. It does appear, however, that cheap electric power can be made available to people in this area, although it is fairly obvious that the private power, interests will seek to hinder the thoroughgoing development of the project. Tremendous sums of money will be needed to finance the national recovery program which is in actual operation. This program is being partially financed through processing taxes, but it is being chiefly financed through bond issues. With the breakdown of state and local community credit, and the inability of these government units to care for the problem of relief, the Federal government has assumed an increasing share of responsibility to provide work and furnish direct aid to the unemployed. Even if one accepts an optimistic view of national recovery, it is still clear that large sums of money will have to be spent yearly in dealing directly or indirectly with the problem of the unemployed. A major problem of the government is to determine whence the money for this whole recovery program is to come. Even larger sums would be needed to finance a more thoroughgoing program of national and social planning such as the one earlier outlined in this chapter. T h e financing of permanent agencies for national surveys; the reorganization of "sick" industries (such as coal, railroads, textiles) and of new developments in industry which a national plan may require; the development of power resources and national housing programs; Federal aid to expand the public educational system; the extension of health and welfare services all over the country; the program guaranteeing economic security in time of ill-health, unemployment, and old age; the development of the testing and nation-wide consumer-service program; the guar-

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antee of fair compensation to those industries which may be permanently taken over by the government—all this would require much larger sums of money than are now being spent. At first glance, it might seem impossible for the government to assume such financial burdens. But it must be realized that under a thoroughgoing social program, which would make possible tremendous expansion of economic wealth and a tremendous rise in the standard of living, the extent of the taxable wealth would be far greater than it has ever been. In accordance with the social theory which lies back of this conception of social planning, a large percentage of Federal income would come, moreover, from highly graduated inheritance and income taxes. T h e belief which lies back of the New Deal is that billions must be spent in order that billions may be collected. Because of hasty, inadequate, and inconsistent legislation, however, the ideals of the New Deal cannot be immediately achieved. More thoroughgoing national planning is required in order to achieve them. In order to make any planning effective, a change must come in the social point of view. It is necessary for the people to be cognizant of the terms on which economic wealth may be produced and exchanged, to be aware of the forces and institutions which actually exert control in our society, to see a vision of what is possible, to desire to make this vision a reality, and then to become deeply concerned over the methods by which the goal may be achieved. Long-time planning requires long-time education. It may be that our current economic difficulties, and the attempts to extricate us from them under the New Deal, are the educative forces needed for us to become convinced that national planning in the interests of the common man is necessary and possible of achievement.

VII NATIONALISM, INTERNATIONALISM, AN E C O N O M Y OF PLENTY

AND

T h e new Industrial Revolution makes possible in America an economy of plenty, but, as has just been indicated, such an economy is impossible under the laissez faire operation of American economic institutions. 1 Thoroughgoing, comprehensive, collective planning of the national economy is needed. T h a t such national planning is necessary is realized by an increasing body of American citizens. But only a few people realize that an economy of plenty is possible for any nation only by careful planning of foreign relations as well as domestic affairs. A high standard of living, prosperity, and an economy of plenty for Americans: these have been the ultimate goals of American foreign policy.2 Changing socio-economic conditions at home and abroad, in various periods of history, have dictated the use of different means to achieve such ends—means which were not always efficacious. T h e desire for freedom of opportunity and for economic plenty has always motivated the American people. T h e colonists fought the Revolutionary War not so much to achieve political freedom as to secure economic freedom from Great Britain. 3 They believed that the British Navigation Acts and other restrictions hampered their economic development and prevented the achievement of the economic prosperity which might otherwise be pos-

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sible.* T h e great landowner George Washington, the business man John Hancock, and the exponents of "liberty," John and Samuel Adams, led the colonists in their revolt and in setting up a new government under which the economic benefits of trade, industry, and internal expansion were to go to the American people rather than to a nation across the seas. National independence achieved, the nation began the westward expansion which was to justify for many the economic promise of America. 3 While the conquest of the American continent was under way, and in the course of the years before America became a world power, many American leaders believed that the economic welfare of the country depended in part upon a policy of non-participation in European affairs.8 T h e isolation of America, however, was only a theory. A policy of economic imperialism in fact characterized American development from the beginning. In the early period this policy was euphemistically called national expansion,7 but the United States actually took an active part in international affairs in both hemispheres, in order to further its own economic interests. American statesmen negotiated for additional territory, and disputed boundaries with foreign nations. T h e War of 1812 was the second attempt of Americans to gain economic independence from England and to continue their westward expansion.8 T h e Monroe Doctrine warned off European powers from expansion in both North and South America. As a result, American national unity was greatly strengthened, and the United States was free to participate in American affairs. Relations with Europe were only incidental to such participation. T h e Mexican War was frankly imperialistic. Following the Civil War, two important national developments fundamentally changed American foreign relations. T h e first was the intensive industrial development

NATIONALISM 9

AND

INTERNATIONALISM

89

of the United States and the close union of big business with government. 10 T h e second was the termination of the American frontier which had brought increased prosperity to millions of people. 11 In this period, most Americans believed that if they were to achieve a further rise in the American standard of living the government should support and protect the domestic industrial interests in their struggle for foreign markets and control of natural resources abroad. Thus, the economic national imperialism which had characterized previous American development 1 2 was accentuated by the fuller expansion of the Industrial Revolution. 18 Statesmen seeking the increased economic well-being of national business groups saw no other practical alternative. Imperialism had some overt manifestations. Hawaii was annexed. T h e war with Spain, ostensibly undertaken for humanitarian reasons, left the United States with a considerable empire in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.14 This expansion perforce drew America into world affairs. 15 T h e United States, finding the markets and raw materials of China to a great extent controlled by other world powers, promulgated the Open Door policy. It developed such spheres of influence as that in Samoa, and such veiled protectorates in the Caribbean as those over Cuba, Haiti, Santo Domingo, and Nicaragua. 18 Seemingly, this economic imperialism should have provided an abundance of foreign markets and raw materials to guarantee the future prosperity of America. But the philosophy of imperialism will not by its very nature permit a nation to believe that it has enough. Every nation continued to seek a greater place in the sun. Since the earth is limited, conflict was inevitable. 17 The conflict became violent and world-wide in 1914. The struggle of European countries for territories, markets, and trade precipitated a European war into which

GO

NATIONALISM

AND

INTERNATIONALISM

America was drawn because of her economic ties with the Allies. 18 Loans of billions of dollars of American money abroad, and the arrival of over two million American soldiers in France, demonstrated that American foreign policy had moved a long way from the earlier agricultural period when Europe had "a set of primary interests which to us have no, or a very remote relation." T h e desire to achieve prosperity and a higher standard of living for the United States through imperialism had led directly to participation in a disastrous world war. CONFLICTING A M E R I C A N FOREIGN POLICIES IN THE POSTWAR PERIOD

Interestingly enough, in an attempt to work out an efficacious national policy following the war, America and most other nations embarked upon several contradictory national and international policies. Each nation attempted to become economically more self-sufficient. 19 At the same time, however, each nation continued its struggle for the economic and political dominance of foreign markets and raw materials. This policy was, of course, a continuation of the imperialism which had caused the war.20 At the same time, and along with such apparently contradictory policies, each nation attempted a third policy. In various ways, each tried to cooperate with other nations on an international scale. It will be shown later in this chapter that the policy of isolation leads inevitably to imperialism, and that the methods used to establish isolation are often the same as those used in national imperialism. Thus the contradictory nature of these two policies is more seeming than real. T h e policy of international cooperation is, however, actually contradictory to both of these. In the United States after 1918, there was a decided attempt at isolation. 21 T h e World War had disillusioned the American people. Few people had realized that con-

NATIONALISM

AND

INTERNATIONALISM

gi

flicting economic national interests had caused the war. Most Americans thought of it as "a war to end war," "a war to save democracy," for "self-determination" and for "the freedom of oppressed peoples." But the Treaty of Versailles was realistic.22 It showed the clear-cut dominance of the old national economic interests again struggling for power. T h e American people were not prepared to face and deal with the real issues, and so reverted to the hypothetical policy of an earlier day. Again and again, Washington's Farewell Address was quoted, and editorials on the desirability of non-participation in European affairs appeared in the American press. America negotiated separate treaties with the Central Powers. The United States refused to join the League of Nations. Tariffs were raised in order to protect the home market from foreign competition. In American trade relations, it was desired that any excess of exports over imports be paid in gold; this device, it was believed, would bring gold into the country and make the United States financially independent of the rest of the world.23 All this was a distinct attempt to achieve peace, upon which American prosperity ultimately depends, through a withdrawal from contact with other nations. At the very time, however, that this policy was being tried in the light of postwar conditions, the United States was also moving in the direction of the old struggle for economic dominance which has prevailed throughout American history and in a third direction, that of international cooperation. As in the earlier period in American history, isolation could not actually be practiced after the World War, because of the existence of powerful national economic interests needing foreign trade and expansion. T h e United States continued its imperialist adventures in Latin America and the Caribbean area.24 One of the best examples of the existence of such interests was the success

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NATIONALISM

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INTERNATIONALISM

of the United States for a time in achieving financial dominance over foreign countries. During the brief period of the war, billions of dollars were lent abroad by private American interests and by the United States Government. As a result, the United States suddenly changed its status from that of a debtor to that of a creditor nation. By January 1, 1932, the United States was net creditor in relation to the rest of the world to the extent of $19,500,000,000. Interest payments due from abroad totaled annually over one billion dollars." Such payments could not be made in gold because the United States Treasury had a large share of the world's gold.28 Moreover, if payment could have been made in gold that would have quickly disorganized international credit. T h e European nations could not pay in goods because of America's high protective tariff. Yet American public opinion insisted that foreign nations meet their financial obligations. For several years, before the debacle of 1929, interest on the European loan was paid by American financiers in the form of investments and loans abroad of roughly one billion dollars a year, or the approximate sum owed in yearly interest to the United States. Such a procedure could not continue indefinitely. T h e world economic depression which hit the United States in 1929 put a stop to further loans and, conversely, to most of the interest payments upon American moneys invested abroad. So, for the time being, the imperialistic movement of the American financial interests has been checked by the domestic crisis. At the same time that America was preaching isolation and practicing economic imperialism abroad, it was experimenting with a third policy—that of cooperation with foreign countries. At the Washington Conference of 1922 and the London Naval Conference of 1930 the world powers attempted cooperatively to diminish international

NATIONALISM

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93

armaments. But the existing policies demanded that each nation have a large navy both to defend national isolation and to further economic imperialism. Thus the reality of nationalism proved stronger than the theory of international cooperation, and the conferences were abortive. T h e United States and all the great powers were signatories of the Pact of Paris (the Kellogg-Briand Pact), an attempt to outlaw war as "an instrument of national policy." 27 In actual fact the world powers began to build up their navies following the Washington and London "disarmament" treaties. A comparison of the current 1930 armament expenses of all the great powers with those of 1913 shows that all nations, with the exception of Germany, which was limited by the Versailles Treaty, were spending much more money on armaments in 1930. Furthermore, since 1930 the armament race has continued unabated. TABLE II COMPARISON OF ARMAMENT EXPENSES 1913-193028 (In millions of dollars.)

Great Britain France Italy Japan Russia United States Total Germany Total • 1929

Percentage of Increase or Decrease

1913

1930

375-1 348-7 179.1 95.5 447-7 244.6

535.0 .. . . . . + 4 2 455-3 • • • • • + 3 0 258.9 ••• ••• + 4 4 232.1 .. .. . . . +142 579-4* • • .•. . + 3 0 727.7 . . . ••• +>97

1,690.7 463-3 2,154.0

2,788.4 1 7°-4 2,958.8

+65 — 63 -f 37

§4

NATIONALISM

AND

INTERNATIONALISM

In 1933, the President of the United States set aside from the Public Works Fund $238,000,000 for the building of thirty-two naval vessels. He also ordered the completion of seventeen vessels already under way. T h e Vinson Naval Construction Bill, passed in 1934, authorized additional naval construction. Similarly, when several of the signatories of the Kellogg-Briand Pact, J a p a n for example, felt it to be to their national interests to disregard this agreement, they did so with impunity. T h e United States has cooperated with the League of Nations. T h i s attempt at world cooperation, however, has proved futile, because the United States and the League members failed to recognize that the development of national economic imperialism could not be prevented through an attempt to mobilize world public opinion. Since the formation of the Pan-American Union, in 1902, the American government has moreover participated in numerous Pan-American conferences, but in these meetings the discussion of all vital economic problems and basic economic issues has been studiously avoided. Agreements dealing with transportation and communication have been reached. International postal facilities have been improved. Amicable cultural relations have been fostered. Friendly intentions have been repeatedly expressed, but few, if any, provisions have been made for their achievement. T h a t national economic differences have existed is proved by the breakup on those very issues of a number of the conferences, but a clear recognition of such differences has never served as the basis for Pan-American agreements. 29 T h e United States has cooperated with the nations of the world by participating in other international conferences. By far the most important of these was the International Economic Conference in London, 1933. It was not until then that the United States made a realistic

NATIONALISM

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INTERNATIONALISM

95

approach to internationalism. However, following the instructions of President Roosevelt, the United States delegates at this conference refused to cooperate in the major question under consideration, which was the stabilizing of international money exchange. The American delegates stated, in substance, that stabilization was not then in accord with the national economic welfare. They maintained that each nation must first set its own house in order, i.e., determine its national financial policy, before embarking on an international program. Such realism nearly broke up the conference. It did cause its adjournment for an indefinite time. T H E BASIC ELEMENTS DETERMINING A FOREIGN POLICY FOR AN ECONOMY OF

PLENTY

T h e confusion and contradiction of the foreign policies of the United States, and of the other great powers in the whole postwar period, demonstrate that the basic elements which should determine an intelligent foreign policy in the modern world are not generally and clearly understood. There seem to be three such basic elements: first, nationalism; second, the fact that the prosperity of all industrial nations is dependent upon the easy interchange of the world's economic goods; and, third, the fact that peace is a necessary guarantee of prosperity and national wellbeing. rise of nationalism in The Nature of Nationalism—The the United States has been steady and consistent almost from the beginning of the national entity. T h e major movements within the country have tended to unify the people. Perhaps the greatest unifying force was the political, economic, and physical struggle involved in extending the boundaries from ocean to ocean. T h e Civil War and, particularly, the reconstruction period following it, ended all thought of disunion and established a common Amer-

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ican philosophy of capitalism and materialism. T h e later development of an extraterritorial empire was likewise a means of binding together the nation for a real or fancied economic advantage. This was in keeping with the world movement toward nationalism on the part of all industrial countries. Each believed that through strong nationalism it could secure a right of way in world trade. In its nationalistic development, the United States also used high tariffs as a tool to further its economic interests. After the World War, the tariff walls were heightened, and a successful attempt was made to attract the world's gold supply. This latter move also strengthened the cause of nationalism. T h e popular feeling of confusion and disillusionment further contributed to the growing nationalist sentiment. At the same time that a self-conscious nationalism increasingly became the popular sentiment of this country, the same political and cultural phase was manifesting itself strongly in other countries of the world. 30 At the outbreak of the war, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan already were strong, unified national states. Nationalism was also dominant in numerically and economically weaker countries. T h e growth of fascism as a world movement is eloquent testimony of the further growth of the nationalistic movement today. Even Russia, which began its communist experiment with an international ideal, has since postponed that aspect of its program and concentrated upon its own national affairs. This world sentiment of the postwar period made more or less ineffective all attempts at international cooperation. T h e postwar attempts at world cooperation have repeatedly and necessarily failed because they did not take into account the strength of nationalism throughout the world. Statesmen persistently regarded nationalism as a myth. Because of its strength, however, the Washington and

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97

London disarmament agreements did not prevent an armament race between nations. Attempts to deal by means of international machinery with Germany's colonies resulted only in strengthening the empires of the victorious powers, at the expense of Germany. T h e "mandate" system was actually only a veiled form of imperialism. 31 T h e Pact of Paris, the League of Nations covenant, and the Locarno agreements were mere expressions of amity, 32 which were evaded or broken by the several nations in their attempts to further nationalistic purposes. World cooperation is still in the make-believe stage. It consists mainly of making promises which few nations trust, rather than in facing the concrete economic realities which are still guiding each nation's foreign policy.33 The Maximum Interchange of Goods—The second major need, essential in the determination of an intelligent foreign policy, is the maximum interchange of economic resources and industrial production throughout the world. T h e Industrial Revolution has fortuitously made the world an economic unit. Nature has so distributed its resources that no one nation has within its boundaries all of the raw materials necessary to its highest economic development. 34 Various nations, therefore, have specialized in the production of the economic necessities needed in the machine age. T h e large-scale productivity of specialized industry has made difficult the domestic consumption of all of an industrial nation's manufactured goods; outside markets for excess products are therefore needed. T h e United States is probably the most self-sufficient nation in the world, yet its dependence upon outside economic resources and markets can easily be demonstrated. 35 Among its raw materials, the United States produces plenty of coal, iron, cotton, and oil. It is dependent, however, on other countries for such materials as nitrates, copra, tin, platinum, antimony, and asbestos. It has to import man-

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ganese, which is necessary to the manufacture of steel. It imports two-thirds of its tin.36 The United States normally consumes one-third of the chromite produced in the world. Rubber is a commodity of first importance in American industry, yet 95 percent of the world's rubber is controlled by England, Holland, and France. T h e United States, because of the vast extent of its territory and the wide variations of its climate, is probably more self-sufficient in its food supply than any other nation. Normally, however, over 50 percent of the sugar consumed here is imported.37 Tea, coffee, cocoa, spices, and many luxury goods are American imports. Not only is the United States dependent on other countries for these necessary raw products, but also it has become dependent on the rest of the world for markets for American manufactured goods and raw materials.38 Although America normally exports only 10 percent of its products, export is vitally necessary to certain industries. This is particularly true of agriculture. In normal years, agricultural exports used to average over one billion dollars a year.39 Fifty percent of American cotton, 20 percent of American wheat and over 33 percent of American tobacco was shipped abroad in the course of those years, as well as 15 percent of American apples, 30 percent of American lard, 30 percent of American lubricating oil, 8 percent of American lumber, and 50 percent of our domestic production of resin and turpentine.40 Furthermore, the United States leads the world in the production of steel, copper, and lead. A certain proportion of these products must find an outlet abroad. Peace—In shaping sound foreign policies aimed to secure an economy of plenty through the greatest possible interchange of goods, peace is an absolute necessity. Warfare under modern conditions is ruinous to all con-

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99

cerned, the victors as well as the vanquished. T h e World W a r and the postwar period clearly show this to be the case. In the 1,565 days of the World War some 9,000,000 men—one in seven—died in action or of wounds . . . 7,000,000 were permanently disabled . . . More than 5,000,000 men were reported as "missing" after the conflict and of these many perhaps were literally blown to atoms . . . T h e total real economic cost amounted to $270,000,000,000. 41 If the economic value of human lives lost is added to this figure the grand total of the cost of the World W a r in dollars is estimated at $337,000,000,ooo. 42 Such figures are colossal in size. Nor do they include the economic loss suffered as a result of the disintegration of existing economic relations caused by the war. Such losses as these are beyond estimate. T h e i r effects are lasting. Former wars were not as costly as the World War. But they were not fought under modern conditions, with scientific techniques used for the destruction of life and property, and the world so economically interdependent that the possibility of localizing war is slight. T H E R E L A T I O N S H I P OF P A S T FOREIGN POLICIES TO AN E C O N O M Y OF P L E N T Y IN T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S

It is now clear that American foreign policy must be based both upon nationalism, upon a clear recognition that prosperity depends upon an interchange of goods and products with the rest of the world, and upon peaceful relations with other countries. But to what type of foreign policy should America turn? Let us examine the former and existing foreign policies in the light of the three criteria developed here. We must question whether any of them is adequate to meet the present and probable future world and domestic situations.

lOO

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INTERNATIONALISM

National Isolation—The attempt to isolate the United States, or in other words, to develop a self-sufficient economic and political state, would meet the requirements of nationalism. Let us see, however, what happened as a result of the postwar isolationist program. One important step in this direction was the acquisition of a large gold reserve." American political leaders failed to realize that gold alone would not secure an economy of plenty, and that goods well distributed, rather than hoarded gold, were all-important in maintaining and raising the American standard of living. In the postwar period the United States held the largest gold reserve in the world—but at the same time among the people there were poverty, unemployment, and faulty distribution of goods. Another step toward isolation in this period was the erection of very high tariff barriers. Most Americans realize that the Smoot-Hawley tariff hindered or prevented the importation of foreign goods. But few realize the more important effect, namely, that foreign powers also began increasing their tariff barriers, thus keeping many American goods from being sold abroad. T h e following table shows the tariff increases of six European countries in the 1925-29 period. Nor did these tariff increases end in 1929. European tariffs have been repeatedly raised since then. TABLE

III

P E R C E N T A G E OF INCREASE IN T A R I F F S 4 4 1925-1929 Great Britain Holland Denmark Belgium France Germany

112 112 67 50 38 29

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lOl

Such restrictions on international trade definitely lowered the standard of living both in America and in all other countries. 45 T h i s can be demonstrated for America in a number of ways. In order to escape the high tariffs of other nations, American industry has begun to move abroad. 44 From 1930 to May, 1932, alone, 258 factories were established by American manufacturers in foreign countries all over the world. 47 Forty-eight of those were established in Europe, twenty-eight in the far East, twelve in Latin America and seventy-one in Canada. All these foreign branches employed foreign labor almost entirely. Through such migrations of industry thousands of American laborers were either thrown out of work or put on part time. American farmers have been harder hit by foreign tariffs than industrial workers, because of the fact that so large a percentage of agricultural products has normally been shipped abroad. T h e case of wheat, 20 percent of which has normally been sold abroad, is a case in point. European countries have raised their tariffs on American wheat in order to stimulate the production of high priced wheat at home. As a result, the 1932 production of Europe was over a million metric tons higher than in 1931 and three and a half million tons higher than the average for the first five years after the war.48 T h e closing of European markets to American wheat has caused a surplus in America and a consequent fall in wheat prices. American wheat growers were hard hit. T h e i r purchasing power and standard of living were thus lowered by foreign retaliatory tariffs. T h e American standard of living was lowered by the effect of foreign tariffs. But what was the effect of the domestic tariff upon the standard of living of the United States? It has long been a current theory that a high tariff automatically increases the American standard of living. There is now abundant evidence, however, to show that

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many of the high American tariff laws have had quite the reverse effect. First of all, it must be realized that a high American tariff, even at best, protects the standard of living of only a small percentage of American workers. Dr. Mordecai Ezekiel, economic advisor to the Department of Agriculture under the Roosevelt administration, has pointed out that only eight million out of the fifty million gainfully occupied workers in 1929 were employed in industries receiving direct benefit from the American tariff. 19 It is doubtful that the tariff has benefited greatly even these eight million, for industries protected by the tariff are not always those paying the highest American wages. Before the formulation of industrial codes, such protected industries as sugar and textiles paid very low wages. Furthermore, those were the industries in which child labor flourished. Undoubtedly, the standard of living for the majority of American workers and consumers has actually been lowered by the tariffs. President Roosevelt noted in his message to Congress in February, 1934, that the "sugar tariff annually cost the American people $200,000,000, while the value of the annual output of the domestic sugar interest protected by this tariff is only $60,000,000." 50 More extreme examples are seen in the protection of handkerchief and olive oil manufacturers. A 90 percent duty on embroidered linen handkerchiefs has been retained in the Smoot-Hawley tariff, despite the fact that in 1931 the United States produced only 90,000 such handkerchiefs while 2,266,000 were imported. T o protect our olive oil industry, which furnished in 1931 only 2 percent of the total domestic consumption, the American people paid out over $5,000,000 in duties, or a price of $ 1 7 for protecting each gallon produced in the United States. 51 T h e result of such tariff provisions can only result in a

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lower standard of l i v i n g for the majority of the A m e r i c a n people. It has b e e n pointed o u t in a previous section that the attempt of A m e r i c a to return to a policy of isolation in the postwar period was only a partial attempt. T h e tariff provisions show this to b e true. A l l foreign products were not excluded, as they might h a v e been had a policy of complete isolation really been tried. If that were attempted, and if A m e r i c a n production were kept purely on a domestic basis, the standard of l i v i n g of the A m e r i c a n people would necessarily d r o p to new lows. America w o u l d be without all such needful imported products as nitrates, manganese, sugar, tin, and rubber. T h o s e which could be produced w o u l d be scarce and costly. It is estimated that we might be able to produce all of o u r o w n sugar—but it might cost 30 cents a pound. 5 2 H e n r y A . Wallace, the Secretary of A g r i c u l t u r e of the Roosevelt administration, estimates that we might produce o u r o w n r u b b e r for perhaps 30 cents a p o u n d . " Some products w h i c h the U n i t e d States imports could not be produced, and expensive substitutes w o u l d have to be found. T h e inevitable result w o u l d be a tremendous increase in the cost of living. A11 attempt to achieve real isolation w o u l d cause tremendous economic and social disorganization. Secretary Wallace estimates that 40 to 100 million acres of A m e r i c a n agricultural land w o u l d have to be taken out of production, the n u m b e r of acres d e p e n d i n g on whether the best land or marginal land be taken out of production. Millions of cotton and other agricultural workers w h o produce for foreign markets w o u l d have to be shifted to other employment. Similar if less drastic shifts w o u l d have to come in industry. C o m p l e t e isolation would also necessarily mean that practically none of the billions of dollars which America

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has lent abroad since 1913 would ever be collected, since the only possible method of collecting such huge sums is through the importation of goods. Moreover, thoroughgoing isolation policies on the part of all nations would lead to war. This fact is shown by the armament race which accompanied the partial return to isolation of the postwar period." Only a few nations, as the United States and Soviet Russia, would be even fairly self-sufficient if isolated. Most nations would be in a desperate situation. In order to get hold of needed raw materials, such nations as Germany, Japan, Holland, Denmark, Bulgaria, and Great Britain would either themselves resort to war or be absorbed by the nearest powerful national state or combination of states. Even if such a larger organization were to come about, the struggle of the most powerful national states for economic resources and territories would again lead to war. A policy of national isolation can not lead to peace and an economy of plenty. Rather in proportion as it is achieved it leads to a lowered standard of living and to war.55 N A T I O N A L ECONOMIC

IMPERIALISM

But what of the second American foreign policy? Does national economic imperialism make possible an economy of plenty? Would such a foreign policy meet the three necessary criteria, i.e., nationalism, the maximum interchange of economic resources, and international peace? Just as in the case of a policy of isolation, national economic imperialism meets the first test. It is highly nationalistic. But this second policy, like isolation, also fails to secure the necessary interchange of goods. Moreover, this policy, too, is exceedingly expensive and leads to war. Unlike isolation, national economic imperialism has been thoroughly practiced.56 The United States has always

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been an imperialist nation. But not until the country entered upon the fully developed stage of imperialism—expansion outside the continent—did this policy bring direct contact and competition with the world powers. W e entered late in the conflict for the sources of raw materials and markets, and discovered that most of these were already controlled by other world powers. Such necessary commodities as rubber and coffee were dominated by foreign business interests. T h e markets of Egypt, India, and China were already apportioned among other imperialist nations. Thus, from the very first, America was at a disadvantage in this later stage of expansion. Under the current practice of economic imperialism, the United States could secure its raw materials and markets only as the result of diplomatic strategy and through conflicts with other nations. Having discovered that the markets and raw materials of China were already, to a great extent, monopolized by the world powers, John Hay, through clever diplomatic tactics, secured the adoption of the Open Door trade policy in China. Freedom of trade was the only means which would offset the vested rights of other powers already there. But the Open Door policy could not be applied, and was not applied, throughout the rest of the world. T h e only alternative to this type of strategy, under economic imperialism, was fighting expensive wars with other nations. T h e United States almost came to blows with England and Germany over the acquisition of the Samoan Islands. It did fight a costly war with Spain, which yielded possessions or veiled protectorates in the Pacific and Caribbean areas. 57 But establishing the protectorates and setting up governmental machinery in the colonies proved costly. 58 T h e empire of the United States has been exceedingly expensive to maintain. Moreover, the international ill will which such a policy engenders has re-

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quired the expenditure of billions of dollars on "protective" armaments. T h e United States has not been alone in finding the maintenance of an empire very costly. Germany found her South African colonies exceedingly expensive to maintain, and she carried on very little trade with them. 59 France found that although trade did not follow the flag, a mounting budget did. T h e bulk of the trade of the French dependencies has gone to other nations.40 Economically, the United States rather than Great Britain has owned Canada. 61 T h e experience of Italy is saddest of all. After an enormous expenditure in a war with Turkey, it acquired vast expanses of African desert of little economic value. Colonies in most cases have brought financial loss to imperialist countries, but in a few rare instances they have been economically profitable, as in the case of Great Britain in India. 82 A fallacy in the theory of imperialism is pointed by the fact that the greatest interchange of goods is not between colonies or dependencies and the mother land. It is among the imperialistic nations themselves. England's greatest customer is not India. Its trading is done mainly with Germany, France, Russia and the United States. It has, however, entered into economic rivalry with several of those countries in order to protect India. Similarly, the best customers of the United States are not the undeveloped regions of the world which have been the field of American imperialism, but rather the economically developed nations. Eighty percent of American agricultural exports have normally gone to Europe. In the "boom" year of 1928 the United States carried on nearly twice the foreign trade with Europe that it did with Asia and three times as much as with South America. 93 Failing to realize the significance of the orientation of

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American economic relationships in the postwar period toward Europe, American bankers followed the traditional policy of economic imperialism. They negotiated $11,500,000,000 in loans to non-European nations, unloading the bonds for such loans upon the gullible American public, but only lent $5,100,000,000 to our best customers in Europe." T h e United States was able to pursue its seemingly contradictory policies of isolation and economic imperialism because the two did not actually conflict. T h e policy of isolation led the United States to seek to become financially independent through a large gold reserve. Once financially independent, the nation desired to become financially dominant. Thus, isolation could accompany national economic imperialism. Similarly, in attempting to achieve economic isolation in order to stimulate domestic production and to become economically self-sufficient, the United States raised high tariff barriers. These same tariff barriers proved also to be the agencies of economic imperialism, for they were aimed at establishing a favorable balance of trade (an excess of exports over imports) and at preserving a large gold reserve. Both policies required the establishment of a large navy. Isolation requires large armaments as a guarantee of territorial unity. National economic imperialism also requires a strong navy in order to protect American loans, markets, raw materials, and dependencies abroad. Furthermore, both policies inevitably lead to expensive wars. In the attempt to become economically independent, countries following either theory, or both theories, are led to make war on other peoples so as to acquire needed markets and resources. Such struggles rarely result in any economic advantage. They lead to war between the very nations who have most to gain through

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continued amicable trade relations with each other. An economy of plenty is not achieved either through following a policy of isolation or of national economic imperialism. T H E OLD

INTERNATIONALISM

But what of internationalism? As first clearly enunciated by Adam Smith 85 in 1776, the theory represents laissez faire on the international scale, since it puts no restrictions on the interchange of goods among nations. At the time when Adam Smith lived conditions were more favorable to freedom of trade than they are today. T h e Industrial Revolution had not spread throughout the world. Great Britain, as the country where the Industrial Revolution first developed, was then in a favorable position to promulgate the theory of freedom of trade between nations. Through free trade it secured the advantage of dumping its goods upon undeveloped countries. But in time customers began to reject the theory of free trade and to erect tariff barriers in self-protection. This procedure accentuated nationalism, which, in turn, led to the erection of higher tariff barriers, thus further negating free trade. One of the first undeveloped countries to discover that the wealth of nations gained through freedom of trade was really the wealth of the English nation, was the United States. Under the leadership of Alexander Hamilton it began enacting tariff laws to protect domestic industries from the dumping of English goods. In this way, the United States began the development of what is known as the American system. Other nations also found it to their advantage to build national commerce through recourse to tariff barriers. T h e application of the economic doctrine of List in Ger-

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many is an example of what happened in most European nations in the nineteenth century. 68 At first a disciple of free trade, List saw that German agriculture and manufacturing could never develop unless tariff barriers were erected. They were erected. T h e sense of German unity was thus accentuated, and became a powerful force in welding the German states into a nation. Once tariff barriers are raised by weaker nations, the free-trade theory of internationalism is outmoded. T o day, it is little more than food for speculation in intellectual circles. Hard-headed realists have long since rejected it. Does this theory of internationalism guarantee an economy of plenty any more than the two policies which have just been examined? Abundant evidence seems to indicate that it does not. T h e essential weakness of the old freetrade type of internationalism is that it disregards the tremendous growth and strength of nationalism. T h e economic theory of free trade which underlies this old theory of internationalism could not be put into practice, and as a matter of fact has not been put into practice. If free trade were suddenly to be practiced by all the nations of the world, the cycle of economic history since Adam Smith could only be repeated. T h e economically powerful and industrially specialized nations would dump their goods into formerly protected markets, thereby causing the weaker industrial nations to raise tariffs to protect their own industry. Even in well-developed countries like the United States, uncontrolled free trade would injure a number of industries producing specialized goods which are now protected. For example, elimination of the American tariff on boots and shoes would undoubtedly have this effect. Neither of the dominant political parties in the United States favors the establishment of free trade. Nor is there much support for it in any country in the world.

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Even in England, the stronghold of the theory of free trade, politicians and economists are turning toward protection.*7 If free trade were to be attempted, it would never secure the economy of plenty. It is the opposite of planning, and as a policy, it takes little account of the powerful sentiment of nationalism. T H E N E W N A T I O N A L I S M AND T H E N E W

INTERNATIONALISM

As has already been pointed out, the New Industrial Revolution makes possible an economy of plenty, but only if there is an ample, easy world interchange of economic products. We have just seen that isolation, national economic imperialism, and the old type of internationalism do not solve the problem of such a peaceful interchange of world resources. What type of foreign policy then is needed? The New Nationalism—The new nationalism proposes to secure such an economy of plenty on a national scale through the use of the nation as a planning unit. In doing this, it takes adequate account of the strength of nationalism. A high degree of interchange of products between nations can also be assured; and many of the basic causes which in the past have led to war can be eliminated. Thus the three criteria of an economy of plenty will be met. Economic planning with the nation as the unit first of all requires national surveys of needs and productive power, in order to discover what each nation can and should produce at home, what it must needs import, and what it needs to ship abroad. In the attempt to meet the vital human needs of food, clothing, shelter, health, recreation, and education, the production of goods and services must be geared to existing needs, rather than to the present low purchasing power of the great mass of individ-

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uals and American communities. Various types of mechanisms can be set up to provide for the increased interchange of products with foreign countries, in order to achieve the standard of living required by the nation's needs and its productive capacity. Numerous steps have already been taken or are being taken in the United States to set up such machinery. Congress has granted the President power to raise or lower tariffs 50 percent, in accordance with the best interests of the great mass of American citizens.68 Under this measure, the President has the assistance of a tariff commission to aid him in determining how high specific tariff rates should be for industry. T h e intention is to scale down tariffs on goods which are produced in the United States in small amounts and upon goods produced by American industries at a high cost as compared with production abroad. The sugar tariff, for example, might be reduced. The present tariffs obviously raise the cost of sugar for all Americans and tend to lower their standard of living. Along with general revision of tariff items, specific trade agreements can be negotiated with foreign nations. Such a commercial treaty with Cuba, providing for an increased preferential for Cuban sugar, has already been negotiated. In exchange, Cuba makes reciprocal concessions on American imports. T h e new program will ensure a fair sugar quota for Cuba and stabilize the price and production of sugar in the United States, as well as open up Cuban markets to American products. The United States in 1933 negotiated a reciprocal trade agreement with France. T h e latter produces better wine than we do, while the United States has a surplus of apples. The French are to scale down their tariffs on American apples and the United States scales down its tariff on

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French wine. T h e result is that specialization in both countries is increased, while the cost of the products is lowered, in each case, thus helping to raise the standard of living in both countries. In like manner, the United States might negotiate with Italy to secure, let us say, preferential tariff rates for American wheat, in exchange for a lowering of our tariff on olive oil. Our farmers have a surplus of wheat; Italian olive-oil producers, too, have a surplus. By the exchange of these surpluses, the standard of living would be raised for American and Italian producers and consumers. Similar concessions might be made in the case of Italian hats, in exchange for cheaply produced American products needed in Italy. T h e United States Government has also acted to expedite trade through the establishment of export-import banks. It has established such banks to help regulate the exchange of goods with South America, Soviet Russia, Cuba, and other countries. The Roosevelt administration also favors the policy of earmarking loans so that they may be repaid in needed goods through special tariff reductions. 89 T h e new nationalism would require that this policy be followed in the case of all American foreign loans. Such a policy would prevent the speculative loans abroad which were a part of the older isolation and national imperialism. It would require the payment of capital and interest in goods which America needs to raise her standard of living and which foreign nations are more than willing to sell. T h e new nationalism ultimately requires a governmental monopoly in the regulation of all foreign trade, so that national needs, surpluses, reciprocal trade and tariff agreements can be worked out unhampered by restrictions. In

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many cases new machinery will be set up to regulate trade. But some of the older machinery can also be used. American consuls have long been working abroad for the direct benefit of private business interests. T h e new nationalism would require that they gather data for the governmental regulation of trade. Foreign ambassadors would assume a more definite economic role through the negotiation of reciprocal trade agreements. Under such governmental regulation and control, the possibility of increasing foreign trade is tremendously enhanced. A higher standard of living for America and the other countries of the world is made possible. T h e new nationalism is, moreover, much more likely to lead to peace than to war, for it is based upon the economic needs of the American people and the people of all other nations. T h e emphasis upon the highest possible international interchange of goods, rather than the exclusion of foreign goods through tariffs, and the dumping of products abroad, would be far less likely to lead the United States into trade wars with other nations which in turn might lead to physical warfare. By insuring in advance the payment of loans in specific types of goods, peace is more certainly assured than it is under the old system of arousing public opinion against those peoples unable to pay for American exports in money. With import-export trade increased and a higher standard of living made possible, the people of each nation would be better fed, better clothed, and better housed. They would be less likely to covet their neighbors' possessions than if they were in a state of poverty, accompanied as such a state is by a despair which may lead to imperialistic ventures abroad. In the interest of peace and economic well-being, the new nationalism requires that the United States withdraw

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from its territorial possessions. T h e United States Government has already entered on such a policy. Congress has abrogated the Piatt Amendment in its relations with C u b a and provision has been made for the freeing of the Philippines. It is not necessary to retain such territories in order to carry on trade with them. T r a d e can be undertaken through the type of specific economic agreements already suggested for the control of foreign exports and imports. T h e withdrawal of the United States from its possessions and protectorates abroad alone would not guarantee peace. It would remove the fear of other great powers such as J a p a n that the United States might enlarge its imperialist control of markets and raw materials. T h e fear on the part of the United States that certain other powers might take over former dependencies would, however, remain. T h i s threat could be met in one of two ways: either America might become resigned to the possible control by a foreign power of her former possessions, with the possible closing of such markets and sources of raw material as these possessions represent, or it might seek to prevent such expansion by the use of physical force. In case the former policy were adopted, the United States need only keep up sufficient armed force to defend its own borders. If it should choose to protect its former possessions, large armed forces must be constantly maintained. Under the new nationalism, it might be possible to educate the American people to such an extent that they would prefer to run the possible risk of losing markets and sources of certain raw materials. T h e perpetual cost of large national armaments and the economic disruption and expense caused by a possible war undoubtedly lowers the standard of living of all Americans much more than the loss of practically all the yearly trade of the United States with all its present dependencies. Until this is real-

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ized, however, the strength of the old nationalism will have to b e taken into account. In p u t t i n g into practice the new nationalism, the people of the United States may for some time c o n t i n u e to favor the large armaments which have been the agencies of the old national economic imperialism. In any case the new nationalism requires withdrawal f r o m overseas possessions. T h i s policy alone would be a major step toward peace. T H E NEW

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70

In the interest of expediting world trade in order to make possible the highest standard of living in all countries, it is necessary that the nations of the world act cooperatively. W o r l d surveys of world economic conditions based u p o n national surveys will have to be made. O n the basis of such surveys the nations can cooperate to their mutual advantage. T h e new nationalism requires a complicating crisscross of specific economic agreements. A n international economic body could be given certain supervisory powers. It could collect data on the trade needs of each nation and, wherever possible, aid in trade agreements which would care for the needs a n d surpluses of all nations. T h e L o n d o n Economic Conference of 1933 offers one example of the international regulation of production. A wheat agreement was signed by twenty-one nations. T h e wheat-producing nations agreed to restrict production. Wheat-importing countries agreed to lower their tariff when the world price of wheat reached a certain level. 71 Unfortunately, the emphasis in this international wheat agreement was 011 terms of price rather than on human needs; the agreement thus accepted the current low standard of living and consumption throughout the world, whereas the wheat production of the world should be regulated in terms of the materially raised standard of

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consumption which national planning would attempt to bring in all countries. Under the new internationalism an international planning body would be primarily concerned with raising the standard of living of all nations. Various agencies would be used. Those countries which had not yet undertaken a domestic planning program with the purpose of increasing the national standard of living, would be encouraged to do so. Practical aid might be given such countries in negotiating reciprocal trade agreements with other nations. International public-works agreements might be negotiated, as was suggested by the United States delegation at the London Economic Conference of 1933. Such programs would tend to stimulate the buying power of each nation and so increase the international exchange of goods. International labor agreements might limit working hours and fix sliding scales of wages which would raise the standard of living of the various nations, which in turn would stimulate import-export trade. Another economic function of an international body would be to aid in the stabilization of the world's currency to facilitate travel and trade relationships. Trade would be in the form of the interchange of specific kinds of goods, but reciprocal trade might not always balance exactly in terms of goods. Some exchange of credit or currency would therefore be necessary. An international bank, similar to the one established at Basel to facilitate reparation payments might be established to facilitate the stabilization of currency, and also to give financial aid to the international planning program. International guidance and control would only work as long as there is peace throughout the world. T h e new internationalism would from its inception initiate a thoroughgoing educational campaign against war, and would point out the benefits of peace to the peoples of all na-

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tions. Such a campaign would stand an infinitely better chance of success under the new nationalism than it has in the past, when nations have been following a policy of national economic imperialism. T h e new nationalism destroys the necessity of monopolizing foreign markets and raw materials, and the struggle of each nation for gold which have been major causes for war in the past. Until public opinion throughout the world is educated to the point where it sees the benefits of peace, the new internationalism would conceivably use one of two methods for bringing recalcitrant nations to terms. It might use physical force on an international scale. But were such a method used there is real danger of relapsing into the old imperialism, where the victors punish the vanquished by dividing up the territory of the conquered peoples. Such a practice sows the seed for future wars, and makes peace and the maximum degree of interchange of goods even farther from fulfillment. T h e second method which might be used by the new internationalism, to control the economic imperialism of any country, is that of the economic boycott. Such a boycott could only be successful through the concerted action of the nations which traded most with the offending country. In the interest of a continuance of peaceful international trade relations, such a policy has much to recommend it in place of the use of military force. It would, it is true, injure somewhat the trade of each nation carrying out the boycott, but it would be disastrous to the country or countries boycotted. T h e real danger in the use of the economic boycott is that the boycotted peoples might resort to war to protect their national interests. T h e possibility of a war resulting from the attempt to put into force an economic boycott is of course greatest in a world in which nations maintain heavy armaments, as many of them will, even under the new nationalism. 72

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One of the major aims of the new internationalism would be the progressive reduction of national armaments. Attempts at such reduction have already been made. Failure, however, can only result, in that the nations are still maintaining policies of isolation or economic imperialism which requires the use of powerful national armament. T h e new nationalism, in substituting a new conception of trade and a new national policy, leads more directly to peace than to war. T h e new internationalism would capitalize upon this new nationalism in its attempt to persuade all nations to reduce armaments. In proportion as such a program succeeded the causes of war would be removed. T h e success of the new internationalism, of the maximum interchange of world resources, of peace and an economy of plenty for all nations would thus be further assured. In the foregoing chapter a foreign policy is outlined which would go a long way toward achieving an economy of plenty for all. Such an economy is highly desirable from the point of view of American democratic ideals, and quite possible of achievement. But it is impossible under a foreign policy which emphasizes national economic imperialism, isolation, the old type of internationalism, or a combination of these. Changing socio-economic conditions at home and abroad require instead a new type of foreign policy based upon nationalism, the maximum interchange of goods, and world peace. T h i s new type of foreign policy can only be achieved through thoroughgoing controls and planning on a national and international scale.

Vili GOVERNMENT, BUSINESS, PRESSURE GROUPS

AND

Any attempt at thoroughgoing planning in domestic or foreign affairs requires a realistic knowledge of government, business, and pressure groups. Knowledge of national and state constitutions, of legislative enactments, and of the formal machinery of government, though helpful, will in no wise furnish a complete picture of government, for such knowledge takes no account of extra legal political machinery, or of the forces which operate upon government. Government as shown in the printed form is a cold, lifeless thing; in reality, it is teeming with life. T h e personnel changes, but the forces to which government is exposed remain constant, though their power may increase or decline. T h e s e forces represent the wants and desires of certain organized and unorganized groups within the American population. In every community, there are associations which bring together common interests. In fair-sized towns, there are associations of business men—Chambers of Commerce, the Rotary and Lions Clubs, associations of manufacturers and dealers in certain commodities and services. T h e r e are associations of professional people—the American Bar Association, the American Bankers Association, the Teachers' Federation. T h e r e are trade-unions for carpenters, masons, bricklayers, plumbers, and other skilled workers. T h e r e are patriotic societies and veterans' organizations, as the D.A.R., the Gold Star Mothers, the Amer-

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ican Legion; there are local societies for civic improvement and relief, and taxpayers' associations. There are fraternal groups, as the Masons, the Knights of Columbus, the Odd Fellows, and branches of college fraternities; religious groups of various denominations; educational organizations, as the Parent-Teachers Association; and various cultural study groups. There are purely social groups, as dancing, tennis, and golf clubs; social-service societies formed to relieve poverty or illness, and organizations for civic betterment, for the prevention of crime, for the promotion of this or that idea or activity. Trade and political associations are of peculiar importance. Collectively, these organized groups represent a great proportion of the American people. But their power is by no means equal, nor are their interests and goals identical. Indeed, for almost every group which exerts pressure upon government to act toward some desired end, there is another organized group exerting counter pressure to prevent this action. Thus, government is carried on in the midst of a barrage of forces—some stronger than others; some working toward unselfish humanitarian goals; others working toward narrow, selfish ends. Their existence cannot be ignored by any student of government, for they constitute the government behind government. These activities center around the Federal government and operate with even more powerful effect on state and municipal governments. In "Middletown," the women's clubs alone initiated manual training in the schools, erected antituberculosis shacks, agitated for better movies, secured a women's rest room in the court house, campaigned for the enforcement of prohibition, investigated the working conditions of women employees, etc. 1 Even to work for such minor changes as these, in most cases, requires that pressure be exerted on some department of

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the city government so that it will lend its support and make the changes legally possible. Of greater significance, however, are the groups which work for special economic privileges—for franchises, for the shifting of tax burdens, and for the maintenance of high public utility rates. T h e groups which are desirous of obtaining special privileges of all kinds work directly or indirectly to influence government in order to attain their goals. BUSINESS AND POLITICAL MACHINES

Business interests commonly work through political machines in order to influence government. Political bosses think of politics as a business. T h e y use their position to make a profit at the expense of the community, and welcome the financial support of economic interests in return for political favors. Richard Croker, one-time Tammany boss in N e w York, stated: "I work for my own pocket all the time, like a business man in business." Few political bosses have been as frank in their statements, but practically all of them believe that government and business should work hand in hand. In his muckraking days, Lincoln Steffens came to know many political bosses through the United States. H e found all of them peculiarly frank about the fact that they were leaders of money-making political machines. 2 Professor William Bennett Munro writes: The [political] boss is in a position to take his pick from the plum tree. Nor will he ever fail to do it. The boss who knows his business will take whatever he can get, keep for himself as much as he dares, and divide the rest with his trusties.5 In referring to the money which the boss makes out of political patronage, the same writer says, We are too apt to think of patronage as an official matter only and to assume that the supply of it can be entirely shut off by

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civil service rules or by regulations which compel the honest award of contracts. But much o£ the patronage which the ward boss manages to secure is not official at all. It is provided by private or quasi-private concerns such as paving contractors, dealers in fire apparatus or street-cleaning machinery; by street railway, telephone, gas, electric lighting and taxicab companies, as well as by banks, hotels and even factories.4 T h a t bosses receive money from various economic groups who are seeking special privilege is common knowledge. But what of the candidates for political office? Are they, too, influenced by the desires of private business, which is seeking special privilege? T h e facts seem clearly to demonstrate that they are so influenced. Usually, political machines pick the candidates. T h i s is relatively easy, for comparatively few registered voters take the trouble to vote in the primaries, where party candidates are chosen. It is the business of the political machines in the city districts to marshal enough votes at the primaries to nominate their candidates. T h e y desire at such times to nominate, not only a candidate who can win, but also to "get a man who, after he is elected will not prove a 'kicker' or a 'bolter' but will train with the organization, take advice from the executive, and 'go along.' " 5 I n some cases the ticket needs strengthening where the party in opposition is powerful or where reform movements get under way. T h e local political leaders then have to pick not only men whom the electorate believe to be honest but also men whom the politicians feel they can influence or checkmate in any attempts to fight the machine or the vested interests behind the machine, after they are elected. At such times, political machines sometimes make mistakes. Candidates are sometimes nominated and elected who cannot be controlled. Individuals who,

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because of personal qualities or political adroitness, capture the p o p u l a r imagination, are occasionally elected and reelected. Such candidates may fight, on many issues, the very machines which first p u t them into power. In most cases, however, the political leader is free to choose and elect "safe" candidates. Party machines control nearly every board of aldermen, city council and state legislature. 8 Frank Kent remarks that in the case of the city delegation to the H o u s e of Delegates in Maryland one can go back for twenty-five years, and there has not been a single session where there was less than three-fourths of the whole delegation not only hand-picked by the ward executives but "deliverable" in any way and at any time that the local machine bosses wanted. 7 O t h e r city machines equal or surpass such records. In this connection Professor M u n r o tells the story of a Massachusetts legislator who, when he was asked how he came to be elected, replied, " I was not elected. I was appointed." 8 T h i s can be said of many so-called "elected" officials. Political campaigns are tremendously costly. In N e w York City the T a m m a n y organization has been k n o w n to spend as m u c h as $1,000,000 in an attempt to elect a mayor. 8 W h e r e does the money come from? T o w h o m must political candidates look for funds, and to w h o m are they indebted for financial support? K e n t says that campaign funds seem to come from three sources: First, from party-machine assessment of party officeholders. Second, from party-machine assessment of candidates. T h i r d , from contributions of the "friends of the candidates, friends of the party, friends of the boss, and bust-

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ness men seeking political favors and consideration." 10 It is this third source that is particularly significant, because these groups demand special privileges. T h e party machine handles the collection and expenditures of such sums as are used in the campaign. T o it candidates must look for the financial support so necessary for election. Vested interests must not be estranged after the candidate is in office, or political support will be withdrawn. Inasmuch as practically all candidates wish to be reelected, the pressure to conform, to "go along" with the machine, is so strong that few care to think for themselves or to act independently while in office. Special privilege-seeking interests work through political machines which control legislative votes. T h e y also often work directly with the legislators themselves. Steffens tells of a conversation with President Mellen of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railway. Mellen had "done politics" in the railroad business in the West, but when "Morgan called him East" he decided that he would stop buying special privileges. However, "when he did not do what had always been done in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York his railroad was held up and his directors made it hot for him." He found that he "had to" do it. Steffens' reply to this story was "That's what I hear all over the country. You can't run a railroad without corrupting and running the government." 11 LOBBYING

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In any attempt to plan intelligently our socio-economic life it is necessary not only to take into account the realities of government as they operate through political machines, but also to comprehend the power which political lobbies exercise on government. Lobbying is practiced

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on a local, a state, a national, and an international scale. T h e finest flower of its development, however, is to be found at the national capital in Washington. Washington is filled with organizations seeking to secure some legislative favor for themselves or to prevent other groups from securing unfavorable legislation.12 These organizations work through the institution known as the "lobby," which a congressional committee defined as having "the broad meaning of a person or body of persons seeking to influence Congress in any way whatsoever."18 Under this definition, nearly every national association in the capital acts as a lobby at one time or other. T h e technique of lobbying has changed fundamentally since the days when Mark Twain so brilliantly described it in his Gilded Age. In those days, most lobbyists were of the gentler sex, and lonely Congressmen were dazzled by their persuasive efforts. Congressmen in office openly represented steel, coal, meat, or some other business interest. Today, however, lobbyists use different methods. The most powerful lobbies are made up of members of associations, leagues, institutes, boards, and federations. Much of their work is done openly. They are the "third house of Congress." 14 These representatives of special interests are lawyers, newspaper men, publicity men, exCongressmen. They use their knowledge of governmental and pressure technique in influencing legislators. One of the most powerful lobbies is that of the American Legion, described by itself as "comparable in many ways to a million dollar corporation." 15 It represents a very small, but highly organized, minority of World War veterans. This group is interested in securing bonuses and political jobs for its members, in putting through bills for military preparedness, and in securing or preventing the passage of other legislation. T h e methods of the Legion are the envy of other lobbyists. "Key men" favor-

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able to the Legion are placed on the proper committees of Congress. Thousands of bills are written up with special Legion interests in mind. Pressure is then applied. A daily record is kept in a "status book." Bills undesirable to the Legion are fought in Congress tenaciously, though the process may take years. Hundreds of favorable bills are eventually passed. T h e soldiers' bonus bills passed by Congress testify to the success of the Legion lobbying methods. T h e United States Treasury has been repeatedly raided by such American war veteran organizations as the American Legion. T h e r e are scores of industrial and trade associations, for example, the American Sugar Cane League, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the American Railroad Association—which have powerful lobbies in Washington. 1 6 A 1 9 1 3 investigation showed that the sugar trust had spent $750,000 fighting the Cuban reciprocity treaty. Since 1921, the United States Beet Sugar Association has spent over $500,000 to prevent any lowering of the tariff on sugar. In 1929, ten American sugar companies with holdings in Cuba expended about $100,000 on a campaign to lower the tariff. 17 T h e lobbying which goes on in connection with the making of tariffs is notorious. T h e National Manufacturers Association often dictates the content of such measures. Speaking of the Fordney-McCumber Bill in 1923, Senator Underwood declared, It looks as if those charged with the responsibility of writing the bill have accepted unqualifiedly the rates proposed by the special interests desiring protection and have not given consideration to the resultant . . . burdens which must be born by the consumer of America. 18 Henry Loomis Nelson has stated, "Congress has not legislated on the tariff: it has merely affirmed or ratified the decrees of the beneficiaries of the tariff." 19 A perusal of

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the Congressional Record or the reports of a large city newspaper during the period in which a tariff bill is being drawn will substantiate such statements as these. Many groups interested in legislation are carrying on extensive lobbying activities on a state as well as a national scale. Some of them concentrate on lobbying in state capitals. Clyde M. Reed, governor of Kansas in 1928, declared T h e corporation lobby has begun early this year. It has already had a big booze party in one of the principal hotels in T o p e k a . A t this party were eight state senators, four railroad attorneys, representatives of the Bell T e l e p h o n e C o m p a n y , and other public utility and corporation representatives. A t this party were discussed committee assignments in the senate and plans for opposing the incoming administration in its efforts to carry out a constructive program . . . 20

T h e lobbying practices of public utility interests have recently been investigated in New York State. The investigation has implicated a number of state legislators. State Senator Thayer, former chairman and member of the New York Senate's Public Service Committee, while in office wrote to a vice-president of the Associated Gas and Electric Company as follows: T H E S E N A T E OF T H E S T A T E OF NEW YORK ALBANY

Chateaugay, N . Y . M a r c h 28, 1927 Mr. S. J . Magee, Vice President, Associated G a s and Electric C o m p a n y N e w York City, N . Y . M y dear M r . Magee: In keeping with your instructions of M a r c h 22nd regarding my expense account for the month of M a r c h in connection

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with the village election, I herewith hand you bill, as suggested, made out to the Chasm Power Company. The Legislature adjourned last Friday and have now returned to Chateaugay and will be here most of the coming summer. If at any time I can be of further service to you, please do not hesitate to call upon me. I hope my work during the past session was satisfactory to your company, not so much for the new legislation enacted, but from the fact that many detrimental bills which were introduced we were able to kill in my committee. Very truly yours. W. T.

THAYER

Lobbying activities not only prevail on a state and national scale. Certain private business interests do not hesitate to use such methods even on an international scale. " T h r e e American shipbuilding corporations paid Mr. William Baldwin Shearer $25,000 to represent them at disarmament meetings in Geneva." 2 1 Mr. Shearer boasted that the collapse of the Coolidge disarmament conference in 1927 came as the result of his efforts. T h e same gentleman was also hired to campaign for a bigger American navy. He lobbied for the fifteen-cruiser bill of 1928-29 and spent $143,000 in lobbying for the Merchant Marine Act of 1928. He modestly declared "As the result of my activities, during the sixty-ninth Congress . . . eight 10,000 ton cruisers are now under construction." 22 Shearer and many other lobbyists earn very high sums. Ex-Senator Lenroot of Wisconsin received $10,000 for appearing before the United States Senate to oppose the Walsh resolution demanding an investigation of the "power trust." 23 Frank Kent writes that one lobbyist in the national capital at Washington has received $75,000 a year, in addition to a large expense account. He was probably worth even more to the financial interests he represented.24

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12G

U N S O C I A L PRACTICES IN BUSINESS

T h e chief difficulty of present lobbying practices is that they aid a relatively small group of people, to the detriment of the great mass of the population. In our type of society, representation of various economic group interests is inevitable and actually desirable. T h e difficulty has been that a few economic interests have dominated government. What is needed is some type of proportional representation which will give realistic representation to all economic interests.25 T h e unsocial practices prevalent in private business are as undesirable as present lobbying practices. T h e y often make small groups of people rich and prosperous, while small investors, employees, and the general public suffer. In any attempt at the intelligent planning of our socioeconomic life, such unsocial practices must be known in order that effective social controls be set up. A n economic depression brings to light the existence of many such practices effectively concealed in so-called prosperous times. As a matter of fact, modern business is shot through with graft, corruption, and various types of unsocial practice which do much to prevent the achievement of an economy of plenty. A few instances of unsocial practices in business will illustrate the point. Anyone interested can find the subject expanded to book length in Graft in Business?9 W e have recently heard of the bonus system which has been in effect in the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. T h e corporation voted bonuses, first to eight or ten officials and later to about twenty-one. Many of the men receiving such favors were themselves on the board of directors. These special favors began in 1917. A public protest was made against this system by a group of stockholders, who were losing millions in possible dividends through

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this practice. T h e y summed up this protest in the following way: T h e amount of the bonuses is most unseemly and improper. T h e president, Mr. Grace, it now appears, received in the year 1929 a bonus of $1,623,753 and in the year 1930 a bonus of $1,015,591. During the period in which these bonuses for executive officers have been in force, and up to the close of 1928, there has been taken out of the corporate treasury for this purpose $31,878,255 as against $40,886,996 paid to common stockholders. In other words, 80 per cent o£ the amount distributed as common dividends to the owners of the equity of the property. In the four years 1925-1928 inclusive, during which not a dollar of dividends was paid to the common stockholders, $6,800,524 in bonuses was paid to these few favored directors and other executives. T h e president alone took $3,105,963 as bonuses during these years.27

Mr. Bernard J . Rothwell, president of the Bay State Milling Company and former president of the Boston Chamber of Commerce—a conservative business m a n writes in the Boston Transcript—a conservative paper— of another illustration of the way in which the officials of a great corporation protected their own interests at the expense of stockholders and ultimately of consumers. In this case it is the Electric Bond and Share Company. Stephen Raushenbush, in his book The Power Fight estimates that this corporation controls no less than 12 percent of the nation's power resources, and has assets in excess of two and a half billions of dollars. 28 In the summer of 1929, according to Mr. Rothwell, a group of important officials of the Electric Bond and Share Company bought from the company more than 480,000 shares at $40 a share. T e n percent was paid outright, and the balance was to be paid up within seven and a half years. At the time these shares were bought, the market price for common shares ranged from $ 1 2 9 to

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$148. These insiders had profited by a rake-off of nearly $50,000,000, and, as Mr. Rockwell reports it, they had pledged themselves "to absolute secrecy and never to ask for or divulge any information in regard to the transaction or their connection with it." T w o days later other stockholders were offered stock in a new issue at $85. Incidentally, 55,000 shares of this new issue were given outright to the inside officials who had just bought shares at $40. T h e most shocking part of the story is yet to come. Due to the depression the market price of Electric Bond and Share fell far below $40. T h e insiders then called a special stockholders' meeting in December, 1931, and circulated the story that the holders of this special stock were poor wage earning employees of the company. T h e whole original transaction was then canceled. Not only was it voted to return the money paid by the inside manipulators, but it was also voted to pay them 6 percent interest on this money for the entire period. According to Mr. Rothwell, the immediate loss to the company was $17,000,000. If, however, the stock in question had been sold to the public in 1929 at the market price, instead of at $40, the company, or in other words the stockholders as a whole, would have been $91,000,000 better off.29 T h e dramatic death of Ivar Kreuger brought to light another instance of misrepresentation and barefaced theft in the business world. A part of the story goes that Kreuger and T o l l needed additional funds to carry on their world-wide financial manipulations. Kreuger, therefore, sold securities in the American market. A m o n g these were such large blocks of stock, as $48,000,00 of Kreuger and T o l l 5's of 1959; $50,000,000 of International Match 5's of 1941 and $48,000,000 of International Match 5's of 1947. From these sales $246,000,000 was realized. Today,

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after the shocking financial juggling and manipulation of Kreuger and Toll has been exposed, the whole mass of securities, "held by some 32,000 American investors, is worth less than $10,000,000." 30 Furthermore, Kreuger successfully carried on an outright fraud involving $50,000,000 worth of German bonds, held by the International Match Company of America. Desiring these bonds, Kreuger obtained them from the International Match Company and substituted in their place Italian credit bills and an alleged $66,310,196 worth of purely fictitious concessions known as the X.Y.Z. Country Concessions. T h e International Match Company was thus adroitly swindled out of millions of dollars. 31 One of the ways in which easy money is made by a few inside manipulators is through the reorganization of business concerns. Through such reorganizations, Samuel Insull built up the Insull Public Utility Interests which brought ruin to so many investors. Insull was not alone in this practice. By means of it many banking houses have made quick and easy money. In the formation of the United Corporation, Morgan and his friends made millions in profits. On December 5, 1928, J . P. Morgan and Company bought securities of various electric and gas companies from the General Electric Company at the price of $23,634,130. On January 10, 1929, the Morgan firm sold these securities to the United Corporation at a price of $35,533,260—8 profit of $ 12,000,000.32 The money which can be made by inside stock manipulation is amply illustrated in the case of the preferred stock list of J . P. Morgan and Company in United Corporation. Such eminent names appeared on this list as those of former Ambassador Dwight W. Morrow, former Secretary of the U. S. Treasury Woodin, Senator McAdoo, and Charles A. Lindbergh. These members and

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friends of the Morgan firm were offered United Corporation units at $75.00 between January 9 and 14, 1929. Announcement of the formation of United Corporation was given to the newspapers on January 11. O n January 21 these units sold on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange at $99.33 T h e private individuals on the preferred list selling at this figure reaped a quick and easy profit. Another reorganization brought enormous profits to the Cutten oil pool. T h i s pool was "a purchasing syndicate which operated in 1,130,000 shares of Sinclair Consolidated Oil stock in 1928-29, reaping a net profit of $12,002,109 without putting up any 'real' money." Cutten made $2,632,962.75 on the d e a l . " Sinclair, and other officials of the former Sinclair Oil Company, were sued by a stockholder for "an accounting of $12,000,000 profits alleged to have been made in 1928 in a pool of 1,300,000 shares of Sinclair stock." 35 J. P. Morgan and Company gave its partners and friends the privilege of subscribing to Alleghany Corporation common stock at a special price of $20 per share. Alleghany Corporation is a railroad holding company. T h e insiders could have made a profit of $11 to $15 a share by selling their stock immediately. Mr. George Whitney, a Morgan partner, made a profit of $229,411 in 1929 on the stock.36 Among those invited to buy stock of the Alleghany Corporation, a Van Sweringen holding company, at $20 a share, when the stock was selling at $31 to $35 in the market, were William H. Woodin, . . . Charles Francis Adams, former Secretary of the Navy; William G. McAdoo, now a Senator and formerly Secretary of the Treasury; General John J. Pershing, Owen D. Young, Newton D. Baker, Charles A. Lindbergh and many others.37 A most flagrant type of unsocial business practices has been that of avoiding taxation by deferring profits and

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writing up losses. T h e deeds of the House of Morgan furnish a case in point. By forming a new firm on January 2, 1931, when a new partner, S. Parker Gilbert, was admitted to the firm, and by reevaluating securities on that date, the firm was able to take a loss of $21,000,000, which could be applied against profits and thus the payment of taxes avoided. Neither Morgan nor his partners paid any income taxes in 1931 and 1 9 3 2 . " These methods of avoiding taxation were known to others than Morgan. Otto H. Kahn, senior partner of Kuhn, Leob and Company, paid no Federal income taxes in the years 1930, 1931, and 1932. 89 Albert H. Wiggin, formerly Chairman of the Chase National Bank, "received about $1,500,000 in salaries and bonuses from the bank and other corporations in the four and a half years immediately preceding his retirement." During a part of this time when Mr. Wiggin was receiving bonuses the bank was actually losing millions. 40 Charles E. Mitchell, Chairman of the National City Bank, took as good care of himself as did Albert H. Wiggin. He paid no income tax in 1929, though in 1927, 1928, and 1929 he received $3,481,732 in bonuses, apart from his salary, from the National City Bank and its securities affiliate.'11 T h e National City Bank investigation also disclosed that the bank generously lent $2,400,000 free of interest to its officers to save their stock in the market collapse of 1929. This was done at the same time that the bank was selling out customers whose collateral did not cover their margins. 42 By the bonus plan of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, its officers received $36,000,000 in fourteen years.43 While bonuses and salaries were increased at the upper levels, salaries and employment at the lower levels were decreased. T h e net social effect of such practices as those

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of financial reorganization, loans to officers and friends, bonuses and avoiding taxation, has been to benefit a few individuals at die expense of investors, employees, and the general public. T h i s practice is especially pernicious in a period of depression when wages and the average income are low, when millions are unemployed, and all governmental agencies are hard pressed to meet their financial obligations. Any attempt to plan intelligently American economic life would require that the necessary social controls be set u p to prevent all such practices. BUSINESS A N D T H E F O R M A T I O N

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PUBLIC

OPINION

In order to secure large private profits many business interests have sought to control public opinion. Any attempt at control of private business in the interests of the great mass of people must take this fact into consideration. Propaganda can be used for both good and bad ends, and where there is an attempt by business interests to use it for unsocial purposes, it must be fought by publicity campaigns which not only present all the facts of the case, but also give the desired social emphasis. Business has made use of many agencies—among them the schools, the cinema, the radio, and the press—in propagandizing the great mass of the American people. Educational agencies have taught people to read, but not to discriminate and to do critical thinking. T h e power interests in shaping the content of education to serve their own ends evidently believed that the inculcation of their ideas could not begin too early, for a pamphlet entitled The Ohm Queen, 405,000 copies of which were printed for distribution, was written for the proper instruction of children on the kindergarten level. 44 T h e power interests concentrated, however, upon the secondary schools, and made wide surveys of textbooks in

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the fields of history, economics, and civics.45 Many texts were perused but few were chosen by the utilities. They, therefore, set about writing their own texts. Money was liberally used in winning members of the educational profession over to the idea of including courses on "the economics of public utilities" containing such interesting ideas as the following, "in the utility business, in a sense, there are no profits." 46 Dean C. C. Williams of the College of Engineering of the University of Iowa could see no harm in professors being employed by utility companies. 47 T h e dean's opinion was shared by other professors and presidents of universities. Research workers have been extremely grateful for grants made for studies showing the benefits of public utilities and the disadvantages of municipal ownership. Public utilities have also employed college students and instructors on part-time jobs, so that they might witness the services performed by public utilities. Big business interests seem to have used every publicity method, including sky-writing, in the furtherance of their special economic interests. T h e radio, financed by advertisers, has proved a valuable agency for the spread of their propaganda. Such movies as " T h e Romance of Electricity" and " T h e Spirit of Service" have been shown before local Rotary Clubs and school children. 48 Many movies shown everywhere put over the same type of propaganda more subtly but none the less effectively. T h e Cities Service Corporation has poured its tale forth to listeners. Song writers discovered a market for their talents in composing the words for such a song as "No Excess Profits" set to the tune of "Yes, We Have No Bananas." 49 T h e Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company Girls Quartette sang its way "into the hearts of the people." 50 Even traveling salesmen aided in the good work, spreading smoking-car stories carefully prepared for them by the utilities com-

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pañíes. T h e Arkansas Public Service Information Bureau even found that the clergy were able speakers as well as ready listeners.51 Women's clubs, too, have proved to be an able means for spreading big-business propaganda. T h e National Electric Light Association paid $80,000 in three years to the General Federation of Women's Clubs; 52 Mrs. John D. Sherman, president of the General Federation, received $600 a month to write articles in collaboration with the utilities for the leading magazines of the country." Probably the most powerful agency used by big business to further its private interests is the public press. Modern corporations employ public relations counsels who seek to control the news as it relates to their special interests. Convinced that the public must be "educated," these concerns often form "information committees" largely made up of newspaper men who personally know many newspaper editors.54 These "contact" men use the methods best calculated to get into the good graces of local editors. If the latter prove recalcitrant, the threat of withdrawing advertising patronage often helps them to see the light. Big business offers to make the work of the editor easy by writing his editorials for him or furnishing information for news items. T h e New York Committee on Public Utility Information sent a weekly bulletin to every newspaper in the state giving "facts" about the utilities and the "failures" of municipal ownership. 55 Such news agencies as the Associated Press also lend themselves readily to power propaganda. 56 Cartoonists do their bit by making light of municipal utility ownership. In the South, daily columns of questions and answers under the heading of "Ask Miss Lou" expound the beauties of utilities.''7 Big business interests actually buy up

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large shares of newspaper stock, thus enabling them to exert direct control over newspaper policy. T h e International Paper Company, for example, acquired in 192&29 large holdings in metropolitan newspapers.58 All of the conditions which have just been described must be recognized in our society if a realistic attempt is to be undertaken to plan in the interests of the welfare of the great mass of the people. Private vested interests working for their own gain are apt to defeat any such program, unless those who are in charge of the program, and the American people as a whole, recognize the basic realities of government, business, and pressure groups.

IX DEMOCRACY—FACT

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MYTH

In the light of the basic survey of American life made throughout the foregoing study, an analysis is here made of American governmental machinery and of certain political beliefs which are now connected with the idea of democracy. It has become the fashion, in certain groups in America, to say that democracy has failed. T h e present world-wide economic disorders, the rise of dictatorships abroad, the seeming inability of American governmental agencies to cope with our maladjusted economic situation, all are contributing factors in leading many people to feel that a fascist or communist type of government is needed. Such criticism is a fundamental challenge to the millions of people in America who still value democratic social ideals and institutions. Beyond question, there is increasing evidence that our present democratic machinery is inadequate. It does not, however, follow that the way out is through the substitution of some type of communist or fascist dictatorship. Such alternatives are alien to American traditions. Present inadequacies may rather indicate that what is most needed is a radical revision of present democratic beliefs and institutions, a revision which would both perpetuate our democratic ideals of government and show regard for the vital needs of a people living in a highly industrialized society. T h e American democratic tradition is one of the finest heritages coming down to us from the past. It is a tradition

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of the American frontier and the newer agricultural regions which developed behind it. Such great popular leaders as Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, and, later, Abraham Lincoln, fought to establish democratic government. Such leaders were not interested in giving power to a specially favored group. Their sympathies were with the common people. Working in this democratic tradition, government can be carried on in the interest of the common worker, the common farmer, and the common laborer; while equality of opportunity can be stressed as a fundamental social need. T h e inability of American government to deal more effectively with present fundamental economic maladjustments seems to be owing, in a considerable measure, to the obsolescence of much of our governmental machinery which was devised to work in a rural and handicraft society.1 It is not owing to the obsolescence of democratic ideals which many great Americans have sought to make functional in government. We Americans have not hesitated to replace the clipper ship by motor-driven transatlantic liners, and hand-made tools by machines. In industry, both machines and factories have been continuously replaced by more efficient units of production. America has achieved her present eminence of productive power through such replacements. Yet, throughout a process of tremendous industrial and social change, we Americans have insisted that our governmental machinery remain essentially unchanged. Is it any wonder that this machinery is now inadequate to meet the needs of a new age, of a society which is essentially industrial and urban rather than agricultural and rural? What, then, are some of the basic faiths which have been borrowed from the past and upon which our government has been built? And what are the types of beliefs and machinery which must replace them if our traditional

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democratic ideals are to function effectively in the modern world? These questions will be discussed in relation to justice and the courts, representation, and certain other governmental machinery. JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

There is the faith that the administration of justice should be impartial and traditional as against the belief that the administration of justice should be pragmatic, and partial to the needs of the great mass of individuals living in present-day society. T h e necessity for impartiality in the courts has long been a part of our democratic tradition. Such an ideal of justice worked reasonably well in an agricultural society, where there was a large degree of social and economic equality, where people tended to be equal, economically and socially equal, and where the socio-economic structure exhibited a minimum of change. But today the centralization of wealth and business control operates against impartial decisions in the courts, and the fact that we now have to deal with a dynamic social system renders undesirable a type of justice founded on relatively fixed values and precedents. The American people still hold as an ideal the democratic and Christian belief that rich and poor should have an equal chance before the law.2 They are, however, wholly disillusioned, because they see that in practice the American courts are partial to the rich. In any court case where a wealthy individual is pitted against a poor man, all of the advantages lie with the person who has superior wealth. A wealthy individual can buy clever lawyers, exert political influence, heavily fee court attendants, and carry through expensive appeals to higher courts. A poor man or woman cannot do this. Justice is at present clearly partial to rich individuals as against poor persons.3

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American courts are partial to large owners of property as against small owners, small manufacturing concerns, shop owners, and farmers. T h e larger business concern has the same advantage over a small business rival as a rich individual has over a poor person. Money talks in the courts. American courts are partial to employers as against workers. Before the appearance of the N.R.A. codes, the court interpretation of labor law allowed an employer to require a worker to sign a "yellow-dog" contract. In this contract the worker agreed neither to join a union nor talk with union organizers. Any statute which prohibited such a contract was declared by the courts to be unconstitutional. 4 Furthermore, the employer was then permitted to obtain an injunction restraining unions from attempting to organize workers. 5 And if union officials disobeyed such an injunction, they could, in injunction proceedings, be sentenced to jail without a jury trial by the judge who issued the injunction. Such practices inevitably favored employers who could prevent effective unionization and so keep labor costs low. T h e National Recovery Administration has recently provided for local compliance boards and labor boards which "adjust" disputes between employers and employees without immediate recourse to the courts. But, as we have already seen, these boards are partial to employers 6 just as the courts have been in the past. American courts are, moreover, partial to producers and sellers as against persons considered as consumers. T h i s is clearly true in the case of such industries as public utilities, railroads, and gas and electric companies, which are regulated by the courts " i n the public interest." 7 Here also the Recovery Administration machinery set u p to care for consumer interests before recourse is had to the courts has favored producers and sellers rather than consumer interests. 8 T h e consumer pays. Owners and pro-

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ducers continue to be favored at the expense of consumers. American courts have been partial to laissez faire individualism as against planned social controls. Many Supreme Court decisions fail to take account of the economic and social changes which require a shift from laissez faire individualism to large-scale social controls. T h e "yellow-dog" contract decisions, by which the courts protected the employer in his individualistic right to fix the terms under which he employed labor, clearly showed that the judges have had their eyes upon the past. T h e y envisaged an earlier personal relationship between employer and employee, which tended to protect the latter against undue discrimination. T h e y likewise envisaged an earlier America in which work was comparatively plentiful and laborers relatively scarce. In such a period, workers and their dependents had more than the extremely dubious choice of entering into a highly unfavorable contract or becoming charity cases, if they were fortunate enough to obtain charity. Under modern conditions of employment, workers have to band together into unions in order to equalize their bargaining power. T h e Supreme Court has even gone so far as to declare that workers in a given trade in one locality have no real interest in maintaining union conditions in the same trade in another locality. By such decisions the labor provisions of the Clayton Act of 1914, which Samuel Gompers "proudly called Labor's Magna Charta," have been virtually invalidated by the courts. 9 It is not the court decisions bearing upon labor alone which indicate what the eyes of the majority of the Supreme Court members have been upon the past. T h e 1932 court decision in the case of New State Ice Company v. Liebman illustrates the fact that the past unduly conditions court decisions. 10 In 1925, the state of Oklahoma passed a law to limit

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ruinous and unbridled competition. Under its provisions no one might thereafter manufacture, sell, or distribute ice within the state without first obtaining a license. This license was issued after a company had shown the public need for such manufacture, sale, or distribution. In the case in question the New State Ice Company had obtained the required certificate from the Oklahoma State Corporation Commission. It had invested $500,000 in an ice plant and had been making ice for years. This ice company brought suit against Liebman after the latter had bought a piece of land and started to build a competing ice plant without obtaining or applying for a license. Liebman contended that ice manufacturing is a private and not a public business. T h e majority of the court upheld Liebman's contention. Justices Brandeis and Stone dissented from this opinion. T h e former, in a lengthy dissenting opinion, discussed the current need for limiting unbridled competition which has been a major contributing cause of the current world-wide industrial depression. Justices Stone and Brandeis agreed that competition in the ice business is a social question and not merely a private matter. However, the concept of laissez faire individualism seen in the majority decision in the New State Ice case is the type which still dominates in American courts. T h e eyes of most court judges are still upon the past. Twentieth-century justice is still partial to economic concepts and social conditions which modern technology, mass production, and urban life have made antiquated. It may be that the courts will uphold many of the various controls set up in the era of the New Deal, some of which take cognizance of the needs of the new social order. In the case of Leo Nebbia v. the People of the State of New York, in which the constitutionality of the New York milk law was questioned, the majority decisions proved a significant exception to the older interpre-

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tarions. Whether such decisions will be more frequent in the future and establish a trend toward more liberal and less outworn interpretations of the law remains to be seen. Justice is always partial. It can never be impartial. It must always be partial to some group of traditions, ideals, and interests, in any society.12 Justice is a social concept. What is considered to be justice in the western capitalistic nations may not be considered justice in China, the South Sea Islands, or in Soviet Russia. In the United States the courts protect private property rights. 13 In Soviet Russia, where the accumulation of private property is considered a social menace, the courts protect social property rights. Numerous dissimilar customs and laws in regard to marriage, divorce, religious observances, and other institutions exist. It is easy to demonstrate, by many illustrations of such differences, that justice is essentially partial to what is believed to be good, true, and beautiful in any specific country or cultural group. T h e partiality which has been so evident in the administration of justice in this country has been based upon wealth and power rather than upon our democratic traditions. It is partial to the rich as against the poor, to large property owners rather than to small property owners, to employers as against workers, to producers instead of to consumers, and to an old traditional laissez faire individualism, rather than to pragmatic social controls in the interest of the individual welfare of the great mass of people. If the interests of the great mass of people are to be served, if democratic ideals are again to prevail in the United States, the allegiances of our present system of justice must be shifted. Justice must become partial to the poor, to small property owners, to workers, to consumers, and to the functioning of pragmatic social controls. 14 T h e present industrial depression makes the inadequa-

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cies of our present system of justice increasingly apparent. It is feared by many people in America today that the changes that are needed in American jurisprudence may come too late to prevent major social disasters. REPRESENTATION

There is the traditional faith in territorial representation as against a belief in some type of functional group representation. In America, representation based upon territorial units once had some functional justification. T h e device of using states as territorial units was not merely dictated by expediency. T h e men who wrote the Constitution of the United States felt it necessary to protect the individual interests of the several states. Each colonial state had developed differently because of variations in geographical, historical, and, in some cases, cultural traditions. T h e smaller colonial states, especially, feared their larger neighbors, and therefore demanded that they be allowed to protect their particular interests by having equal representation in at least one house of the national Congress. Similarly, it seemed natural that local territorial units within states should serve as a basis for election to state and municipal legislatures. Such a territorial base had been used for colonial legislatures. It could be assumed that where there were differing economic and social interests, as among local units, such differences would find adequate protection through territorial representation. Changing social and economic conditions have progressively made geographical units less meaningful. 15 Today the American people tend to think in terms of national rather than state solidarity. Modern communication and transportation have decreased the differences between states. T h e establishment of public schools, chambers of commerce, and news agencies has had a similar influence.

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Specialization of manufacture has made industry primarily interstate rather than intrastate. These new conditions have likewise made less meaningful the territorial units within states. At the present time not only are many state political campaigns fought on national issues; local elections within states are often decided on national issues. Territorial representation has now come to be a direct hindrance both to democratic government and to sound and efficient government. Political machines easily manipulate geographical electoral districts in the election of city councilmen and of state and national legislators. T h e party in control of election machinery finds it easy, by "gerrymandering," so to arrange districts geographically that the preponderance of representatives elected from these districts are of their party. Voters of the opposing party are packed solidly into a few districts so that others may become "safe" to the party in power, or such voters are well distributed in districts which are already safe. This practice is of course undemocratic. It is likewise socially inefficient, in that the government is run in the interest of dominant political machines and of those in control of such machines, and not in the interest of the great mass of people.1® Furthermore, campaigns waged in geographical districts do not develop clear-cut issues on which people may register a clearly defined choice. During campaigns candidates take positions on a number of political issues—prohibition, taxation, governmental economy, welfare projects, housing, foreign relations, and the like. T h e candidates who are elected to office from such districts cannot be sure just which issues the people feel most important and which the least important. Nor can voters know how they stand as a group on key issues. Party machines with interests of their own to promote take advantage of this confusion. They find it relatively easy to nominate and

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elect men who in campaigns attempt to straddle most issues in order to pull votes—individuals who, after election, take orders from the political bosses who are responsible for putting them into power. As a result of this process, we now actually have functional representation masquerading as territorial representation.17 Political machines control municipal, state, and national legislators, while economically powerful interests exert their influence both through the party machines and through their highly paid, efficient lobbyists. Owners of real estate, mines, manufacturing plants, and other types of businesses pay money into the coffers of the political machines and expect and get something in return. Their return comes in the form of legislative, executive, and judicial protection. Powerful and influential lobbyists remain in close touch with all legislative bodies, directing legislation behind the scenes, through argument, social pressure, and threats of withdrawal of their financial support in campaigns. We now have functional representation in America, though it is an undercover type of representation through an absolute type of election machinery. Vested economic interests are represented in government. But the interests of less powerful, yet numerically superior groups of the population, laborers, professional people, housewives, small shop keepers, the great "white-collar" group, are not represented. Such a system is undemocratic; it is socially inefficient as well. Control by the more powerful economic interests allows a small group of people to enjoy special privileges and to take a disproportionate share of the national wealth. Failure to require that a larger share of purchasing power be placed in the hands of the common people, so that they may buy the products of farms, factories, and workshops becomes a major cause of widespread industrial depressions.18

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We have, then, functional representation of an undemocratic and inefficient type in present-day American government. Territorial representation is one of the institutions which has helped to bring this about. It gives power to a relatively small group of our population who misuse this power to further their special interests. Changes are needed in our election machinery so that all groups in the population will be represented. If legislative bodies were made up of the elected agents of all well-articulated social and economic groups, several values might accrue from this frankly functional form of representation. First, it would be consistent with truly democratic traditions; second, if all functional groups were represented, the inefficient direction of our economic life by a minority of powerful interests would be checked; third, economic issues which are now frequently obscured would tend to be clarified through the representation of every social group; fourth, people would become interested in politics because their own economic and social group would have actual power. There is the faith in majority representation as against a belief in proportional representation. Majority representation may have worked reasonably well in a comparatively simple agrarian society, where governmental activities were comparatively limited in scope and where the rate of social change was comparatively slow. It is not effective in our complex, rapidly changing industrial society. As is true of territorial representation, majority representation is both undemocratic and inefficient in actual practice. Majority representation is undemocratic because minority groups are not represented. In a city, state, or national election two or more parties may now run candidates. It is possible for the party which controls the election machinery to win from 50 percent to 60 percent of the total vote cast and elect practically all their candidates.

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Where there is a strong third party, it is even possible for the dominant party to receive less than 50 percent of the votes, and yet elect their candidates. Independent voting, voting for minority parties, is thus discouraged. " W h y vote for such a party? Your vote will only be thrown away," is the reasoning of the common voter. W h e n disgruntled or dissatisfied with current politics, this type of voter either remains away from the polls—millions do this—or he rather half-heartedly votes for the candidates of the majority party, in keeping with the idea, " W h y throw away one's vote?" Civic or professional groups who have become militant over the corruption they discover in the party machines find just this kind of attitude on the part of voters when attempting to arouse them to political action. T h e y may even succeed in polling for their own candidates as much as one-third of the total vote cast for a city council or a state legislature and yet elect none of the candidates who represent them. 19 T h e total result of this situation is that dominant political machines tend to remain in power, no matter how corrupt or inefficient they may become. T h e y elect their candidates to governmental office. These candidates naturally represent the political machines and financial interests which supported them at elections. Majority representation, then, acts the same as does territorial representation. It destroys the interests of the common man in good government. It perpetuates an inefficient and undemocratic governmental system, dominated by a small group of vested interests which are so venial that they are destroying the very social system which has given them power. Proportional representation would do a great deal to remedy this situation. T h i s type of representation is not new. It has been tried and is now used in the congresses

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and parliaments of nearly all continental countries.20 The list system of proportional representation is most popularly used. Under this system each party or functional group nominates a list of candidates, one for each office to be filled. T h e lists are put upon the election ballots. Each voter votes, not for each official to be chosen, but for one list. T h e election officials tabulate the "number of votes cast in the election and divide this by the number of council or legislative positions to be filled." This determines "the quota which each successful candidate must receive." T h e number of total votes for each list is then divided by this quota to determine how many candidates each party has elected. If the proportional vote of a party entitled it to five elected officials, the names chosen would be the first five in that party's preferential list. 21 Such a system, of course, does not allow a voter to vote for a candidate outside those of his own party. If we look at the American situation, however, we find that splitting one's ticket is largely ineffective, and that majority representation does not, as a matter of fact, allow minority groups which fight political machines to have much power in governmental affairs. In the United States functional and proportional representation would destroy or mitigate many existing political evils. T h e number of parties might be limited to such groups as farmers, industrial workers, housewives, professional people, small tradesmen, and service groups. Only through some such method of representation as this can we expect to have an honest, democratic, representative system. O T H E R GOVERNMENTAL

MACHINERY

There is faith in our present amendment process, our ineffectual system of separate legislative bodies for local communities. state and nation, and our check and balance

152 system, quires

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revision

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that modern

of all such

MYTH industrialism

re-

machinery.

There has been no basic change in the structure of American government since the Fathers produced the United States Constitution in 1789." T h e inefficiency of a Constitution which makes change difficult is clearly seen in the case of the Eighteenth Amendment. Congress cannot carry through a change by majority vote as Parliament can in England. T h e easiest way of amendment in the United States requires a two-thirds vote of Congress and a three-fourths vote of all the states. This process is slow and wasteful. Rapidly changing modern conditions require more rapidly functioning governmental machinery. For fourteen years, the people of the United States notoriously violated the Eighteenth Amendment, a clear indication that the prohibition provision was unacceptable to them. Yet for years it stood as a part of the fundamental law of the land. T h e present inefficiencies of government have also been caused by the unplanned addition over a century and a half of new officials and new legislative bodies in Federal, state, and local districts. This is well illustrated in a single state—that of New York. Wallace states that "Here there are 62 counties, 932 towns, 500 incorporated villages, 9,600 school districts, and over 200 special districts: in all 11,161 governmental units each manned by officials drawing salaries and endowed with the power to levy taxes and to incur indebtedness."

23

Under these conditions it is

hardly to be wondered at that the total tax bill in 1930 for New York State alone was around $1,140,000,000. Throughout the United States there are approximately one hundred thousand legislators engaged in framing laws. W e have at the present time more than two million laws and ordinances. New ones are being framed daily." T h e picture of our inefficient and duplicating governmental

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machinery hardly fits the "American efficiency" standards for which we are so widely known. The check and balance system is as archaic as the amendment process, our bases for representation, and our unplanned multiplication of officials and legislatures. In the system of checks and balances written into the Constitution, each house of Congress was to be a check on the other. Both were to check the President and the President was to check both. The Supreme Court was to serve as a further check on legislation, and Congress and the states were to serve as a check on the Court via the amendment process. In the hundred and fifty years of trial this check and balance system has developed in strange and unforeseen ways. Congress today tends to be a debating body dominated by powerful vested interests. On the other hand, the Executive is looked to for leadership both by Congress and the people of the country. His powers have grown amazingly, through the use of presidential patronage as well as through the recognized need for executive leadership. It is exceedingly doubtful, however, whether the powers of the President and other governmental executives have grown rapidly enough to meet the needs of modern American government. The futility of Congress, and of state legislatures developed on the congressional mold, is now apparent. T h e futility of legislative attempts at reorganizing the multitude of Federal and state governmental bureaus and departments has been repeatedly shown. Executive power is needed which can be used to slash through established special-privilege bureaus and departments in order to establish efficient governmental units. Similarly, legislative logrolling and the demands of legislators that special economic interests, which they represent, be protected, make almost any bill drawn by legis-

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latures a hodgepodge of items intended to protect these special interests. This is particularly true of taxation and tariff bills. Newspaper reports of the drafting of such measures offer a prize example of the inefficiency and venality of American legislators. Such phenomena are rapidly convincing Americans of the futility of our present structure of government. In many European countries, the cabinets of national governments draft governmental bills. The power of legislative branches of the government is much restricted. If such bills are unacceptable to parliament, the people are asked to decide the matter in a general election. The quality of bills is thus increased through centralizing responsibility in the cabinets, whereas control is exercised over cabinets by parliaments, and the people, through election machinery. Some such system of drafting and passing bills is certainly needed in America. In American government, executives do not have enough power at present. It seems equally clear that the system of checks and balances, as it has developed, has given too much power to the judiciary. It may have been intended by the Fathers of the Constitution that the United States Supreme Court should have a great deal of power, but probably not dictatorial power. In the course of one hundred and fifty years the Supreme Court has come to exercise the right not only of interpreting laws, but also of declaring unconstitutional both state and Federal laws, if they seem not to be in accord with the provisions and intent of the United States Constitution as interpreted by these nine men of the Court.26 We have in America, then, nine men who have come to dominate governmental and social policy. The kind of policy allowed through court interpretation of governmental laws and practices is the kind of social policy

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which dominates the country. T h e Supreme Court not only is a judicial body; it is virtually a legislative body as well. T o apply traditional interpretations of constitutional principles to the new facts of our changing social scene inevitably extends the application of these principles. T h e men who thus interpret legislative statutes inevitably become authors of such statutes. 20 T h e y not only come to control existing legislation. T h e y prevent legislation which is necessary in meeting the needs of a rapidly changing social system. N E W DEMOCRATIC IDEAS FOR O L D

New political ideas are conflicting with those which have been long established. T h e following represents a contrast of the old political ideas which dominate present governmental practice in America and the new ideas which modern industrialism requires as a basis for an adequate governmental structure. Old Ideas 1. A bill of political rights; i.e., freedom of speech, press, assemblage, religion, etc.27

2. Slow functioning of governmental machinery 3. Territorial and majority representation 4. Judicial dominance of government 5. Impartial and traditional justice 6. Property, profit, contract, and competition conceived

New Ideas 1. A bill of economic rights; i.e., the right to work, the right to a living wage, to free medical service, to economic security in old age, to consumership information, and the like 2 7 2. Rapid functioning of governmental machinery 3. Functional and proportional representation 4. Executive dominance of government 5. Pragmatic justice which is partial 6. Property, profit, contract, and competition conceived

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from the point of view of the rights of separate individuals 28 7. A laissez faire, individualistic economy 28 8. National isolation, economic imperialism and the old internationalism 80

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from the point of view of the rights of society 28 7. A planning economy 28 8. T h e new nationalism and the new internationalism 80

X FREEDOM

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Freedom of the individual, the maximum degree of liberty for each American—this is a powerful American democratic ideal. Changing socio-economic conditions, however, make this ideal increasingly difficult of realization. New industrial conditions require that the whole concept of freedom be reexamined, and that new means be used to guarantee it to the great mass of the American people. Very early in our history the Declaration of Independence championed the doctrine of equality of man, and thus laid a natural-rights basis for freedom in America. T h e United States Constitution, in a bill of specifics known as the First T e n Amendments, or the Bill of Rights, further canonized freedom; freedom in respect to religion, speech, press, assemblage, search and seizure, court trials, and freedom in respect to other problems then believed to be crucial in a free land. Similar guarantees have been incorporated in the constitutions of the fortyeight states. Freedom is not only guaranteed in basic constitutions and other state documents; it was one of the essential social ideals of the American people from the days of early settlement. T h e conditions of the American frontier made it an essential American tradition. Free land offered opportunities for multitudes who were dissatisfied or discouraged in their old homes. T h e great prizes of American resources—timber, iron, silver, gold, copper, and oil—lay

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waiting for enterprising individuals to find and develop them. Labor was scarce as compared with natural resources, and jobs were numerous. A semblance of economic equality among individuals guaranteed a high degree of equality of opportunity to all. As one generation after another of Americans lived under these agricultural and frontier conditions, it was but natural that a concept of American individualism should become a part of this concept of freedom. It was but natural that men and women should emphasize as valuable the liberty of the individual from all types of control which he or his immediate group did not set up for themselves. Thus, laissez faire and states' rights were linked with the concept of freedom. It was but natural that the comparative equality of people living in this earlier type of society should lead them to put a high evaluation upon equality of opportunity. In economic affairs, freedom was viewed in much the same terms. It seemed right and proper, in view of the conditions of life in agricultural America, that the ideas of John Stewart Mill and the Manchester School of Economics should be accepted. If one championed individualism and laissez faire in social affairs and in matters of government, it seemed but natural that in economic relationships freedom should be based upon similar principles. T h e economic institutions of private property, private profit, contract, and competition, dominated by a laissez faire policy, i.e., the freedom of each individual to follow his own interests with the assumption that the best interests of society would result from such a procedure, were accepted as basic guarantees of freedom. T h e governmental system which developed was in fact primarily aimed at maintaining the rights of individuals to develop economic arrangements free from inhibiting control.

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Perhaps it is a truism that no social system works quite as perfectly as it is supposed to work when described in theoretical terms. This can be said of the social theory of freedom developed for agricultural America. When applied to rural America, however, the system seemed to work as long as certain basic economic and social conditions were maintained. It is, of course, unnecessary to point out that earlier economic and social conditions have long since disappeared. Free land has disappeared. Natural resources have been taken up. Labor is now abundant and jobs are scarce. T h e former degree of economic equality, which made for individual freedom and individual self-respect, is a dream of a past age—and, unless this dream can be realized anew under the new industrial conditions, the great American tradition of freedom must remain but a dream, having little reality for present and future Americans. Certain of our traditional and outworn faiths regarding freedom will now be examined. They still permeate our whole social structure and successfully militate against satisfactory living. In juxtaposition with these faiths, new beliefs are phrased which, if they were to serve as a basis for social living, might bring to modern Americans a degree of freedom undreamed of in any pre-industrial era. There is the faith that constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech, press, assemblage, religion, and the like, are sufficient as against the belief that fundamental guarantees such as the right to work, the right to a living wage, the right to receive from governmental agencies accurate information regarding consumable articles, and the right of labor to participate in the control of industry are necessary guarantees of freedom. Discussions of freedom and criticisms of the lack of it in American society have largely been limited to the

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traditional guarantees found in Federal and state constitutions. T h e conditions obtaining in modern industrial society make such discussions essentially unreal when they are not linked with other guarantees which changing conditions are now making increasingly necessary. How free is a man who has been out of work six months, a year, or two years, and how free is the family which is dependent upon him? How free is a person whose wages, when considered in relation to himself and his dependents, are below the minimum standard of health and decency? How free is a person who is ill but cannot afford medical service? How free is a wage earner above forty who, because of his age, has passed his highest mechanical efficiency and who must look forward to an unprovided-for old age? How free is a man or woman who must work in a factory with no power of determining the basic conditions of work—in respect to output, factory policy, or the hiring and firing of employees? How free is a person who through high-powered salesmanship or misrepresentation is duped into buying consumable articles which have little or no value? Millions of American citizens, even in normal times, are periodically out of work; millions have been living below the Department of Labor minimum standard of health and decency; other millions are unable to care for themselves in time of ill health; millions of American men and women live in perpetual fear after forty because of economic insecurity. All Americans are consumers, and all are confused by the mass of highly specialized consumable articles now being manufactured and offered for sale. This is a description of what exists in normal times. T h e conditions obtaining in these respects in time of economic depression such as the current one are indescribably bad. When one talks and thinks of freedom in modern

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American society one cannot fail to consider these basic conditions which make men free or make them slaves. Obviously, the old constitutional guarantees of freedom are inadequate. T h e social conditions which made them more or less adequate have disappeared. New guarantees are necessary which shall meet the needs of a highly industrialized society. There is the faith that freedom is achieved through the limitation of economic output before human needs are satisfied as against the belief that the output of an economic system should be limited only after provision has been made for satisfying all human needs. Our present economic system is based upon the arbitrary limitation of output. Workers know this as well as employers. Employers complain that workers practice sabotage, that they do not produce as much as they can. T h e y deliberately slow up production; they gossip; they make unnecessary trips to the toilet; they deliberately slow up production before leaving time. T o them, this "sojering" means the prolongation of a job. It is obvious that employers limit production also, but that they do not use the same expedients. Other and more effective means are used. Business men practice sabotage on a grand scale. Employers limit possible production by dismantling their plants or sections of their plants, by putting their help on short time, or by firing a fourth, a third, a half, or all of their employees. T h e y actually destroy needed and desired goods. What more effective limitation of possible output than this? That our economic system is based upon limitation of output is obvious to anyone who thinks at all about the matter. By way of illustration, as things are now organized, the manufacturers of shoes cannot continue to produce shoes until every man, woman, and child in America has plenty of this commodity. T h e y can only produce shoes as

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long as there is a sufficient money demand for them. In other words, they produce shoes as long as prices will allow them to do so at a profit. W e are all privileged to live in a society where the productive system has been perfected as no other civilization in the history of the world has perfected it. T h i s same society, however, has thus far f o u n d itself unable to p u t sufficient wealth into the hands of the masses so that the resulting b u y i n g power permits the productive system to produce at its m a x i m u m speed. H o w free can people be in a society which has an abundance of power plants, factories, raw materials, transportation facilities, and man power ready to go, to produce all that can possibly be used, yet where there is insufficient purchasing power to make use of them? T h e r e is plenty of food, yet millions cannot obtain enough to eat; there are plenty of clothing and materials for adequate shelter, yet millions suffer from the lack of such necessities; there are plenty of l u x u r y goods; yet comparatively few can enjoy them. It seems obvious that men and women can only achieve freedom in a social system which is so organized as to make abundant use of its economic resources. Freedom requires that h u m a n needs be satisfied. It requires that an economy of plenty be substituted for an economy of scarcity. There is the faith that freedom is achieved through a perpetuation of the individualistic conception of private property, private profit, contract, and competition, as against the belief that freedom will be achieved through increased social control of property and profit coupled with radical changes in the institutions of contract and competition. W e have been asking whether men and w o m e n can be

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free in a society where there are millions of unemployed and yet plenty of work to do, where there is an abundance of food and clothing and yet millions of people are without an adequate supply of these. If one follows this question further, it is equivalent to asking whether men and women can be free in a highly individualistic, privateprofit, industrial economy. In Chapter V, dealing with economics, attention has been called to the failure of our present economic system. We must needs ask the relationship of freedom to the economic ideas and institutions which have caused this breakdown. Can men, for example, be free in a system where social responsibility is divorced from the ownership of wealth; where managers and directors of great corporations use their inside information to make private fortunes in the stock market, or vote to themselves bonuses and stock dividends at the expense of stockholders and employees; where bankers and financial houses receive hundreds of millions of private profit in the form of unearned doles, through a pyramiding of corporations into huge holding companies, or take other, millions through receiverships of businesses which have failed because of previous unsound financial manipulation? T h e doles which now go to the unemployed, or are likely to go to them, are pitifully small when compared to these huge doles which society has allowed financial manipulators. Can men be free in a system where money fluctuates in value as rapidly as it does in our uncontrolled economic system, where debts are acquired in boom times when money is cheap, and must, because of sacred legal contracts, be paid back in bad times when money is dear? There is no justice or social value to a contractual relationship which forces business men, farmers, and laborers by the million to lose their factories, farms, and homes

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because interest and principal must be paid on notes and mortgages in dollars, the value of which has been rapidly rising, at the same time that personal income in terms of dollars has been rapidly declining. Can men be free in a society where prices are set so high by public utility companies, in order to make handsome profits, that millions of individuals cannot use the much needed services they offer? Can men be free where prices, in a supposedly competitive field such as steel, are set, not by competition, but by private unofficial agreements of producers for private-profit purposes? Certainly it would be difficult to convince employees and consumers that prices are kept high in order that the wages of employees can be raised, or in order that more consumers may be enabled to take advantage of the goods or services which are being produced. Can the millions of men and women be free who work in such chronically sick industries as farming, coal, and textiles? Here prices are rarely set. Indeed, competition in these industries has been allowed to run riot. Competition within these fields has again and again been shown to be ruinous. Objection is not here made to either price setting or to competition as such, but rather it is intended to point out that neither competition nor price fixing, as now practiced, is conducive to the freedom of millions of human beings who must live and work in modern America. It has already been shown that private property, private profit, contract, and competition are not working with even a reasonable degree of success. It is necessary, in the interest of the freedom of all of us, that these institutions be socialized. Contractual relationships and free competition will have to give way to broad social control and planning in the public interest. T o achieve the maximum degree of freedom, the use of private property must be so

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restricted, and dividends so limited by law, as to thoroughly socialize these capitalistic institutions. There is the faith that freedom can be achieved through the operation of our present governmental institutions and ideas as against the belief that a maximum degree of freedom can only be achieved through a thoroughgoing revision of our governmental institutions and practices. It is indeed difficult to see how men and women can achieve a maximum degree of freedom when dominated by nationalistic ideas and nationalistic policies. Ours is an industrial system which is world-wide, in which the prosperity and well-being of all—of Americans as well as of all other peoples—require a rapid, large-volume interchange of goods, along with world-wide peace and financial stability. In such a world, it is nothing short of suicidal to perpetuate national isolation and imperialistic policies, with their accompanying retaliatory tariff barriers, impossible governmental debts, nationalistic monetary manipulation, and huge national armaments. Retaliatory high tariffs limit markets and trade. Governmental debts and imperialistic money policies destroy confidence and world-wide credit relationships. Huge armaments create suspicion, destroy confidence, deplete national treasuries, and lead to disastrous wars. Furthermore, the freedom of individual citizens is inevitably limited in a country where the growth of governmental agencies has been as unplanned and as rapidly expanding as it has in America. T h e multiplicity of lawmaking bodies, of laws and ordinances, has inevitably created inefficiency, with resulting poor public service and huge unnecessary public expense. T h e check-and-balance system of government, together with our present system of representation, operates to perpetuate such inefficiency in governmental machinery.

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Party machines use territorial and majority representation in order that they may perpetuate and directly benefit from the multiplication of inefficient governmental machinery. By and large, legislatures are made up of politicians who have private vested interests to protect. Legislative bodies are too unwieldy to get quick and intelligent action. Executives have too little power to draft and force through socially valuable legislation. What legislatures and executives do is subject to the control of a body of nine court justices chosen for life, whose eyes are usually focused on the past, who can declare, and who do declare, national and state legislation unconstitutional. Freedom in terms of the welfare of American citizens is inevitably limited by such factors as these. Basic changes in our legal machinery as well as in governmental institutions and practices are essential if men and women in the United States are to achieve a maximum degree of freedom. There is the faith in the present dominant pecuniary standard of value as against the belief that the dominance of other motives, the love of one's work, the accomplishment of socially useful tasks, the maintenance of good health, the enjoyment of friendships, family life, and opportunity for leisure time pursuits, are all superior to the pecuniary motive in bringing enrichment to human personalities. Ours is a "business man's civilization." We Americans are proud of the fact that we are a nation of business men, that we live in a country where there are more millionaires than in any other, where fortunes are quickly made and quickly lost, where "success" means pecuniary success. We glory in our masters of industry and finance, who are the "great men" of our generation. Man is a rationalizing animal, and we in America have

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worked out various justifications for our pecuniary ideals. In the words of James Truslow Adams: Because we choose to make making money our main preoccupation, we call it service. Because we choose to put off the day when the nation shall turn to other things, we say, "America is young." Because we choose to yield to the seduction of every new toy and luxury, we claim that we are establishing a "high standard of living." 2 Those who succeed find the god of money is a hard taskmaster. Just as an athlete must give his whole time and attention to training if he is to succeed, forgoing many other activities and satisfactions to this end, so the pecuniarily successful person must concentrate his interests, energies, and efforts on achieving his goal. Freedom to do work which one fundamentally enjoys must often give way to work which brings the most profit. Doing desirable, socially useful tasks must often be replaced by activities which will make the most money. All too often, friendship is perverted, and good health sacrificed to money. Satisfactory love relationships are sacrificed. T h e enjoyment of one's children, and of leisure time, which wealth makes possible, are sacrificed in the search for it. T h e god of money is an exacting god. One is not free for long to worship at other shrines without being severely punished. Pecuniary success is entirely relative. T h e laborer who saves money, the professional man who is acquiring a modest amount of wealth, as well as the business man or financial manipulator who is building up a huge personal fortune—all wear a halo of pecuniary success, although their standard of what wealth means in terms of money may be quite different. Success at any financial level, however, requires the concentration of most of one's energies. Americans are preeminently successful in accom-

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plishing this. But in the process of following the business man's philosophy, freedom to live a well-rounded, rich life is sacrificed. The dominance of the business man's philosophy in America brings about a twofold tragedy. Those who succeed according to its canons of decency lose the opportunity to live a well-rounded and a rich life. Those who fail because of economic accident, ill health, bad judgment, or from whatever cause (and these are numbered by many millions in America today) fail after they have sacrificed many opportunities for living such a rich life. Failure means even more than this. It means the loss of one's selfrespect and the respect and admiration of one's fellows. There is the faith in the present social system, which makes men corrupt, as against a belief in the establishment of a social system which will give men a chance to be honest. Racketeering has entered industry, business, and even the professions. The building racket, the laundry racket, the milk racket—many of these new ways of getting something for nothing, are graphically described in Courtenay Terrett's book, Only Saps Work.3 These easily recognized types of racketeering should cause general social concern, but hardly awaken surprise. Our social system is based upon racketeering, in the sense that racketeering implies getting something for nothing or getting big returns for small outlay. The easy money made in all the laundry rackets, and the like, is of small financial and social importance when compared with the unearned billions made yearly through the pyramiding of financial structures, stock-watering reorganizations, lucrative receiverships, gambling on the stock exchange, contracts made by governmental agencies, governmental subsidies to a select group of vested interests. Petty graft runs all through our economic relationships.

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"Bribery greases the wheels of salesmanship," as has been so clearly revealed in John T . Flynn's Graft in Business.' Mr. Mellen, one time president of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, agreed that "You can't run a railroad without corrupting and running the government." 5 T o be pecuniarily successful a young man or a young woman must play this racketeering game. According to Lincoln Steffens, a young lawyer finds it profitable to tip court attendants; more experienced lawyers "tip" state legislators. Very few persons, indeed, can enjoy the luxury of personal integrity. Our present social system almost inevitably corrupts us. It is not that we do not desire to be honest. Most of us do so desire, but the rules of the game are such that we are not free to be honest. T h e dominant pecuniary standards of achievement, of taste, and of invidious display, impel us to conform and do not allow us to be honest. Another important factor which makes personal integrity a luxury is the financial uncertainties of our extremely tenuous economic system. Few of us care to risk joining the millions of the unemployed through objecting to what we may regard as unethical business or professional practice. T h e lack of assured individual economic freedom is a corrupting influence. Self-preservation is the first law. The social system dominates us though we may desire to escape from it. But what of freedom in a possible society? What of establishing a social system which will give men and women a chance to be honest? If this is to be our ideal, at least two things are clear. First, we must create new ideas to replace old ideas. Second, we must create new institutions to replace old institutions. T h e following is a brief summary of the two different conceptions of freedom developed in this chapter, the old pre-industrial conception and the new conception, which

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is based u p o n a realistic survey of c o n t e m p o r a r y , industrial American life. Old Guarantees of Freedom 1. Constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech, press, assemblage, religion, etc.

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s. T h e limitation of economic output before human needs are satisfied 3. T h e perpetuation of the individualistic conception of private property, private profit, contract, and competition 4. T h e continued operation of our present traditional governmental ideas and practices 5. T h e dominance of pecuniary motive and standard of value

2. Economic output limited only after provision for satisfying all human needs 3. Increased social control of property and profit, coupled with radical changes in the institutions of contract and competition 4. Thoroughgoing revision of our governmental machinery

6. Continuance of the present social system, which makes men corrupt

6. Freedom through the establishment of a social system which will give men a chance to be honest

1. Such guarantees as the right to work, the right to a living wage, free medical service, old age benefits, free consumer information, and the right to labor's participation in the control of industry are necessary, along with the old guarantees of freedom

5. T h e dominance of motives other than the pecuniary — t h e love of one's work, the accomplishment of socially useful tasks, the maintenance of good health, friendship, satisfactory family relationships and adequate leisure

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On the basis of the foregoing study of the American scene, a dynamic social theory which is in accord with the American democratic theory is here developed. T h e most fundamental problem which faces the American people today is not the problem of currency, or of unemployment, or of budget balancing, or of foreign policy, or of reconstruction projects, or even the correlation of productive possibilities with consumptive needs. It is rather the problem of choosing a social theory which shall serve, both as a guide to the solution of current difficulties, and as an aid in determining those issues which most demand solution in the American social scene. Fundamental answers must be made to fundamental questions. Are we to perpetuate a laissez faire, individualistic social theory in our economic, political, and social affairs, or are we to substitute group achievement in the interest of the general welfare? Are we to hold dogmatically to old principles of social organization, or are we to change these in the light of the needs of the times? Are we to be dominated by a few men of great wealth who control our social life to their own profit, or are we to rebuild our democratic tradition in the interest of all? Are we to maintain an opportunistic, patchwork social policy; or are we to make a fundamental attack upon current social problems? T h e answers to such questions as these will determine the social theory which we shall adopt. Basic decisions are now being made. These decisions will inevitably reflect some social point of view. They will

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reveal a social theory. American history may now be in the process of as fundamental a change as that seen in the Jacksonian era, in which the common people for the first time came to power. Any workable social theory is developed in relation to place, time, and social circumstance. In relation to the social theory here outlined, the place is America, the time is the present, and the circumstance is the failure of American socio-economic institutions. Any social theory developed by an individual or a group of individuals reveals a preference. It takes some position, for the choice and interpretation of any group of facts must be made in relation to some position. Historians and sociologists differ, in accordance with their training and background, personal limitations and desires. So thinking must differ on such a matter as social theory. This does not at all mean that any one social theory is as good as any other. It merely means that we are working here, as always, with the human desires and limitations which determine human choice. T h e thinking done in the development of the social theory here favored has been basically conditioned by two factors. First, the author has strongly felt the advisability of perpetuating the finest of American traditions; second, the author has attempted a reinterpretation of certain of these ideals in the light of modern trends, and of individual and social needs. T h e elements which go to make up two opposing social theories are weighted against each other. T h e elements of one theory are favored by the author in preference to those of the other. This choice must, however, be carefully weighed by many people in terms of social facts, as many people experience social facts; in terms of values, as many people interpret values; and in terms of individual and $ocial needs, as many people feel these needs.

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There is the belief that intelligent guidance of social change is possible. In opposition to this, there is the belief that no large-scale, long-time control of social change is possible. If anything has been achieved in the history of mankind, it has been achieved because human beings had faith that they could exert control, that they could guide the course of human events. Man's intellectual achievements in all ages can be cited to show his ability to adapt himself and to master various elements of his environment. T h e tremendous material and intellectual achievements of modern science, especially, strengthen the feeling that man can control his destiny through the use of new knowledge and new techniques. Americans can look back over the last two hundred years of American development with justifiable pride in their achievements. T h e conquest of a continent has been completed. T h e population has grown to some 125,000,000 people. T h e development of our natural resources and the growth of industry have made America one of the leading countries of the world. A war for political independence has been won. A civil Avar has failed to break the essential unity of our people. Industrial depressions have been successfully weathered by bold and intelligent leadership. A multitude of past difficulties and past problems have been successfully met. American citizens have a real basis for feeling that we, as a people, with the cooperative help of other peoples, can weather the current depression and control intelligently the future course of national and world events. T h e story of human achievement, however, does not adequately describe the course of history. If one can look back on the great achievements of mankind, one can also look back upon human failure. Civilizations have not only risen; they have fallen as well. One cannot be certain that

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we are not living in a period when Western civilization is on the decline. T h e present world-wide economic and political disorders lend color to this belief. Nor have the achievements of science, great as these have been, been wholly good. T h e use to which science was put during the World War, its aid in the annihilation of millions of human beings, and the use to which it is now being put in the production of national armaments, offer a basis to those who argue that science will ultimately destroy us—that we have not enough intelligence to control it. American history is not an unmitigated story of the triumph of human intelligence. T h e Critical Period in American history is the story of chaos and defeat as well as of victory. T h e Civil and World Wars produced similar chaotic periods, while the inspiring story of the growth of industry and of national wealth is not complete without the stories of imperialistic adventures abroad, the exploitation of labor at home, and the picture of a people who have failed to put abundant natural resources and man power to work in order that all may enjoy the high standard of living which our national resources and technical knowledge make possible. T h e intelligent guidance and planning of future social change, both at home and abroad, is far from inevitable. Whether we shall fail or whether we shall succeed, whether we shall conquer the current depression or whether we shall fail to do so, is still an open question. W e can, however, be reasonably sure of one thing: if we do not have faith in our intelligence in accomplishing this task, failure is inevitable. W e must live and work in the great tradition of human success, and not in the tradition of human failure. Working and striving in this belief, and in this tradition, can alone make intelligent guidance of social change possible.

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There is the belief that we are living in a revolutionary period of human history, a period in which basic and therefore revolutionary social changes are under way. In opposition to this, there is the belief that the social changes which are now going on are not revolutionary, and that they are not changing the basic conditions under which people live their lives. Are we or are we not living in a revolutionary period of human history? One cannot long examine this question without coming to some agreement as to what is meant by "revolution." If we mean by revolution a political overturn accompanied by force of arms and bloodshed, a sudden coup d'état, then, obviously, there is no revolution in the United States. But if we mean by revolution the existence of basic social changes which are altering the ways of life, the institutions, the mores, the daily thoughts and actions of a people, then it would appear that we are living in such a period. Anyone looking for the basic sources of social change in modern America must inevitably go to science and technology. For the first time in history, the potential productivity of highly industrialized nations makes an economy of plenty a real possibility rather than a Utopian dream. The basic economic problem in the United States has now shifted from the increase of production to the reorganizing of our economic system so that we may distribute the goods that we are able to produce. In other words, the basic economic challenge no longer is related to the conditions of an economy of scarcity, but rather to the conditions of an economy of plenty. It is hard to imagine a change in any culture which is more revolutionary than this. In the United States, we are now in the process of trying one social experiment after another—governmental aid to business here, governmental control there, manipulation

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of our national currency, giving greater power to labor unions, encouraging business men to work and plan together. We are trying various schemes for caring for the millions of the unemployed who have been actually displaced by machines, or have been thrown out of work due to the maladjustment of our old economic system. Modern technology has brought, and is still bringing, fundamental changes in communication and transportation. It has brought about the rapid urbanization of American life. It has increased the whole tempo of life. It is bringing the financial independence of women; it is changing the conditions determining marriage, childbearing, and divorce. Science and technology are directly responsible for a tremendous increase in leisure. They are responsible for new, revolutionary conceptions of art. Old faiths are being shaken. T h e belief that economic success is brought about by hard work and saving is giving way to the belief that work and saving do little to protect one against fluctuating money values, bank failures, and severe economic depressions, which make years of hard work and saving futile. T h e sanctity of marriage and the home is being seriously questioned. Religious beliefs and sanctions have lost their hold over millions of our people. In spite of the catastrophic social changes now apparent in society, there are those who insist that there are no revolutionary changes now under way. People of this opinion point to the fact that we still have private property, private profit, competition, and contract. We are still living in a scarcity economy rather than an economy of plenty. The family is still a basic social institution. We have had no basic revision of the United States Constitution since its inception. These people, moreover, point to the fact that every society has always had a high degree of economic insecurity. They take refuge in the Bible—"for the poor ye have always with you."

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It seems increasingly clear that the individuals and groups who take this position do not realize the fundamental changes which are taking place in relation to the very institutions, beliefs, and conditions which they cite as proof of a relatively changeless social order. Denying the existence of fundamental social change, they close their eyes to the realities of life. This position is defeatist in tone, and represents a refusal to attempt to think through the many problems which now beset us as a people. In actual, day-to-day, human relationships, this static point of view leads to lack of understanding of human suffering, and often to downright cruelty. There is the belief that general social principles in a modern industrial civilization should be built in relation to a society economically geared to machine technology. In opposition to this, there is the belief that general social principles which were built in relation to an agricultural, handicraft culture can be successfully used in our industrial society. T h e divergence between new and old social principles may best be shown by illustration. There is, for example, the principle of "freedom." How must it be conceived today, and how was it conceived in our agricultural past? Freedom in the past has been predominantly conceived of as the absence of restraint. In communities which were largely self-sufficient, on the frontier where men had often and necessarily to make quick decisions, in the rapid development of the resources of a continent, freedom of this type was essential. It fostered individual effort. It stimulated the imagination of men and women to conceive great accomplishments and to achieve them. It offered a new creative life to the millions of men and women who migrated to American shores. In this earlier society, such a concept of freedom was necessary. Frontier and agricultural conditions, coupled with the rapid expan-

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sion of the nation which made controls impossible, in themselves largely guaranteed actual freedom of choice. Such conditions made inhibiting social restraints largely unnecessary, and, in fact, burdensome. But what of freedom in the present? T h e r e can be no doubt but that modern towns and cities are now closely interdependent. T h e industry of one section cannot long function without the raw materials, the machinery, and the food produced in other sections. Transportation facilities must be kept open, in order that life itself may be preserved. T h e financial structure must be sound, in order that these necessary exchanges of food and products can take place. Large scale controls are necessary, in order that necessary social functions can be maintained. One cannot longer do what he would like with his own. One cannot hoard gold because to do so will endanger the welfare of all. One cannot speculate with other people's money, or even with his own wealth, because of the resulting financial insecurity of all. One cannot manufacture goods which are inimical to the public welfare. One cannot do as one likes in matters of health because of the possible spread of disease. Manufacturers cannot turn off millions of employees without misfortune to all. A few nations cannot for long carry on selfish, imperialistic wars without bringing disaster to all nations. But what of freedom in such a society? Clearly, we can no longer define it in terms which emphasize "absence of social restraint," for we clearly see that where there is an absence of restraint the people perish. How, then, must freedom be conceived? Freedom must now be conceived in terms of mandatory individual and social restraints. Increasing restraints must be put upon those people in our society who control great wealth and so exert great power. Furthermore, increasing restraints must be put upon all people, in order that they

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may be free from accident, disease, unemployment, and fear. This must be done that all individuals may be free from the limitations, worries, and terrors of an uncontrolled society. We are discovering that any wise society, just like any wise individual, limits personal freedom in numberless minor ways, in order that in the major aspects of life there may be freedom. We are now coming to see that in a highly specialized, interdependent, urban society freedom comes as the result of powerful long-time controls and is impossible without such controls. T h e necessity for building social principles in the light of the needs of the society in which they are to operate is clearly indicated in the case of "freedom." T h e validity of this position can be equally demonstrated in any fundamental discussion of other social principles, such as those having to do with liberty, democracy, beauty, and truth. T h e author has attempted to make this type of analysis in various chapters of this book.2 There is the belief that social evils should be dealt with in the light of general principles that have regard for the needs of the changing social situation. As opposed to this, there is the belief that social evils should be primarily dealt with in the light of relatively fixed, dogmatically held social principles. T h e necessity for general principles that have regard for the needs of the changing social situation becomes increasingly apparent as one surveys modern American life. We have recently seen abundant evidence of attempts at correcting major social evils through recourse to dogmatically held social beliefs. It has been believed, for example, that the problem of unemployment must be met through recourse to charity and the funds of local government. We have seen this method of dealing with unemployment continued long after it was apparent to any one conversant with the situa-

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tion that the funds of charity organizations and local governmental units were woefully inadequate to care for the millions of Americans unemployed. W e have seen contracts treated as solemn obligations which must be lived u p to in spite of extenuating circumstances. Because of this attitude a moratorium on governmental indebtedness was not declared until it was too late to bring fundamental financial aid to harassed governments, while many Americans still demand that financially weak European governments pay in full. Similarly, in our domestic economy, we have seen tens of thousands of bank failures, business failures, and farm and home foreclosures, which have ruined untold numbers of people. It took the direct action of Western farmers, and the realization of an impossible financial situation, to shake us from a dogmatic belief in the inviolability of contractual agreements. Many still believe in the efficacy of uncontrolled competition, which has for years thrown out of adjustment our coal, farming, and textile industries, which is demonstratively unsound in the case of railroads and other public utilities, and which has brought fundamental maladjustment to our inadequately controlled financial system. W e are just now giving up the long cherished belief that the failure of our economic institutions can be solved through the perpetuation of national confidence campaigns or a national program of inaction. Furthermore, the dogmatic application of social principles in fields other than the economic remains unquestioned by the majority of Americans. Many are still convinced that a policy of national isolation or of national economic imperialism is best for America, in spite of the fact that such policies make impossible the necessary interchange of world resources, and lead directly to war. Others still believe in the old type of internationalism, which is based upon expressions of good will rather than upon a

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clear-cut recognition of the power of nationalism, and a type of economic agreement between nations which leads to a maximum of international trade and lays the basis for a lasting peace. Many people in the United States still believe that no navy should be superior to the American navy. As a result of this belief, we entered into an armament race which increased current American armament expenses 197 percent over the period between 1913 and 1930. T h i s increase was rivaled only by Japan, whose armament expenditures increased 142 percent over a similar period. Since 1930 additional appropriations have further speeded the armament race. It seems that we have learned few of the lessons taught by the World W a r and the world-wide economic depression. In our American system of justice, we still believe that the best way to deal with criminals is to punish them. W e believe this in spite of all kinds of new evidence that such a social attitude and practice is scientifically and humanely unsound—is, in fact, barbarous. W e allow our courts continually to administer justice in unjust ways, because we believe that the sanctity of the law must not be questioned. These are only a few illustrations from the fields of our domestic economy, of world politics, and of the American system of justice, in which social beliefs and principles have been and are now being dogmatically held, in the face of overwhelming evidence that the actual social needs require modification in the light of the changing social situation. There is the belief that the economic welfare of the common people is of primary social concern. As opposed to this, there is the belief that protecting the welfare of the great private business interests is of primary social concern. T h e protection of private property and private profit is an ancient and honorable doctrine. Wherever private in-

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terests have gained dominant control of any society, they have sought to protect their vested rights. In modern capitalistic countries, this doctrine has attained preeminence—and nowhere are such rights protected as in the United States. In America, a somewhat shopworn but still dominant capitalistic theory makes the assumption that the general welfare is best served when each person strives for his own economic gain. It is assumed that competition prevents the social ills which might otherwise flow from a privateprofit economy. T h e theory holds that laborers must enjoy good working conditions and a fair wage, because employers must compete for their services. It holds that the consumer is supplied with good cheap products, for sellers must compete with each other for customers. It holds that in this competitive process only the efficient in industry can survive. It is believed that such a system works as long as private property, private profit, the sanctity of contract, and competition are protected. Protect private property rights, and you guarantee full dinner pails and a chicken in every pot. This seems a strange doctrine to people who have lived through the years since 1929. Yet it is easily recognizable as the doctrine which has largely dominated governmental theory and practice. We were told, and for a time we believed we could conquer the depression by protecting those who own and control great wealth. Manufacturing would revive if increased protection were given to manufacturers through higher tariff rates. Business would revive if we only spent a few billion dollars in questionable loans to weak banks and large business interests. We were told that our banking institutions should not be subject to largescale control in the common interest. We were even told that we must protect the rich from high inheritance taxes and heavily graduated income taxes in order that business

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might revive—and this in spite of ever mounting Federal, state, and local governmental budgets. Many even believe that the business practice of building up corporation surpluses in order that future dividends may be maintained, rather than that employees may be economically secure, is a fundamentally sound doctrine. Opposed to this theory of a social system in which wealth receives protection, and in which prosperity (when there is any) trickles down to the masses, there is the doctrine that our primary social concern should be the protection of the impecunious common people. This, too, is an ancient and honorable doctrine. It finds its justification in all great religious and ethical teachings. In the United States, it has deep roots in the American democratic tradition. According to the democratic doctrine, any large-scale social maladjustment must be attacked from the point of view of protecting the common people and not the rights of vested economic interests. If such basic industries as coal, textiles, and farming are maladjusted, they must be reorganized, no matter how many vested economic rights are limited or wiped out. If our banking institutions are unsound, then they must be made sound, even if in the process the privileges of private bankers are thereby limited. If, in a national economic emergency, tax rates must be raised in order to pay for large-scale welfare programs— ultimately to maintain a sound government—the money must come from those who will feel the deprivation least. If national unemployment is a major social problem, it must be directly dealt with through public-works projects or even direct doles to the unemployed. Those who own great wealth have long received unearned doles through the inheritance of great fortunes, through socially unsound financial manipulation, and through unsocial stock gambling. If private business does not itself protect wage

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earners against preventable accidents and illness and periods of unemployment, public agencies must do so. A n d if industry can be run so that all citizens may enjoy at least a minimum standard of health and decency, it must be so run, no matter what happens to vested economic rights. These are merely illustrations of the doctrine that our society should be run in order that the direct interest of all its members may be served. T h e old practice of protecting the rich and powerful, with the resulting exploitation of the poor and helpless, has been tried and found wanting. Through ignorance and venality, those who controlled our old economic system have all but wrecked it. T h e i r fundamental beliefs have been proven erroneous. A new deal for the common people is the primary social need. There is the belief in a republican form of government which is dominated by democratic ideals. In opposition to this, there is the belief in a political autocracy dominated by paternalistic social ideals. Republican forms of government are being fundamentally challenged in modern society. A powerful communistic state is in the making in Eastern Europe. Soviet Russia offers a fundamental challenge to all other types of government. W e are witnessing the rise of one fascist dictatorship after another, dictatorships which replace former republican or quasi-republican institutions. T h e world collapse of old economic arrangements is proving a fertile breeding ground for the rise of dictatorships abroad. These gain the support of the common people because old governmental institutions, which reflect the conflicting wills of various social groups, show themselves inadequate in meeting major social crises. Realizing the futility of existing governmental agencies, the common people have preferred to give up many of their rights as

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citizens of the old order, to reap the possible benefits flowing from a powerful unified control, by some group which promises security and seizes power. They prefer to trust the paternalistic control of such a vested group to a continuance of popular representation, freedom of speech, the press, religion, and the like. We are now feeling, in the United States, the repercussions of these major governmental changes abroad. Chaotic economic conditions in America lead citizens to question the efficacy of our own governmental institutions, just as people abroad have questioned the efficacy of theirs. T o repeat, we are living through a period in our national history when fundamental choices have to be made. It is therefore the time for reaffirmation of our faith in republican institutions and in democratic ideals, or the espousal of some other system of government. In a very real sense, our recent political practices in America have much in common with dictatorships abroad. In America we have control, not by a Mussolini and his Black Shirts, or by a Stalin and his communistic followers, but control by powerful private economic interests which guide our major political parties, dominate popular opinion through ownership of the press, and dictate social policy through political lobbies. T h e American people, until recent years, have believed in the dictatorship of this group.' They have believed in the wisdom of such control. They have had faith that the paternalistic dictatorship of big business guaranteed them prosperity and freedom. T h e failure of such control and of such faith is now obvious to all. T h e time has come for a reaffirmation of our essential democratic ideals.* The time has come for a revision of republican governmental functions and a revision of American governmental machinery which will make possible a new deal in American society.5

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There is the belief that appreciation and creation of beauty are of fundamental importance to the happiness of all individuals living in society. As opposed to this, there is the belief that the appreciation and creation of beauty is a luxury of the few, a leisure-class pursuit which has little place in the daily life of most individuals. W e Americans have been so concerned with the conquest of a continent, with scientific invention, and with the mass production of material goods that we have given little thought or energy to art. Consequently, it is not strange that art seems a thing apart from modern life, and that many artists, as well as patrons of art, have turned to past culture for their art standards. T u r n i n g to past culture, such people have found and cherished art that has been patterned in the handicraft stage of social development. T h e y have discovered that it is limited to such traditional fields as music, painting, sculpture, literature, and architecture. T h e y have become convinced that art is not art unless it is confined to classical techniques, materials, and themes. T h i s pre-industrial classical tradition they have transported to the New World, where they have confined the production of art to small groups and the exhibition of art to galleries and museums. T h e appreciators of art have therefore been limited to a relatively small number of leisure-class persons who could afford such an esoteric interest. But this is not the whole picture of art in America. T h e r e is another tradition which is indigenous to the American scene. It is the earlier tradition of Emerson and Whitman, of Mark Twain, and, as we move into our industrial age, of Louis Sullivan. A n ever increasing group of present-day artists is demanding that American art be conceived in relation to the American scene. It is demanding that art embrace the machine and machine-made products; that it include new

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fields such as the cinema; that it use scientific techniques and make significant the themes dominant in a scientific, industrial civilization. It reasons that art should be made meaningful and a part of the life of American citizens, and that this can only be done through making it indigenous to our industrial culture. An increasing number of American artists are now working in this modern tradition. They believe that the architecture of dwelling houses should be as indigenous to modern life as are our steel bridges and office buildings. One artistic group works in the modern tradition in music. Another shows the same emphasis in the opera. Painters make modern life significant on canvas or in murals, depicting modern machines, modern buildings, and modern machine workers. Themes are more frequently used in our dramatic productions which arise from the social problems of our industrial society. American writers are coming to live and work in the same tradition. In industry, thousands of designers are leading the way to the beautifying of factories, machines, and machine-made products. This is a truly modern American artistic tradition. In this tradition, art is so conceived that the masses may both appreciate and create it. It is so conceived that we can, as a people, in the actual industrial machine process, produce material goods of real artistic significance and beauty. Anything less than this is to make art a plaything rather than a significant way of living in modern society. It is to divorce art from a culture which sorely needs its humanizing influence. There is the belief in social democracy, in the sense of the absence of stratified social classes and the presence of sympathetic understanding and cordiality toward people living in different traditions, whether they be racial, social, pecuniary or religious. Opposed to this, there is the belief in social autocracy, with all the class distinctions and inhi-

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bitions between individuals and social groups which goes with such a social philosophy. One of the outstanding contributions of American life to Western culture has been the democratic American social tradition. Its basis was laid on the American frontier. In the hard struggle for existence, men and women were taken at their true worth. It was not what one had but what one was that counted. Personal worth and personal abilities in meeting the challenging conditions of life were what counted most. T h e social equality found in our agricultural society deeply affected the American temper. T h e impact of this tradition upon European aristocratic standards was tremendous. As younger generations of aristocratic families on the Eastern seaboard moved westward, they tended to lose contact with their class and to accept democratic standards of value. The millions of new immigrants coming to America's shores were similarly affected, and soon absorbed the American tradition of social equality. Our whole national life was affected by this tradition. It is obvious that many of the conditions which produced this early social democracy have now disappeared. T h e American frontier was gone by the 1890's and along with it the opportunity for acquiring free land. T h e natural resources of the continent were largely taken up by the early decades of the twentieth century. It was then that the American population steadily gravitated to cities. We became a nation primarily urban, not primarily agricultural. With these changes the economic stratification of society began. The development of large-scale industry increasingly brought the development of a hierarchy of economic and political power. The conditions which produced social equality have, as a result, largely disappeared. Modern industrialism, as it has been allowed to develop in the United States, has increasingly emphasized class and

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racial distinctions. In this process what people have and not what they are is coming to be of most worth. It is worse than futile to seek to turn back the hand of time and wish that we might return to a former stage of our social development. T o do so is to disregard the real achievements and the possible future achievements of a new age. This is the road to confusion and sentimentality. It is, however, the part of wisdom to look to the past in order to discover whether we have lost some essential social values. Wise men and seers of all ages have done so. Looking to the American past we find a fine tradition of social living. Our past offers to us the ideal of a society in which there is a high degree of equality of opportunity, a society where human beings are valued for their own real worth. But what of social democracy in our industrial society, where social conditions produce invidious distinctions of all kinds? If we still value democratic social traditions, we must realize that such a tradition is not automatically maintained. It is not a gift. It is an achievement. In order that it may be achieved, there must be an active limitation of all those forces which prevent and inhibit the possibilities of its realization. T h e alternative possibility is a comparatively stratified society, in which there is little equality of opportunity, in which class distinctions of all kinds grow and become stratified, in which the plane of human intercourse and human understanding is materially lowered. This is the picture of an industrialized world in which social prejudices and misunderstandings of alien groups and alien peoples threaten permanently to lower the plane of human living and, through destructive wars, threaten the downfall of present-day civilization. There is the belief that human beings should have some fundamental faiths which are emotionalized into dynamic drives to action. As opposed to this there is the belief, con-

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sciously or unconsciously held, that human beings have no need for fundamental faiths which drive them to action. Many Americans are cynical and uninspired. They are skeptical as to whether there is any essential dignity to human life and human relationships. They question whether control of our personal lives or our national life is possible. They show a cruel disregard for the less sensational forms of human suffering. They have very little sense of social responsibility. They are reluctant to come to honest grips with the major problems of our time. Many Americans who, through a superior physical inheritance and rich opportunities for self-development, are best equipped to think fundamentally and to offer inspired leadership are those who seem to be most convinced of the futility of human action. They are willing to analyze the many difficulties which now beset us as a people. They arrive at tentative conclusions. But they remain peculiarly untouched by an emotionalized drive to action. They have lost their old beliefs, and have not yet given their allegiance to new ones. In this respect, many of the more intelligent men and women of America are living on a far lower plane than many of the less favored mass of our population who still give their emotional allegiance to beliefs and institutions and men. These emotionalized faiths may often be misplaced, but human life is significant to such people. They find inspiration and meaning in human existence. Taken as a whole, the present temper of the American people offers a strange contrast to the American temper of the past. Historically, the American people have been noted for their supreme confidence. Historically, American life has been shot through with dynamic activities. It has been marked by great achievements and by a seemingly unquenchable faith in the possibility of future achievements. A nation could not conquer a continent, build a

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powerful industrial system, and increase in population from a few million human beings to one hundred and twenty-five million without dynamic drives and dynamic beliefs. T h e future of America remains uncertain. It remains uncertain partly because our beliefs are not sufficiently emotionalized. We have lost our old dynamic allegiances which seemed to serve us well in the past, and we have not reconstructed these old faiths, and built new ones, that are consistent with our modern industrial society. We must develop such new allegiances. W e must regain our old vision, made clearer in the light of modern needs, and our new allegiances must be shot through with a dynamic drive to action. T h e theory which the author has developed emphasizes the need for the dominance in American society of certain social beliefs which combine democratic idealism with practical experimentation and large-scale planning. T h e following points summarize this theory: 1. Intelligent guidance of social change is possible. 2. Ours is a revolutionary period in human history. 3. General social principles in a modern industrial civilization should be built in relation to a society dominated by machinery and technology. 4. Social evils should be dealt with in the light of general principles that have regard for the needs of the changing social situation. 5. The economic welfare of the common people is of primary social concern. 6. A republican form of government dominated by democratic ideals is best for modern America. 7. Beauty is of fundamental importance in the lives of every individual and should grow out of and permeate American life, through the creation of an indigenous art. 8. We must establish a truly social democracy which is marked

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by the presence of sympathetic understanding and cordiality toward people living in different traditions. 9. Fundamental faiths emotionalized into dynamic drives to action are necessary, else all our beliefs and allegiances will be futile.

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What shall be the social outlook and practice of American education in the future? What shall be the type of professional education offered teachers, administrators, and other educational workers? T h e individual and social needs of the American people seems to require a particular type of education. T h e dynamic social theory which has just been developed, along with the basic study of science, art, economics, and government already presented, lay certain major emphases and point out desirable directions of movement which have major implications for American education. Fundamental choices are now being made in American society and in American education. Educational needs, methods, philosophies, and criteria have been challenged repeatedly, and many have changed or are changing. Uncertainty pervades the educational field.1 Yet the American teaching profession must teach. It must teach something. It must use some recognized methods. It must accept some point of view. Educational agencies cannot cease their activities until some hypothetical future time when it is believed that all major social changes will be consummated and the major questions of educational and social policy amicably settled. There was a time in American history when the function of the school was clearly delineated and generally accepted. T h e work of the schools was confined to teaching the "three R's." All other education was carried on by the

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Church and the home, or absorbed through the general environment in which people lived. Today, the advance of industrialism and the rapid socio-economic changes which have accompanied it, are enlarging the function of formal education to include many of the educational tasks earlier carried on by other social agencies. Formal educational institutions must now assume many of the functions which these agencies are no longer able to perform. In a dynamic society in which the social heritage is not clear-cut, where confusing and contradictory ideas, points of view, and social groups are struggling for dominance, it is absolutely essential that teacher-training institutions, as well as other educational institutions, raise fundamental questions. It is necessary that all educational institutions seek to evaluate the old and new ways of living found in American life. T h i s is the procedure that intelligent laymen are now using in analyzing social life. It is the procedure demanded of the newer type of education. For we must prepare young people to think and act constructively regarding the major problems involved in the reconstruction of American life. In order to do this successfully all educational agencies need fundamental revision. Most colleges and universities which prepare people for professional educational work are still primarily concerned with the perpetuation of traditional content. They are so dominated by an outworn classical ideal of culture, and by a doubt as to the advisability of coming to grips with modern issues and modern problems, that they have prepared very few young people to do creative thinking in the field of education. Teacher-training institutions have recently been too concerned with the teaching of narrowly conceived techniques of statistics and method, with mechanically efficient administrative procedures, and with the inculcation of traditional subject matter. More than this, teacher-training

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institutions have, as a group, developed no unified social philosophy to guide them to a new conception of education. Fundamental changes are required in all higher institutions which train teachers for educational work, if the newer type of education is to function successfully. Very few educators are at present intellectually prepared to carry on the needed type of work. Most of them are rather indifferent laymen when it comes to understanding the social problems which so vitally affect and are a part of education. Educators have made few scholarly studies of society. W e need to become socially intelligent in regard to such matters, to develop new techniques for the study of social questions, and to formulate clearly the social philosophy which will guide all of our educational work. THE

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What shall be the social philosophy which dominates our teacher-training institutions and educational work throughout the nation? What social traditions shall be perpetuated? What traditions shall be denied fruition? These are the questions now uppermost in American life and in American education. T h e search for answers to such queries will lead educators to the heart of both the social and the educational process. T h e author has attempted in this present study of the current American scene to delineate the type of social beliefs, or the social theory, which the conditions of the times and our finest American traditions seem to require. T h e chapter entitled " A Dynamic Social T h e o r y " sets forth the results of the author's analysis. T h i s social theory indicates directions of movement, types of reconstruction, and driving social ideals which might guide social and educational change. T h e major points of this social theory are here restated as they seem to bear upon education.

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T h e conditions of the times require that educators, as well as all other major social groups, work to control and guide social change. Guidance is imperative in the uncertainties and maladjustments of the times. T h e successful carrying out of the peculiar functions which society has delegated to the profession demands that education assume a large share of the responsibility. T h e failure of all social institutions, formal education included, to cooperate in guiding society, may very well mean the further disorganization of American life. Socially intelligent educators realize that many of the social changes now under way in society are basic and revolutionary in character, and, inasmuch as basic social changes always require basic educational changes, forwardlooking educators must inevitably prepare for, and be leaders in, the far-reaching educational reconstruction which present-day social changes are now making inevitable. In an industrial society based upon science and technology, it is, moreover, the part of wisdom for educators to champion and strive to develop social beliefs and principles which are indigenous to our modern scientific and technological civilization. W e can no longer cling to old beliefs and principles which are causing present-day individual and social maladjustment. Illustrations of such borrowings have already been cited. T h e laissez faire type of freedom in both school and society, for example, is no longer workable. Freedom in a closely integrated industrial society requires many mandatory individual and social restraints. It is also a part of the role of the educators to favor a direct attack upon all social evils, in the local community, the nation, and the world community. But such problems cannot be attacked dogmatically. T h e y must be dealt with in the light of the needs of the changing social situation.

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T h e educational profession has a peculiar obligation to all the members of society. It must therefore aim at achieving the economic welfare of the great mass of people, rather than the protection of a favored group. T h e profession will fall far short of meeting its high responsibilities and obligations if it attempts to protect any economically favored group in American society. It is, of course, necessary for educators in the United States to live and work in the finest American tradition. In the field of government this tradition requires the achievement and maintenance of an efficient republican form of government, dominated by democratic ideals. But, as has been shown in the foregoing study, American government can neither be made efficient, or democratic, until much of our antiquated governmental machinery has been fundamentally reconstructed. This reconstruction will be made possible only when many groups in society, educators included, work together toward this common end. If educators are to aim at achieving the well-rounded development of all individuals, they must also necessarily concern themselves with the whole problem of esthetics. Recognizing that the appreciation and, wherever possible, the creation of beauty is of fundamental importance to all human beings, they must necessarily realize that to achieve this end for the great mass of people in an industrial age, art must embrace modern themes, modern techniques, and modern materials. It is necessary to accept the machine and machine-made products. It is necessary to change many of the exterior aspects of our society, and many of our personal motives, in order that art and artistry may become a way of life for millions of our people. In America, the educational ideal has consistently been the achievement of social democracy conceived as the absence of stratified social classes and the presence of sympathetic understanding and cordiality toward people living

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in other traditions. Historically, this is one of the finest and most cherished of American traditions. It is necessary for us to realize that this ideal under modern industrial conditions is not a natural gift but a positive achievement. Finally, the socio-economic conditions of modern American society require that teacher-training institutions, and educational workers throughout the country, give more than passive acquiescence to their social ideals. These ideals must be motivated by dynamic drives to action. It is necessary for educators, in both their private and professional activities, to develop and strengthen basic dynamic ideals. I M M E D I A T E L Y PRACTICAL EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS

Valuable social traditions and beliefs have been outlined. It is now necessary to discuss the relation of these major educational points of view to practical educational procedures. Throughout this consideration, it will be well to bear in mind that present inadequacies largely flow from the inadequacies and lack of vision of those higher institutions which are engaged in preparing teachers and administrators for practical work in educational systems throughout the country. American Schools—One might define the basic difficulties in American schools as being threefold. First, the majority of young people at all educational levels are not given enough freedom to allow them to enjoy a vital educational experience. 3 Second, they are not confronted by the conflicting alternatives operative in the changing social situation.4 T h e individual and group choices they must inevitably make are not made clear to them. And, third, they are not guided by dominant, yet workable, clear-cut, social beliefs and ideals.5 Most American elementary schools are of a formal type. They require from the beginning that children absorb

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formal subject matter which is set out to be learned. This subject matter is usually carefully organized in advance by adults, even to the minor details. Thus, the learners cannot experience the challenges and uncertainties, the adventure of throwing ideas into fresh combinations. Adults may have had an educational experience in the production of such materials, but children going to formal schools are denied a like experience. Furthermore, this subject content is not presented in the form of the many social challenges which are meaningful both to children and adults in their daily living. T h e materials which are set out to be learned, when not of the skill type, are mainly descriptive. Modern scientific achievements are retold. Huge productive resources are described. Past, present, and future national and world achievements are surveyed. But little of this material is of vital interest to either children or adults, for it lacks the reality of actual experience. T h e breath of life has been taken from it. T h e material is not headed up in terms of current individual and social needs. Many of the elementary schools of the newer, or "progressive," type have escaped the difficulty just considered; i.e., they do not meticulously organize teaching materials in advance and they do encourage a large degree of pupil discovery, pupil initiative, and pupil organization. In emphasizing independent individual and group work, they are using a method of instruction which tends to provide the freedom requisite to a full and vital educative experience. In the newer elementary school, the materials, too, are less traditional than in the more formal schools. T h e former emphasize many external features of contemporary life and show a broad historical background. Even in the more progressive school, however, the major social challenges of contemporary society, when they are raised at

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all, are rarely given adequate consideration. T h e milk supply is often studied with little if any reference to the fact that periodically thousands of farmers receive less than the cost of production for their milk, that milk rackets arbitrarily raise the cost of milk in many communities, and that millions of men, women, and children, because of their poverty, do not have enough milk and other wholesome food for the maintenance of good health. In like manner, the newer type of elementary schools have developed descriptive "units" on the history of transportation, which make little or no reference to the bankrupt condition of present-day public carriers. Children sometimes study the history of architecture. But in their study they are usually led to emphasize past architecture, unrelated to American housing or to modern community planning. They do not glimpse the social and economic aspects of such relationships. One can search through all the current literature published by the newer-type progressive schools, and find few units or courses of study which deal primarily with the really vital problems which have a present-day challenge. T h e new-type progressive school, as well as the more formal school, does not as yet prepare children to deal with the dynamic problems of modern life.® Intellectual immaturity generally characterizes both teachers and pupils of elementary schools. This is no less true in American high schools. In the words of Professor A. N. Whitehead: . . . we offer children—Algebra, from which nothing follows; Geometry, from which nothing follows; Science, from which nothing follows; History, from which nothing follows; a couple of Languages, never mastered; and lastly, most dreary of all, Literature, represented by plays of Shakespeare with philological notes and short analyses of plot and character to be in substance committed to memory.7

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T h e author has had some opportunity to learn what is going on in the newer-type high schools in this country. There are very few secondary schools in which students are allowed the degree of freedom for independent individual and group work found in the new-type elementary school. Furthermore, even fewer secondary schools attempt realistically to meet the vital needs of modern life. In only a very few secondary schools is there a curriculum organized primarily around the vital, meaningful problems of life as people in their daily living know them. Adult Education 8—In the past, education has attempted to meet the educational needs of adults. Night schools have been established to carry out Americanization programs made necessary by the great influx of immigrants. Modern industrialism required new and specialized vocational training for adults, and vocational schools were opened. Workers' schools have also been established, in a few communities, to supply the felt needs of adults for further education. Parent-Teachers Associations for child study have long been in existence, to aid parents and teachers in solving their individual problems. In college and university communities, extension courses have been patronized. Some large city school systems offer similar facilities. Such adult education as this has long been a part of educational programs in the United States. But the new Industrial Revolution now under way in America is creating a host of new adult educational needs. More is required than the introduction of major changes in the older type of adult education. An entirely new type of education is required. Because of the coming of machines, the hours of work of millions of workers are being progressively lowered. More leisure is available for study and recreation than ever before. Adults everywhere are thus increasingly free to follow their educational and cultural interests. At the same time, major changes in eco-

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nomics, in government, and in social institutions of all kinds, have tremendously increased economic, political, and social illiteracy. T h e adult discussion, study, and recreational groups which are now springing up all over the country, show that people feel the need for comprehensive adult education programs. Such groups make up a new mass movement which is broadening the whole scope and conception of education. This mass movement presents a challenge and an opportunity to all teacher-training institutions, and indeed to the whole educational profession. In many communities, the adult-education movement has been initiated and sponsored by the teachers and administrators in charge of the schools. T h e furtherance of such educational programs should be a major concern of educators in every American community. Educational plants, administrative and teaching staffs, can be used in a furtherance of adult educational and recreational programs. T h e schools can organize, with and for the adults of their communities, courses of lectures, open forums, and study groups. They can stimulate discussions on all vital subjects of local, national, and international importance. They can open all their facilities to the responsible adults of their communities—their art departments, their libraries, their laboratories, their physical recreational facilities. Boards of education can serve as the leaders in this enlarged educational task. The Wider Orientation of Education "—The new kind of education is not merely an intellectual type of study and learning. It requires this type of effort, but it also includes action, or doing something about the things that are learned. All educational institutions, the activities of all learners, children or adults, can be oriented toward the improvement and reconstruction of the community, national and international life. In order to do this, the

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major challenges in the various ñelds of human activity must be raised. Basic understandings must be built up through careful study. The directions of movement must be determined. All learners can become active in reconstructing community, national, and international affairs. As has been indicated in earlier chapters, the reconstruction of society on a national or international scale requires the making of thoroughgoing surveys of all individual and social needs. The educational activities within every local community can be given unity and purpose by similar surveys of the local scene. In so far as the local situation is affected by national or international events, the interests and understanding of learners can be broadened to include national and international conditions and problems. After the survey is made, all the people in the community who are engaged in the educational processteachers, administrators, children, and adults—can attempt to rectify, by means of coordinated action, the social shortages which the surveys show to exist. The intellectual basis for understanding life as it relates to the major fields of human experience must, of course, be laid. The major fields covered in this study have been science, art, economics, and government. T h e implications for teacher-training institutions, and, indeed, for the curricula of all educational institutions, of these foregoing chapters will here be briefly indicated. Certain major emphases have been made throughout the study which have a direct bearing op all types of education. Science and technology are the revolutionary forces in the world today. They are responsible for the major changes in society which are now taking place. Yet science contains within itself certain definite limitations. It cannot itself determine human values. The study has shown that the type and direction of scientific work should be controlled in the interests of all.

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Science in the new education will aim at the creation of a splendid civilization. Certain basic understandings will be built up. T h e scientific method will be taught and used in experimental work. T h e contributions already made through the work of biologists, chemists, and physicists can be surveyed as they contribute or fail to contribute to human betterment. A study of applied science in the industrial arts will broaden the learner's concept of science and contribute to his understanding and to the ultimate control of society. As the new education becomes oriented toward the study and improvement of community life, many surveys of the role of science in the community will be made. The community presents material for scientific study in health and sanitation, the water supply, public medicine, clinics and dispensaries, factories, plants, transportation and communication. In studying public health, all learners can make trips and excursions to slum areas in order to study housing, sanitation, hygiene, home nursing, and the use of clinics. T h e reports of commissioners, social workers, and physicians can be studied. Surveys can be made of clinics and dispensaries, in order that learners may become aware of the organization of health work. Critical attitudes on the part of learners will be encouraged, and constructive ideas for improving the existing public health agencies can be elicited and set before the whole community. Similarly, surveys might be made of the use and efficiency of applied science in the homes of the community. Electricity and electrical appliances, heating, ventilation, gas and gas appliances, canned foods, and all the worksaving devices of the household can be examined. T h e underlying scientific principles of such inventions should be comprehended by the learners. They should be encouraged to analyze chemically the commercial products used

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in the home, such as drugs, cosmetics, and foods, and to evaluate them. T h e facilities for community transportation and communication will be examined at first hand by learners. T h e principle of the locomotive, the trolley, the combustion engine, and the airplane can be studied. Similarly, the telegraph, the telephone, and other means of communication can be explored with the cooperation of local agencies of communication. Educational institutions at all levels can enlist the cooperation of local factories and make a study of the physical principles underlying the operation of machinery. Chemical analyses can likewise be made of the products of local factories. A study of industrial processes can be undertaken. When in the educational process, new ideas are developed or inventions suggested, community cooperation might make possible the working out of these ideas. T h e scientific work of the new education will not only concern itself with the local scene. It will embrace the study of science and technology on a national and international scale. A consideration of these larger aspects of the problem might be developed from a study of science in the homes, the factories, and agencies of transportation and communication in the community. Among learners, the attitude that science is primarily a tool for human betterment will be encouraged. Surveys will be made showing the need for further study in the fields of medicine, surgery, and psychology, throughout the nation and the world. T h e need for further research is great, and educational institutions can cooperate with scientists to educate public opinion to the need for further study. T h e elimination of health menaces found in poor housing, inadequate recreation facilities, smoke, noise, and gases, will be attempted on a national and international scale.

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T h e educational profession will make a world-wide attempt to control, and ultimately to abolish, the invention, manufacture, sale, and use of instruments of warfare, and to eliminate the use of war as an instrument of national policy. Educators will also play an active part in attacking the basic sources of maladjustment in the machine process, and in changing current competitive and pecuniary motives which interfere with the maximum use of science and technology for human betterment. In the field of art, the position has been taken in this study that America can and should create an indigenous art. Beauty is of fundamental importance to the good life in any society. Everyone should participate in enjoying it. As many as possible should create it. Art in the new education will be primarily aimed at beautifying and making significant modern civilization. In the educational work of all groups, of children and adults alike, the emphasis can be placed upon the appreciation and creation of beauty in writing, drawing, modeling, designing personal adornment, in making beautiful homes, machines, factories, movies, photographs, public buildings, parks, transportation facilities, indeed in every aspect of personal and community life. T h e accomplishment of such an art program would of course require that all who undertake it, children and adults as well, work in and through the community to achieve their art objectives. Young people interested in various aspects of the arts will be encouraged to join adult groups with similar interests. They might form pressure groups to preserve the beauty of the community, to keep it clean, or to change certain aspects or sections of town or country. Through such activities, city ordinances might be passed abolishing unsightly dumps, signboards, and roadside stands. Local parks might be enlarged and improved. Educational institutions will emphasize throughout that art and beauty

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can and should be all-pervasive in a machine culture. They must not be the exclusive heritage of a relatively small leisure class. In attempting to make art a vital personal and community interest, the new art education will stimulate visits to all sections of the local community, to stores where goods are on display, to local factories where goods are being produced, to bridges, transportation terminals, public buildings, and the slums of cities. What is seen on such excursions can be compared with artistic products of like types designed by industrial artists like Norman Bel Geddes, and by other architects, designers of machine products, and community planners in both America and Europe. An intellectual background for such work will be laid. T h e art work of other peoples can be studied as a background for modern art. Other peoples have produced art in accord with the dominant characteristics of their civilizations. T h e emphasis, however, will always be placed upon modern themes, techniques, and materials. Art work which emphasizes the past has no vital connection or message for the great mass of people living in the present. With such an emphasis permeating all art education, creativeness of all types will be stimulated. T h e traditional concept of art, which hampers creativity, will disappear, and a younger generation will emerge better equipped to create a new and a more beautiful civilization. In the field of economics, the author has stressed the fact that modern scientific technology has laid the basis for an economy of plenty. That such an economy is desirable is self-evident. It has been made clear, however, that it is impossible under present laissez faire economic institutions. Thoroughgoing social planning is necessary. The achievement of an economy of plenty in the United States will be a major aim of the new education. T h e

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economic program of education might be initiated through a realistic study of actual local economic conditions. Educational groups can make a house-to-house canvass to determine the extent of local unemployment. They can make contact with industrial firms to discover the status of local industry, its actual production and potential production, the extent of the use of new technological appliances, the hours, conditions, and wage scales of labor. T h e local business conditions of merchants and store keepers can also be studied. After this type of economic survey has been made educational groups can then plan for the reconstruction and betterment of local business conditions. With the cooperation of local men and women who are actually in industry, and others interested in educational and social problems, drives can, for example, be made to care for, and progressively abolish, unemployment. But in the attempt to improve local economic conditions, it will, of course, be discovered early that in many cases the causes of local difficulties lie outside the immediate community. In order to understand and intelligently deal with local problems, a basic understanding of the major aspects of our whole economic system will be necessary. Learners in the new education will study the tremendous productive capacity of our economic system. They will discover that the national economic plant is not run to its capacity, though millions of people are in need of the goods this capacity could produce. It will be found that because of the inequalities of the distribution of income and wealth, millions of people are living below a minimum decency standard. This basic study will demonstrate that our laissez faire economic institutions have failed. It will make clear any irresponsibility of the ownership of American wealth, as well as the governmental protection which

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is given to private ownership, to the detriment of the great mass of the people. Such a study will demonstrate the need of social controls over private business which will raise wages, lower hours of labor, prevent profiteering through unnecessary increases in price, outlaw speculative activity, and increase the national production to meet individual and social needs. T h e new education will be interested in stimulating the formulation of various socio-economic plans for the reconstruction of society. Thoroughgoing surveys of American economic life, of the type just indicated, will serve as a basis for such planning. People engaged in the new education will also study such reconstruction programs as that of die New Deal. T h e y will constructively criticize such programs and make these criticisms available to various governmental agencies. Students and teachers of the new education will form pressure groups which will carry on a steady agitation for the socio-economic changes which are believed to be desirable. Realistic study and positive action of this kind will make education a positive force for community, national, and international betterment. T h e author has emphasized throughout that far-reaching governmental controls must be established in order to achieve an economy of plenty. T o accomplish this task, thoroughgoing local, national and international planning is necessary. Future educational study and activities in the field of government will be aimed primarily at thinking through realistically the problems of government, at drawing u p reconstruction proposals, and at attempting to put such proposals into practice. T h e major objective of such work will be the operation of our huge productive plant at its full potential productive capacity, in order that enlarged health, educational, and art programs may be financed. People studying community government must know

810

EDUCATION

IN

THE

NEW

ERA

the political organization and machinery thoroughly. Adults, teachers, children, and experts in the field of government will make realistic surveys. T h e various city departments will be studied—the police system, the fire department, the buildings and grounds, the municipal utilities, the taxing system. T h e operation of the courts can be witnessed by learners. Surveys can be made of the agencies of justice, and any favoring of vested interests reported to the community. It is not enough to know how the community is run. If a local political machine is socially inefficient, attempts can be made to defeat or reorganize it. Alternative types of city government can be studied with a view to replacing the old machines. Community surveys will be used to determine which type of organization best suits local needs. When an alternative plan is agreed upon, educational groups will, in the future, help put it into operation through discussion, publicity, and even lobbying activities. When vested economic groups object to any such program, public opinion in the community must be aroused to fight such interests. T h e new education will also include a realistic study of state and national governmental and political problems. T h e present basis of representation, and the organization and operation of the legislative, executive, and judicial systems, will be surveyed. It will become clear that much of the old machinery is obsolete. Such a study will bring to light the influence of vested economic interests upon government in state and nation. It will show that public opinion is often controlled to further the interests of the few, to the detriment of the many. T h e social inefficiency of existing political machinery will be demonstrated. T h e need for political changes which favor workers rather than owners, consumers rather than pro-

EDUCATION

IN

THE

NEW

ERA

211

ducers, and the poor rather than the rich, will become clear. In a study of international affairs, education will, in the future, provide for all learners a realistic background of information. Such a study will demonstrate that foreign relations based upon isolation, national economic imperialism, and the old type of internationalism, are inefficient and wasteful, and that they lead inevitably to war. It will become clear that there is needed a new foreign policy based upon a more intelligent nationalism, as well as upon the maximum interchange of the world's economic goods, and upon world peace. T h e education of the future will thus make a realistic description of present political practices and emphasize desirable directions of movement. In doing this, it will produce both intelligent and socially conscious voters and political leaders. It will, however, not confine itself to such activities. T h e new education will also encourage the formation of powerful pressure groups which will agitate for needed governmental reforms. The broader orientation of all educational work which has just been outlined cannot be achieved at once. The more progressive educational institutions located in liberal communities will first undertake this type of education. They will set an example for others to follow. Directions of movement, basic studies, activities, and programs are here suggested, in an attempt to point out desirable emphases in education, emphases which the socio-economic conditions of the times require. EDUCATION IN AN ECONOMY OF PLENTY

10

Many of the educators who make up the staffs of our teacher-training institutions, and our public and private schools, do not as yet see the new and expanding possibilities of American social life. They do not realize the

»12

EDUCATION

IN T H E

NEW

ERA

current social needs, nor do they see the vision of educational expansion in an economy of plenty, when production is increased to meet our economic needs, and the hours of labor are cut to a minimum. In proportion as such an economy is achieved fundamental changes will come in American education. Such an economy will provide additional billions of dollars for the development of all types of education. With financial difficulties removed, all public-school education can begin with the nursery school for children of from two to three years of age, rather than with the kindergarten or first grade as at present. The American public high school will include all the children of secondary school age. T h e ages of compulsory public-school attendance can be raised to 19 or 20 years, thus requiring a tremendous expansion of junior colleges, or other types of educational institution, to care for the additional years of training. A college and university education will be given free of charge to all young people who are desirous of attending such institutions and capable of profiting thereby. Every community can have a thoroughgoing system of free adult education, which will include recreational programs of many different kinds. An economy of plenty will make possible a tremendous expansion of teacher-training institutions. T h e period of teacher-training can be expanded to equal that of the training period for such professions as law and medicine. A period of travel can be required, as well as an extended practical apprenticeship in the new type of communitycentered education which will replace our present formal school systems. Under an economy of plenty, education and educational activities can be made to permeate our whole social system. Educational work will be regarded as of supreme importance. T h e prestige of people engaged in this type

EDUCATION

IN

THE

NEW

ERA

213

of activity will therefore become tremendously enhanced. T h e ablest men and women, many of whom now turn to business or a more remunerative type of livelihood, will therefore choose this profession as their life work. The tremendous increase of educational funds will make possible liberal financial provision for travel, study and research by those in education. This is the educational vision for the future. But these educational and social changes will not come without statesmanlike leadership in education and in society. Nor will they come without militant group action.11 New ideas do not easily replace the old. Nor do old vested interests, either in education or in society, give up their special privileges without a struggle. In order to fight the necessary battles of educational reconstruction directed toward the new education in the new society, groups of educators with social vision must organize. They must act as pressure groups within their own profession. They must cooperate with other organized groups in attempting to bring about social changes which will bring us nearer an economy of plenty. What is required of such educational groups is militant action, but theirs must be a militancy arising from a clear realization of the basic social and educational factors involved, and a clear knowledge of what can and should be done to rebuild our social and educational structure. Only with such a clear cut understanding of the problem can educators successfully assume the role which the reconstruction of society is forcing upon them.

SELECTED

BIBLIOGRAPHY

HISTORY AND G E N E R A L

BACKGROUND

For general reference see such newspapers as The New York Times, T h e United States News, T h e New York World-Telegram, and T h e Christian Science Monitor; and such magazines as Current History, The Nation, The New Republic, Harper's Magazine, Progressive Education, T h e Journal of the National Education Association, and T h e Social Frontier. The reader may consult the National Crisis Series, Bureau of Publication, Teachers College, Columbia University; pamphlets issued by the John Day Company, New York; and the bulletins and reports of the Consumers' Research Bureau, Washington, N. J.; the National Industrial Conference Board, New York; the Foreign Policy Association, New York; the World Peace Foundation, Boston; the Methodist Federation of Social Service, New York; the National League of Women Voters, New York; the League for Industrial Democracy, New York; the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, New York; the American Association for Social Security, New York; the Cooperative League of the U. S. A., New York; the National Consumers' League, New York; the American Library Association, Chicago; and the American Association of University Women, Washington, D. C. State and Federal departmental publications, the United States Census, and the Congressional Record can also be used. Adams, James Truslow, The March of Democracy. 2 vols., Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1932-33.

2L6

SELECTED

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allen, Frederick L., Only Yesterday. Harper and Brothers, New York, 1931. Beard, Charles A., and G. H. Smith, T h e Idea of National Interest. T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1934. Beard, Charles A. and Mary, T h e Rise of American Civilization. 2 vols., T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1927. Bryce, James, American Commonwealth. New ed., 2 vols., T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1922—23. Carman, Harry J., Social and Economic History of the United States. D. C. Heath and Co., Boston, 1930. Columbia College Associates in Economics, Government and Public Law, History and Philosophy, An Introduction to Contemporary Problems in the United States. Columbia University Press, New York, 1933. Committee on Recent Economic Changes, Recent Economic Changes in the United States. 2 vols., McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1929. Davis, Jerome, Contemporary Social Movements. Century Co., New York, 1930. Fox, Dixon Ryan, and A. M. Schlesinger, editors, History of American Life. T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1927. Gardner, Helen, Art through the Ages. Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1926. Gruening, Ernest, T h e Public Pays. T h e Vanguard Press, New York, 1931. Hacker, Louis, T h e United States Since 1865. F. S. Crofts and Benjamin Kendrick Co., New York, 1932. Langsam, Walter C., T h e World Since 1914. T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1933. Lynd, Robert S. and Helen, Middletown; a Study in Contemporary American Culture. Harcourt Brace and Co., New York, 1929. Mesick, J. L., T h e English Traveller in America, 1785-1835. Columbia University Press, New York, 1922. Nevins, Allan, American Social History as Recorded by British Travelers. Henry Holt and Co., New York, 1923. Odegard, Peter, T h e American Public Mind. Columbia University Press, New York, 1931.

SELECTED

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2\>]

Parrington, Vernon L., Main Currents in American Thought. 3 vols., Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1927-30. President's Research Committee on Social Trends, Recent Social Trends in the United States, 2 vols., McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1933. Siegfried, André, America Comes of Age. Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1927. Steffens, Lincoln, T h e Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens. 2 vols., Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1931. Symes, Lillian, and Travers Clement, Rebel America. Harper and Brothers, New York, 1934. Tocqueville, Alexis de, Democracy in America, translated by Henry Reeve. 2 vols., T h e D. Appleton Century Co., New York, 1898. Turner, Frederick J., T h e Frontier in American History. Henry Holt and Co., New York, 1921. SCIENCE

Adams, M., editor, Science in the Changing World. T h e Century Co., New York, 1933. Ayres, Clarence E., Science the False Messiah. T h e BobbsMerrill Co., Indianapolis, 1927. Boas, George, Our New Ways of Thinking. Harper and Brothers, New York, 1930. Eddington, Sir Arthur S., T h e Nature of the Physical World. T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1928. Huxley, Julian S., A Scientist among the Soviets. Harper and Brothers, New York, 1932. Jeans, Sir James, T h e Universe Around Us. New rev. ed., T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1931. Jennings, Herbert S., The Biological Basis of Human Nature. W. W. Norton Co., New York, 1930. Rugg, Harold, T h e Great Technology. T h e John Day Co., New York, 1933. Russell, Bertrand, The Scientific Outlook. W. W. Norton Co., New York, 1931. Science at the Cross Roads. Kniga, London, 1931. Papers Pre-

2 18

SELECTED

BIBLIOGRAPHY

sented to the International Congress of the History of Science and Technology by the Delegates of the U. S. S. R. Vehlen, Thorstein, The Place of Science in Modern Civilization and Other Essays. The Viking Press, New York, 1919. Whitehead, Alfred North, Science and the Modern World. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1925. ESTHETICS

Aronovici, Carol, America Can't Have Housing. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1934. Calverton, V. F., The Liberation of American Literature. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1932. Cheney, Seiden, The New World Architecture. Longmans, Green and Co., New York, 1931. Craven, Thomas, Men of Art. Simon and Schuster Co., New York, 1931. Dewey, John, Art as Experience. Minton, Balch and Co., New York, 1934. Dewey, John, and others, Art and Education. The Barnes Foundation Press, Rahway, N. J., 1929. Editors of Fortune, Housing America. Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1932. Ferriss, Hugh, The Metropolis of Tomorrow. Washburn, New York, 1929. Frankl, Paul T „ Machine Made Leisure. Harper and Brothers, New York, 1932. Geddes, Norman Bel, Horizons. Little, Brown and Co., Boston, 1932Howard, John T., Our American Music. Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York, 1931. Keppel, Frederick P., and R. L. Duffins, The Arts in American Life. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1933. La Follette, Suzanne, Art in America. Harper and Brothers, New York, 1929. Mumford, Lewis, Sticks and Stones. Boni and Liveright, New York, 1924. Brown Decades; a Study of the Arts in America. Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1931.

SELECTED

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2IG

Technics and Civilization. Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1934. Neuhaus, Eugen, History and Ideals of American Art. Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, 1931. Sandburg, Carl, American Song Bag. Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1930. Sayler, Oliver M., Revolt in the Arts. Brentano's, New York, i93°Seldes, Gilbert, Seven Lively Arts. Harper and Brothers, 19*4. Van Dören, Carl, editor, Modern American Prose. Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1934. Wright, Frank L., Autobiography. Longmans, Green and Co., New York, 1932. Zanzig, Augusta D., Music in American Life. Oxford University Press, 1932. ECONOMICS

Adams, James Truslow, Our Business Civilization. Albert and Charles Boni, New York, 1930. Atkins, Willard E., and others, Economic Behavior. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1931. Berle, Adolf A., and Gardiner C. Means, T h e Modern Corporation and Private Property. T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1933. Chase, Stuart, T h e Economy of Abundance. T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1934. Columbia University Commission on Economic Reconstruction, Economic Reconstruction. Columbia University Press, New York, 1934. Committee on Recent Economic Changes, Recent Economic Changes in the United States. 2 vols., McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1929. Daugherty, Carroll R., Labor under the N.R.A. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1934. Epstein, Abraham, Insecurity a Challenge to America. Harrison Smith and Robert Hass, New York, 1933. Flynn, John T., Graft in Business. T h e Vanguard Press, New York, 1931.

220

SELECTED

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hill, Howard C., and Rexford Guy Tugwell, Our Economic Society and Its Problems. Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1934. Keezer, Dexter M., and Stacy May, T h e Public Control of Business. Harper and Brothers, New York, 1930. Laidler, Harry W., Concentration of Control in American Industry. T h o m a s Y. Crowell, New York, 1931. Leven, M., H. G . Moulton, and C. Warburton, America's Capacity to Consume. T h e Brookings Institution, Washington, D. C., 1934. Nourse, Edwin G., and associates, America's Capacity to Produce. T h e Brookings Institution, Washington, D. C., 1934. Page, Kirby, editor, A New Economic Order. Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1930. Ripley, William Z., Main Street and W a l l Street. Little, Brown and Co., Boston, 1927. Soule, George, T h e Useful Art of Economics. T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1929. T u g w e l l , Rexford G., T h e Industrial Discipline. Columbia University Press, New York, 1933. Veblen, Thorstein, T h e Engineers and the Price System. T h e Viking Press, New York, 1921. GOVERNMENT

Beard, Charles A. and William, T h e American Leviathan. T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1930. Buell, Raymond Leslie, International Relations. Henry Holt and Co., New York, 1929. Counts, George S., and others, Bolshevism, Fascism and Capitalism. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1932. Foreman, Clark, T h e New Internationalism. W. W . Norton Co., New York, 1934. Hayes, Carleton J. H., Essays on Nationalism. T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1926. Herring, E. Pendleton, G r o u p Representation before Congress. T h e Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1929. Kent, Frank R., T h e Great Game of Politics. Doubleday, Doran and Co., N e w York, 1930.

SELECTED

BIBLIOGRAPHY

221

Laski, Harold J., Studies in Law and Politics. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1932. Lindley, E. K., T h e Roosevelt Revolution, First Phase. T h e Viking Press, New York, 1933. Moon, Parker T., Imperialism and World Politics. T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1926. Raushenbush, Hilmar Stephen, T h e Power Fight. New Republic, New York, 1932. Roosevelt, Franklin D., On Our Way. T h e John Day Co., New York, 1934. Steffens, Lincoln, T h e Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens. Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1931. Wallace, Henry A., New Frontiers. Reynal and Hitchcock, New York, 1934. Wallace, William Kay, Our Obsolete Constitution. John Day Co., New York, 1932. World Peace Foundation and Foreign Policy Committee, Recommendation of the Committee on Commercial Policy. Foreign Policy Association, New York, 1934. SOCIAL

THEORY

Adams, James Truslow, T h e Epic of America. Little, Brown and Co., Boston, 1931. Dewey, John, Individualism Old and New. Minton, Balch and Co., New York, 1930. Laski, Harold J., Liberty in the Modern State. T h e Musson Book Co., Toronto, 1930. Roosevelt, Franklin D., Looking Forward. John Day Co., New York, 1933. Soule, George, A Planned Society. T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1932. T h e Coming American Revolution. T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1934. Thomas, Norman, T h e Choice Before Us. T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1934. Wagner, D. O., Social Reformers. T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1934.

222

SELECTED

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wallace, Henry A., America Must Choose. Foreign Policy Association, New York, 1934. Wallas, Graham, T h e Great Society. T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1914. Ward, Harry F., In Place of Profit. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1933. Wells, H. G., Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind. Doubleday, Doran and Co., New York, 1932. EDUCATION

American Historical Association, Commission on the Social Studies, Conclusions and Recommendations. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1934. Childs, John L., Education and the Philosophy of Experimentalism. D. Appleton-Century Co., New York, 1931. Committee of the Progressive Education Association on Social and Economic Problems, A Call to the Teachers of the Nation. John Day Co., New York, 1933. Counts, George S., The American Road to Culture. John Day Co., New York, 1930. Dare the Schools Build a New Social Order? John Day Co., New York, 1932. The Social Foundations of Education, Part I X : Report of the Commission on the Social Studies. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1934. and Charles A. Beard, Education in an Industrial Age. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1934. Dewey, John, Democracy and Education. T h e Macmillan Co., New York, 1916. Eurich, A. C., T h e Changing Educational World, 1905-1930. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1931. Kilpatrick, William H., Education and the Social Crisis. Liveright, New York, 1932. and others, T h e Educational Frontier. D. AppletonCentury Co., New York, 1933. Kinneman, John A., Society and Education. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1932.

SELECTED

BIBLIOGRAPHY

223

Lindeman, £. C., Social Education. New Republic, Inc., New York, 1933. Merriam, Charles E., The Making of Citizens. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1931. Pierce, Bessie Louise, Citizen's Organizations and the Civic Training of Youth. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, »933Rugg, Harold, Culture and Education in America. Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1931. Tugwell, Rexford G., and Leon H. Keyserling, Redirecting Education, Vol. 1. Columia University Press, New York, »934Woelfel, Norman, Molders of the American Mind. Columbia University Press, New York, 1934.

NOTES PREFACE

J. Charles A. Beard, Dixon Ryan Fox, Arthur M. Schlesinger, James Harvey Robinson, Carlton J. H. Hayes, and William Ogburn. I . T H E F R A M E OF R E F E R E N C E

1. T h i s term is borrowed from the American Historical Association, Commission on the Social Studies, Conclusions and Recommendations of the Commission (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1934). 2. American Historical Association, Commission on the Social Studies, Conclusions and Recommendations (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1934), p. 16. j . T h e President's Research Committee on Social Trends, Recent Social Trends (McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1933). Committee on Recent Economic Changes, Recent Economic Changes in the United States (McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1929). Edmund deS. Brunner, and J. H. Kolb, Rural Social Trends in the United States (McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1933). II.

THE

SOCIAL

CHALLENGE TO

EDUCATION

J. T h e Committee of the Progressive Education Association on Social and Economic Problems, A Call to the Teachers of the Nation (John Day Co., New York, 1933). 2. Ibid. 3. From the document presented to President-elect Roosevelt in February, 1933, by 220 leading American educators. III.

SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY

1. For a complete study of the facts underlying this position,

22Ö

NOTES:

SCIENCE

see A l f r e d N o r t h W h i t e h e a d , Science a n d the W o r l d ( T h e M a c m i l l a n Co., N e w Y o r k , 1926).

Modern

а. C . E. Ayres, Science the False Messiah ( T h e Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, 1927), C h a p t e r X X . 3. W a l t e r N . Polakov, T h e Power A g e (Covici Friede Publishers, N e w York, 1933). 4. O . M . Kile, T h e N e w A g r i c u l t u r e ( T h e M a c m i l l a n Co., N e w Y o r k , 1932). 5. H . E. H o w e , a n d F. M . T u r n e r , Chemistry a n d the H o m e (Scribner's Sons, N e w York, 1927). б. O t i s W . C a l d w e l l a n d E d w i n E. Slosson, Science R e m a k ing the W o r l d (Doubleday D o r a n a n d Co., G a r d e n City, 1923). T h o r s t e i n Vehlen, T h e Place of Science in M o d e r n Civilization (B. W . Huebsch, N e w Y o r k , 1919). 7. Joseph S. C h a m b e r l a i n , editor, Chemistry in A g r i c u l t u r e ( T h e C h e m i c a l F o u n d a t i o n , N e w Y o r k , 1926). R o b e r t K . D u n c a n , T h e Chemistry of C o m m e r c e ( H a r p e r a n d Brothers, N e w York, 1905). J. B. S. H a l d a n e , Science a n d H u m a n L i f e (Harper and Brothers, N e w Y o r k , 1933). H . E. H o w e a n d F. M . T u r n e r , Chemistry a n d the H o m e (Charles Scribner's Sons, N e w York, 1927). 8. E d w a r d M . East, editor, Biology in H u m a n Affairs (Whittlesey House, M c G r a w - H i l l B o o k Co., N e w Y o r k , 1931). 9. Otis W . C a l d w e l l , Charles E. Skinner, a n d J. W . T i e t z , Biological Foundations of E d u c a t i o n ( G i n n a n d Co., Boston, 1931). 10. C . E. Ayres, op. cit., C h a p t e r I. G e o r g e Boas, O u r N e w W a y s of T h i n k i n g (Harper and Brothers, N e w Y o r k , 1930). A r t h u r S. Eddington, T h e N a t u r e of the Physical W o r l d ( T h e M a c m i l l a n Co., N e w Y o r k , 1928). B e r t r a n d Russell, T h e Scientific O u t l o o k (W. W . N o r t o n a n d Co., N e w Y o r k , 1931). L e o E. Saidla a n d W a r r e n E. G i b b s , Science a n d the Scientific M i n d ( M c G r a w - H i l l B o o k Co., N e w Y o r k , 1930). 11. A . N . W h i t e h e a d , Science a n d the M o d e r n W o r l d ( T h e M a c m i l l a n Co., N e w York, 1925), C h a p t e r I. T h e r e are exceptions: according to the q u a n t u m theory single atoms and other elementary particles do not behave in a "rat i o n a l " manner.

NOTES:

ART

227

2. Bertrand Russell, T h e Scientific Outlook (W. W . Norton Co., Inc., N e w York, 1931), Part I. 3. R o b e r t A . Millikan, T i m e , Matter, and Values ( T h e University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, N . C., 1932). 4. E. A . Filene, Successful Living in T h i s Machine A g e (Simon and Schuster, N e w York, 1931). 5. Sir James Jeans, T h e Universe A r o u n d Us ( T h e Macmillan Co., N e w York, 1931). 6. American Historical Association, Commission on the Social Studies, Conclusions and Recommendations (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1934), Chapter V I . 7. Science at the Cross Roads: Papers Presented to the International Congress of the History of Science and Technology by the Delegates of the U. S. S. R . (Kniga, London, 1931), and Julian Huxley, A Scientist A m o n g the Soviets (Harper and Brothers, New York, 1932). [8. A discussion of the practical and esthetic in city planning will be f o u n d in the following chapter. IV.

ART

IN A M A C H I N E

CULTURE

1. Philip Johnson, Machine Art (Museum of Modern Art, N e w York, 1934). Frank R . Wright, Modern Architecture (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1931). Seiden Cheney, N e w World Architecture (Longmans, Green and Co., New York, 1930). G. H. Edgell, T h e American Architecture of T o d a y (Scribner's Sons, New York, 1929). T h e Museum of Modern Art, Modern Architecture, (New York, 1932). 2. He prognosticates that not a book, a piece of furniture, a textile pattern, a cup, or a saucer designed in the United States between 1830 and 1890 will survive except as a historical curiosity. 3. John Herman Randall, O u r Changing Civilization (Frederick Stokes Co., New York, 1929), p. 285. 4. Stuart Chase, Mexico

( T h e Macmillan Co., N e w York,

»9305. P. Johnson, op. cit. 6. Oliver M. Sayler, Revolt in the Arts York, 1930).

(Brentano's, New

228

NOTES:

AMERICAN

ECONOMIC

LIFE

7. John Dewey, Individualism Old and New (Minton, Balch and Co., New York, 1930), pp. 130-131. 8. A. M. Hicks, Everyday Art (Dutton, New York, 1925). Thomas Craven, "Art and Propaganda," (Scribner's, March, 1934), pp. 189-94. Harriet and Vetta Goldstein Art in Everyday Life (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1932)9. Oliver M. Saylor, Revolt in the Arts (Brentano's, New York, 1930), p. 62. 10. Edith Elmer Wood, Recent Trends in American Housing (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1932). T h e Editors of Fortune Magazine, Housing America (Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1932). 11. Nelson P. Lewis, T h e Planning of the Modern City (John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1923). John Nolen, New Towns for Old (Marshall Jones Co., Boston, 1927). 12. T h e relationship of income to housing and health will be discussed in Chapter V, "American Economic Life." V.

AMERICAN

ECONOMIC

LIFE

1. Samuel S. Wyer, Man's Shift from Muscle to Mechanical Power (Fuel-Power Transportation Educational Foundation, Columbus, 1933). Stuart Chase, T h e Promise of Power, Pamphlet (John Day Co., New York, 1933). 2. Rexford G. Tugwell, Industry's Coming of Age (Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1927), Chapter I, p. 3. 3. Stuart Chase, "What Hope for the Jobless?" (Current History, November, 1933), p. 131. 4. Edward Eyre Hunt, A n Audit of America (McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1930), p. 78. 5. Edwin G. Nourse and associates, America's Capacity to Produce, T h e Brookings Institution, (Washington, D. C., 1934)6. Stuart Chase, T h e Economy of Abundance (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1934), Harper Leech, T h e Paradox of Plenty (McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1932). 7. Harper Leech, Plenty: Can Man Have It without Sharing It? (American Education Press, Inc., Columbus, 1933).

NOTES:

8. 9.

10. 11.

is.

13. 14. 15. 16.

17. 18.

19.

20.

AMERICAN

ECONOMIC

LIFE

229

Frederick O. Rost, Distribution Today (McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1933). Quoted in Stuart Chase, Prosperity, Fact or Myth (Albert and Charles Boni, New York, 1930), p. 85. "Report Shows Increasing Concentration of Income," Peoples Lobby Bulletin, Feb., 1934, (John Dewey, President) (Washington, D. C.), Vol. I l l , No. 10, p. 5. Reported in Harry W. Laidler, How America Lives (League for Industrial Democracy, New York, 1932), p. 50. Paul O'Leary, Corporate Enterprise in Modern Economic Life (Harper and Brothers, New York, 1933). I. M. Wormser, Frankenstein Incorporated (McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1931). Harry W. Laidler, Concentration of Control in American Industry (Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York, 1931). Adolf A. Berle, and Gardiner C. Means, T h e Modern Corporation and Private Property (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1933), pp. 28-32. George Soule, T h e Useful Art of Economics (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1929), p. 65. J. George Frederick, Readings in Economic Planning (The Business Bourse, New York, 1932), p. 63. Quoted earlier in this chapter. Edgar Sydenstricker, and W. I. King, "Methods of Classifying Families According to Income in Studies of Disease," Public Health Reports (United States Printing Office, Washington, D. C.), Vol. X X X V , No. 48, p. 2830. U. S. Department of Labor, Children's Bureau, "Infant Mortality, Series," No. 10, p. 38. G. St. Perrott, Selwyn Collins, and Edgar Sydenstricker, "Sickness and the Economic Depression." Public Health Reports, (United States Printing Office, Washington, D. C.), Vol. X L V I I I , No. 41. Report of the Housing Committee of the Reconstruction Commission of the State of New York, (March 26, 1920), p. 21. Edith Elmer Wood, " T h e Economics of the Slums," Current History, (November, 1933), X X X I X , 188.

23O

NOTES:

AMERICAN

ECONOMIC

LIFE

21. " T h e Crisis in Education," Journal of the National Education Association (Washington, D. C., February, 1934), Vol. X X I I I , No. 2, p. 47. 22. Walton H. Hamilton, and Helen R. Wright, T h e Case of Bituminous Coal (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1926), pp. 20-21. 23. Charles A. Beard, Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1913). 24. Charles A. and Mary R. Beard, T h e Rise of American Civilization (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1927), I, 325 A25. Charles A. and William Beard, T h e American Leviathan (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1930), p. 72. 26. Ibid., p. 656. 27. James T . Young, T h e New American Government and Its Work (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1929), p. 499. 28. Dexter M. Keezer and Stacy May, T h e Public Control of Business (Harper and Brothers, New York, 1930), pp. 235-3629. Charles A. and William Beard, op. cit., p. 660. 30. Keezer and May, op. cit., pp. 163 ff. T h e case was McCardle v. Indianapolis Water Company, 272 U.S. 400 (1926). 31. James T . Young, op. cit. p. 491. 32. T h e decision handed down by the Supreme Court on March 5, 1934 in the case of Leo Nebbia v. T h e People of the State of New York regarding the New York Milk Law takes the same general position: "Neither property rights nor contract rights are absolute, for government cannot exist if the citizen may at will use his property to the detriment of his fellows, or exercise his freedom of contract to do them harm. Equally fundamental with the private right is that of the public to regulate it in the common interest." 33. James T . Young, op. cit., p. 491. 34. Keezer and May, op. cit., Chapter III, " T h e Judicial Logic of Anti-Trust Law Enforcement."

NOTES: A M E R I C A N

ECONOMIC LIFE

2gi

35. Milton Handler, "Industrial Mergers and the Anti-Trust Laws," Columbia Law Review, Vol. X X X I I , No. 2 (February, 1932), pp. 184-86. 36. Keezer and May, op. cit., pp. 45, 46. 37. Ibid., pp. 47, 48. 38. Milton Handler, op. cit., pp. 242 ff. 39. Also the Hepburn Act (1906), the Employer's Liability Act (1906), the Meat Inspection Act (1906), the Ovington Act (1914), the Act establishing the Federal Trade Commission, and the Esch-Cummins Bill (1920). 40. Arthur T . Hadley, " T h e Constitutional Position of Property in America," T h e Independent (April 16, 1908), p. 83741. William Z. Ripley, Main Street and Wall Street (Little, Brown and Co., Boston, 1929). 42. M a x Lowenthal, T h e Investor Pays (Knopf, New York, 1933). L. S. Schnitman, How Safe Is Life Insurance? (Vanguard Press, New York, 1933). John T . Flynn, Investment Trusts Gone Wrong (New Republic, New York, 1930). Louis D. Brandeis, Other People's Money and How the Bankers Use It (Stokes, New York, 1914). 43. T h e Federal Trade Commission's Report to the Senate covering salaries and bonuses paid company officials by some 900 corporations in 1928, 1929 and 1932, revealed some startling facts regarding the lack of social responsibility toward stockholders. (New York Times, Feb. 27, 1934)44. See Chapter VIII, "Government, Business and Pressure Groups." 45. John T . Flynn, Graft in Business (Vanguard Press, New York, 1931). Guy W. Mallon, Bankers v. Consumers (John Day, New York, 1933). 46. Irving Fisher, T h e Purchasing Power of Money (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1911). Donald B. Woodward and Marc A. Rose, A Primer of Money (Whittlesey House, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1932). 47. Stuart Chase, Poor Old Competition, Pamphlet (League for Industrial Democracy, New York, 1932).

232

NOTES:

ECONOMIC

PLANNING

48. Harry W. Laidler, Concentration of Control in American Industry (Thomas Y. Crowell, New York, 1931). 49. Frederic C. Howe, Confessions of a Reformer (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1925), p. 133. 50. New York Times, February 25, 1934, II, 15:1. 51. See Walton H. Hamilton and Helen R. Wright, T h e Case of Bituminous Coal (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1926). George Saule, T h e Useful Art of Economics (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1929), Chapters VII and VIII. Mary Van Kleeck, Miners and Management (Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1934). 52. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930 (Government Printing Office, Washington, 1933). "Occupations by States," IV, 9-12. 53. Harry W. Laidler, " T h e Trend Towards Public Ownership" in Kirby Page, A New Economic Order (Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1930), pp. 259-70. VI.

ECONOMIC

PLANNING

FOR AN

ECONOMY

OF

PLENTY

1. Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Inaugural Address," March 4, 1933, in Looking Forward (John Day Co., 1933). 2. See Chapter X, "Freedom in an Industrial Society" and Chapter XI, "A Dynamic Social Theory." 3. J. M. Clark, J. R. Smith, E. S. Smith, and George Soule, Long-Range Planning for the Regularization of Industry (New Republic, New York, 1932). Franklin D. Roosevelt, Looking Forward (John Day Co., New York, 1933). Rexford G. Tugwell, T h e Industrial Discipline (Columbia University Press, New York, 1933). Charles A. Beard and others, America Faces the Future (Houghton Mifflin Co., New York, 1932). Stuart Chase, A New Deal (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1932). George Soule, A Planned Society (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1932). 4. Walton H. Hamilton and Stacy May, T h e Control of Wages (G. H. Doran Co., New York, 1923), Chapter XI. 5. J. M. Clark, J. R. Smith, E. S. Smith, and George Soule, op. cit.

NOTES:

ECONOMIC

PLANNING

233

6. John A. Hobson, "The Social Control of Credit," in Kirby Page, op. cit., pp. 289-312. 7. Irving Fisher, Purchasing Power of Money. Rev. ed. (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1926), Chapter XIII. 8. Social Security in the United States (American Association for Social Security, New York, 1933). Abraham Epstein, Old Age Security (League for Industrial Democracy, New York, 1930). National Industrial Conference Board, Essentials of a Program of Unemployment Reserves (National Industrial Conference Board, New York, 1933). United States Department of Labor, Unemployment and Benefit Plans in Foreign Countries (Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C., 1931). United States Department of Labor, Public Old Age Pensions in the United States and Foreign Countries (Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C., 1932). 9. Stuart Chase and F. J . Schlink, Your Money's Worth (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1927). Arthur Kallet and F. J . Schlink, 1001,000,000 Guinea Pigs (Vanguard Press, New York, 1932). E. B. White, Alice Through the Cellophane (John Day, New York, 1933). Stuart Chase, T h e Story of Toad Lane (The Cooperative League of the U.S.A., New York, 1932). Loring Black, Pending Food and Drugs Legislation (United States Government Printing Office, Washington D. C., 1934). Consumers Research, Inc., Consumers Research General Bulletins (Consumers Research, Inc., Washington, N. J). 10. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Looking Forward, passim. E. K. Lindley, Roosevelt Revolution First Phase (Viking Press, New York, 1933). Cleveland Rogers, The Roosevelt Program (G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1933). Benson Y. Landis, The Third American Revolution (Association Press, New York, 1933). Bernard Fay, Roosevelt and His America (Little, Brown and Company, New York, 1933). Norman Thomas, A Socialist Looks at the New Deal (League for Industrial Democracy, New York, 1933). L. P. Ayres, The Economics of Recovery (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1933). "National Crisis Series" (Bureau of

234

NOTES:

ECONOMIC

PLANNING

Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, 1933-34). 11. Samuel Everett and Edmund De S. Brunner, Helping the Nation by Helping the Farmer (Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, New York, 1933). 12. Ibid. 13. George R. Leighton, "In Search of the N.R.A.," Harpers, January, 1934, pp. 180-88. 14. Carroll R. Daugherty, Labor Under the N.R.A. (Houghton Mifflin Co., New York, 1934), Emanuel Stein, Carl Raushenbush, and Louis MacDonald, Labor and the New Deal (T. S. Crofts and Co., New York, 1934). 15. George R. Leighton, op. cit., p. 184. 16. Ibid. 17. "Rise in Wholesale Prices Found Beyond N. R. A. Costs," Associated Press despatch World-Telegram, January 11, 193418. "An Open Letter to President Roosevelt" from F. J . Schlink (Consumers' Research, Washington, N. J., November 20, 1933). 19. Editorial, "Labor and the N. R. A.," New Republic, February 14, 1934, p. 20. 20. Robert F. Wagner, "Company Unions: A Vast Industrial Issue," New York Times, March 11, 1934, IX, 20. 21. Carroll Daugherty, Labor Under the N.R.A. (Houghton, Mifflin Co., New York, 1934). 22. George R. Leighton, op. cit. 23. Number of Real Estate Foreclosures Reported in the Years 1926, 1932, 1933 and 1934 by 1083 Identical Communities Scattered Throughout 48 States (Division of Research and Statistics, Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Washington, D. C., March 24, 1934). 24. Earl L. Shaub, Central Press Correspondent, in The Daily Argus (Mount Vernon, N. Y.), February 22, 1934.

NOTES: VII.

NATIONALISM,

NATIONALISM INTERNATIONALISM,

ECONOMY

OF

235 AND AN

PLENTY

1. See Chapter VI, "Economic Planning for an Economy of Plenty." 2. James Truslow Adams, T h e March of Democracy. (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1932, 1933). 3. C. H. Van Tyne, T h e Causes of the War for Independence (Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1922). 4. A. M. Schlesinger, T h e Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution (Columbia University Press, New York, 1 1 9 7)5. Frederick J. Turner, T h e Frontier in American History (Henry Holt and Co., New York, 1921). Robert E. Riegel, America Moves West (Henry Holt and Co., New York, >93o). 6. See Washington's Farewell Address for the classic statement of this viewpoint. 7. Riegel, op. cit., passim. Perry Belmont, National Isolation an Illusion (G. P. Putman's Sons, New York, 1925). 8. J. W. Pratt, Expansionists of 1812 (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1925). 9. Allan Nevins, T h e Emergence of Modern America 18651878, "History of American Life Series," (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1927), Vol. VIII, Chapters II and X I V . 10. A. M. Schlesinger, T h e Rise of the City 1878-1898, " A History of American Life Series," (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1933), Vol. X. 11. F. J. Turner, op. cit., Chapter I. 12. James Wilford Garner, American Foreign Policies (New York University Press, New York, 1928), Chapters II—III. John Carter, Conquest; America's Painless Imperialism (Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1928). 13. Allan Nevins, op. cit., Chapters II, X I V . 14. Walter Millis, T h e Martial Spirit (Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1931). 15. Parker T . Moon, Imperialism and World Politics (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1926).

236

NOTES:

NATIONALISM

16. Chester L. Jones, Caribbean Backgrounds and Prospects (D. Appleton Century Co., New York, 1931). I. J. Cox, Nicaragua and the United States, 1909-1927 (World Peace Foundation, Boston, 1927). 17. P. T . Moon, op. cit., passim. 18. Beatrice P. Lamb, Economic Causes of War and the Hope for the Future (National League of Women Voters, New York, 1932). C. Hartley Grattan, Why W e Fought (Vanguard Press, New York, 1929). 19. Paul M. Mazur, America Looks Abroad (Viking Press, New York, 1930). 20. P. T . Moon, op. cit. 21. P. Belmont, op. cit., passim. J. W . Garner, op. cit., Chapter VI. 22. J. M. Keynes, T h e Economic Consequences of the Peace (Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1920). 23. P. M. Mazur, op. cit., Chapters I X - X . 24. H. N. Denny, Dollars for Bullets, the Story of American Rule in Nicaragua (Dial Press, New York, 1929). Scott Nearing, T h e American Empire (Rand School Press, New York, 1921). Foreign Policy Association, T h e Caribbean Situation, "Foreign Policy Reports" (Foreign Policy Association, New York) Vol. IX, No. 8. 25. Foreign Policy Reports (Foreign Policy Association, New York), Vol. VIII, No. 6 (May 25, 1932), p. 70. 26. James H. Rogers, America Weighs Her Gold (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1931). 27. James T . Shotwell, War as an Instrument of National Policy (Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1929). 28. T h e Burden of Armaments, "Foreign Policy Association Reports" (Foreign Policy Association, New York), Vol. VII, No. 20, p. 368. 29. J. B. Scott, T h e International Conferences of American States, 1889-1928 (Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 1931). 30. Carleton J. H. Hayes, Essays on Nationalism (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1926), and T h e Historical Evolution of Modern Nationalism (Richard R . Smith, Inc., New York, 1931).

NOTES:

NATIONALISM

237

31. Leonard Woolf, Economic Imperialism (Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1920), Chapter IV. 32. Clyde Eagleton, T h e Attempt to Define War (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, New York, 1933). 33. H. N. Brailsford, "The Art of Conferring," The New Republic. (December 14, 1932), pp. 115-17. 34. C. K. Leith, World Minerals and World Politics (Whittlesey House, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1931). W. C. Redfield, Dependent America (Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1926). 35. Raymond Leslie Buell, International Relations (Henry Holt and Co., New York, 1929), pp. 99-100. 36. Recommendations of the Committee on Commercial Policy, "Foreign Policy Committee Reports," No. 3 (Foreign Policy Association, New York, 1934), p. 4. 37. Ibid. 38. Redfield, op. cit., passim. 39. R. L. Buell, op. cit., p. 101. 40. Recommendations of the Committee on Commercial Policy, "World Peace Foundation 8c Foreign Policy Association Reports" (Foreign Policy Association, New York, '934). P- 341. Walter C. Langsam, T h e World since 1914 (The Macmill a n Co., N e w York, 1933), p p . 88-89.

42. Ibid., p. 89. 43. Benjamin M. Anderson, Jr., "Our Export Trade and the International Money Market; Gold and Goods," The Chase Economic Bulletin (Chase National Bank of the City of New York), Vol. X, No. 1. Willard E. Atkins, Gold and Your Money (McBride and Co., New York, 1934). 44. G. D. H. Cole, A Guide through World Chaos (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1932), p. 331. 45. M. S. Stewart, Tariffs: World Trade and the Pay Envelope (American Education Press, Columbus, 1933). National Foreign Trade Council, Our Imports and Who Use Them (National Foreign Trade Council, New York, 1930). Benjamin M. Anderson, Jr., "The Tariff and the World Depression," T h e Chase Economic Bulletin (Chase

238

46. 47. 48.

49.

50. 51. 58. 53. 54. 55. 56.

57. 58.

59.

NOTES:

NATIONALISM

National Bank of the City of New York), Vol. XI, No. 2. F. A. Southard, American Industry in Europe (Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1931). Franklin D. Roosevelt, Looking Forward (John Day Co., New York, 1933), p. 183. Edmund deS. Brunner, T h e Farm Act of 1933 (Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, 1933), p. 3. World Peace Foundation and Foreign Policy Association, Recommendations of the Committee on Commercial Policy. "World Peace Foundation and Foreign Policy Association Reports" (Foreign Policy Association, New York), No. 3, p. 6. Ibid. Ibid., pp. 6, 7. Raymond Leslie Buell, T h e World Adrift (Foreign Policy Association, New York, 1933), pp. 34-35. Henry A. Wallace, America Must Choose, Pamphlet (Foreign Policy Association, New York, 1934), p. 17. E: Alexander Powell, Slanting Lines of Steel (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1933). George Soule, "A New Internationalism" Harpers (February. >934). P- 363P. T . Moon, op. cit. J. H. Latane, A History of American Foreign Policy (Doubleday Doran and Co., New York, 1927), Parts V and VI. Walter Millis, T h e Martial Spirit (Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1931). C. L. Jones, Caribbean Backgrounds and Prospects (D. Appleton Century Co., New York, 1931). I. J. Cox, Nicaragua and the United States, 1909-1927 (World Peace Foundation, Boston, 1927). E. M. Earle, T h e Economic Value of the Mandated Territories in Relation to Inter-Allied Debts. "International Conciliation Documents for the year 1927" (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, New York, 1927), pp. 215-226.

NOTES:

BUSINESS

23G

60. Albert Sarrau t, La mise en valeur des colonies françaises (Payot, Paris, 1923), pp. 143-47. 61. Hugh L. Keenleyside, Canada and the United States (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1929). 62. Sir Valentine Chirol, India (Ernest Benn Limited, London, 1926). 63. R. L. Buell, op. cit., p. 101. 64. Walter C. Langsam, op. cit., p. 634. 65. Adam Smith, T h e Wealth of Nations (E. P. Dutton and Co. New York, 1913; first published 1776). Charles Gide, and Charles Rist, History of Economic Doctrines, translated by R. Richards (D. C. Heath and Co., Boston, 1915). 66. Friedrich List, National System of Political Economy, translated by Dr. Lloyd (Longmans, Green and Co., New York, 1904). 67. New York Times (March 15, 1934). 68. Foreign Policy Bulletin (Foreign Policy Association, New York, 1934), Vol. XIII, No. 19. 69. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Looking Forward (John Day Co., New York, 1933). 70. Clark Foreman, T h e New Internationalism (W. W . Norton, New York, 1934). 71. Raymond Leslie Buell, T h e World Adrift (Foreign Policy Association, New York, 1933), p. 34. VIII.

GOVERNMENT,

BUSINESS, AND PRESSURE

GROUPS

1. Robert S. and Helen M. Lynd, Middletown (Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1929), p. 295. 2. Lincoln Steffens, T h e Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens (Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1931), Part III, "Muckraking." 3. William Bennett Munro, Personality in Politics (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1924), pp. 51-52. 4. Ibid., p. 53. 5. Frank R. Kent, T h e Great Game of Politics (Doubleday, Doran and Co., New York, 1928), p. 53. 6. Ibid., p. 74. 7. Ibid., pp. 55-56.

240

NOTES:

BUSINESS

Munro, op. cit., p. 51. Kent, op. cit., p. 112. I bid., p. 120. Steffens, op. cit., pp. 608-609. C. Pendleton Herring, Group Representation before Congress (The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1929), pp. 30-60. 13. Report of House Committee on charges against members of the House and lobby activities (House Report 113, 63d Congress, December 9, 1913), p. 15. 14. Peter Odegard, T h e American Public Mind (Columbia University Press, New York, 1930), p. 172. 15. Marcus Duffield, King Legion (Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, New York, 1931), p. 13. 16. Kent, op. cit., Chapter XLV. 17. Quoted by Peter Odegard, in T h e American Public Mind, op. cit., pp. 169-170, note. 18. Ibid., pp. 168-169. 19. Odegard, op. cit., p. 169. 20. Ibid., p. 173. s i . Odegard, op. cit., p. 171, note. 22. Ibid., p. 171. 23. Ibid., p. 174. 24. Kent, op. cit., p. 271. 25. See Chapter IX, "Democracy—Fact and Myth." 26. John T . Flynn, Graft in Business (Vanguard Press, New York, 1931). 27. John T . Flynn, "Graft in Business," New Republic, August 19, 1931, p. 14. 28. Stephen Raushenbush, T h e Power Fight, New Republic, New York, 1932, pp. 4-5. 29. Reported in the New Republic, April 13, 1932, p. 223. 30. John T . Flynn "Graft in Business," New Republic, May 25. 1932' P- 3 6 31. Ibid., pp. 35-39. 32. New York Times, June 1, 1933. 33. Ibid. 34. New York Times, November 10, 1933.

8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

NOTES:

DEMOCRACY

241

35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44.

Ibid., December 5, 1933. Ibid., May 25, 1933. Ibid. New York Times, May 24, 1933. Ibid., June 29, 1933. Ibid., October 18, 1933. Ibid., February 22, 1933. Ibid., February 23, 1933. Ibid., April 15, 1931. Ernest Gruening, The Public Pays (The Vanguard Press, New York, 1931), pp. 121-122. 45. Bessie L. Pierce, "Citizens Organizations and the Civic Training of Youth," (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York,

46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58.

>933). PP- 244. 247 ff.

Ernest Gruening, op. cit., p. 53. Ibid., pp. 67-68. Ibid., pp. 225-226. Ibid., p. 227. Ibid., pp. 226-227. Ibid., p. 229. Ibid., p. 126. Ibid., p. 125. Ibid., p. 161. Peter Odegard, op. cit., p. 134. Gruening, op. cit., pp. 174-175. Ibid., p. 203. Ibid., p. 209. I X . DEMOCRACY—FACT AND M Y T H

1. William Kay Wallace, Our Obsolete Constitution (John Day Co., New York, 1932). 2. Benjamin Cardozo, The Nature of the Judicial Process (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1921), pp. 10-13, 98105, 112-16. 3. Reginald Heber Smith, Justice and the Poor (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Bulletin No. 13, New York, 1924), pp. 17-34. James L. Coke, "On Jury Trial," Oregon Law Review, June, 1922, pp. 177-83.

242

NOTES:

DEMOCRACY

Arthur Harris McConnell, "What is Wrong with the Jury System?" Canadian Bar Review, March, 1924, pp. 199-202. 4. See Adair v. U. S., 208 U. S. 161. Coppage v. Kansas, 236 U. S. 1. These cases are discussed by Paul Douglas in The Coming of a New Party (McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1932), p. 42. 5. Hitchman Coal and Coke Company v. Mitchell, 245 U. S. 229. United Mine Workers v. Red Jacket Coal Company, 18 /. (2) 839. Case discussed by Paul Douglas, op. cit., p. 42. 6. See Chapter VI, "Economic Planning for an Economy of Plenty." 7. See Chapter V, "American Economic Life." 8. See Chapter VI, "Economic Planning for an Economy of Plenty." 9. Bedford Stone Company v. Journeyman Stone Cutters Association, 274 U. S. 37. This case is discussed by Paul Douglas in The Coming of a New Party (McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1932), p. 43. 10. New York Times, March 22, 1932. 1 1 . Leo Nebbia v. the People of New York, New York Times, March 6, 1934. 12. Horace Taylor and Joseph D. McGoldrick, Readings in Contemporary Problems (Columbia University Press, New York, 1930), II, 142. 13. John R . Commons, Legal Foundations of Capitalism (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1924), pp. 1 1 - 1 8 , 32-36, 47-55, 61-64. See also Chapter V, "American Economic Life." 14. Reginald Heber Smith, op. cit., pp. 41-42, 52-56, 68-72. "Conciliation," American Bar Association Journal, IX, 746-47. 15. John Mabry Mathews, "Municipal Representation in State Legislatures," National Municipal Review, March, 1923. 135-4 1 16. Frank R . Kent, T h e Great Game of Politics (Doubleday, Doran and Co., New York, 1928). See also Chapter VIII, "Government, Business, and Pressure Groups."

NOTES:

DEMOCRACY

243

17. W . Brooke Graves, Donald Wilhelm, " T h e Lobby in Washington," in Readings in Public Opinion (D. Appleton Century Co., New York, 1928), pp. ggi-1000. A. Gordon Dewey, "Pressure Groups and Government," Political Science Quarterly, December, 1933. E. Pendleton Herring, Group Representation before Congress (The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1929), pp. 30-60. 18. See Chapter V, "American Economic Life." 19. John Chamberlain, Farewell to Reform (Liveright, Inc., New York, 1932), Chapter X . 20. James T . Young, T h e New American Government and Its Work (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1929), pp. 6343921. Ibid., pp. 638-39. 22. William K. Wallace, Our Obsolete Constitution (John Day Co., New York, 1932). Also see Chapter V, "American Economic Life." 23. Ibid., p. 178. 24. Ibid., pp. 178-179. «5. Benjamin Cardozo, T h e Nature of the Judicial Process (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1921), pp. 10-13, 105, 122-116. E. R. Trayer, "Judicial Legislation: Its Legitimate Function in the Development of the Common Law," Harvard Law Review, V, 172-201. Roscoe Pound, T h e Spirit of the Common Law (Marshall Jones Co., New York, 1921), pp. 7-9. Harlan Stone, " T h e Significance of a Restatement of the Law," Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, Vol. X, No. 3, pp. 3-5. 26. Harold J. Laski, Studies in Law and Politics (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1932). 27. Discussed in Chapter X, "Freedom in an Industrial Society." 28. Discussed at length in Chapter V, "American Economic Life"; also in Chapter VI, "Economic Planning for an Economy of Plenty." 29. Ibid. 30. Discussed at length in Chapter VII, "Nationalism, Internationalism, and an Economy of Plenty."

NOTES:

244 X.

FREEDOM

FREEDOM

IN AN

INDUSTRIAL

SOCIETY

1. T h e background for this discussion has already been laid in the preceding chapters. 2. James Truslow Adams, Our Business Civilization (Albert and Charles Boni, New York, 1930), p. 68. 3. Courtenay Terrett, Only Saps Work (The Vanguard Press, New York, lgjo). 4. John T . Flynn, Graft in Business (The Vanguard Press, New York, 193»). 5. Quoted in T h e Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens (Harcourt Brace and Co., New York, 1931), p. 609. XI.

A

DYNAMIC

SOCIAL

THEORY

1. For the most part, the background for this discussion has already been laid in the preceding chapters. 2. See Chapter X, "Freedom in an Industrial Society," Chapter IX, "Democracy—Fact and Myth," Chapter IV, "Art in a Machine Culture," and Chapter III, "Science and Technology." 3. See Chapter VIII, "Government, Business and Pressure Groups." 4. See Chapter IX, "Democracy—Fact and Myth," and Chapter X, "Freedom in an Industrial Society." 5. See Chapter VI, "Economic Planning for an Economy of Plenty," Chapter IX, "Democracy—Fact and Myth," and Chapter X, "Freedom in an Industrial Society." XII.

EDUCATION

IN THE N E W

ERA

1. See Chapter I of this book, " T h e Social Challenge to Education." See also W. H. Kilpatrick and others, T h e Educational Frontier (The Century Co., New York, 1933), Chapter I, " T h e Confusion in Present Day Education." 2. Ibid., Chapter II, " T h e Social-Economic Situation and Education." See also American Historical Association, Commission on the Social Studies, Conclusions and Recommendations (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, »934)-

NOTES:

EDUCATION

245

3. A. N. Whitehead, The Aims of Education and Other Essays (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1929), Chapter I. Harold Rugg, and Ann Shumaker, The Child Centered School (The World-Book Co., New York, 1928). 4. The Conclusions and Recommendations of the Commission on the Social Studies of the American Historical Association are based upon the assumption that the school avoids teaching conflicting alternatives. The reports of Beard, A Charter for the Social Sciences and Merriam, Civic Education in the United States, which are a part of the same American Historical Association series, make the same assumption. 5. Ibid. 6. T h e earlier chapters of this book are full of challenges and social implications for both elementary and secondary school curricula. 7. Whitehead, op. cit., p. 10. 8. Eduard C. Lindeman, The Meaning of Adult Education (The New Republic, New York, 1926). The Adult Education Magazine, National Education Association, Washington, Washington, D. C. 9. American Historical Association, Commission on the Social Studies, Conclusions and Recommendations, Lindeman, op. cit. Ellsworth Collings, An Experiment with a Project Curriculum (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1927). Frank W. Cyr, "Developing a State-Wide Program for the Small Secondary School," Teachers College Record, May, 1934. 10. Our Social-Economic Situation and the New Education. (Report of a subsidiary of the Department of Superintendence Committee on "Education for a New America," presented at an N.E.A. meeting at Cleveland, February, 1934). 11. American Historical Association, Commission on the Social Studies, Conclusions and Recommendations, Chapter VIII.

INDEX Adams, Charles Francis, 133 Adams, James Truslow, 167 Adams, John, 11, 88 Adams, Samuel, 88 Adding Machine, The, 39 A d u l t education, s o i - s ; system of, in an economy of plenty, s i s Adults, cynicism of, a result of failure and disillusion, 15 Advertising, control of newspapers t h r o u g h , 137 Agricultural Adjustment Act, 76 Agricultural Adjustment Administration, attempt of, to raise prices, 8s Agriculture: Agricultural Adjustment Act controls of, 76; dependence of, upon foreign markets, 98; dependence of, upon science, 18-19; effects of isolationist policy upon, 103; increasi n g man-hour productivity in, 48; interests conflicting with industry to be recognized in a planned economy, 78—73; planned economy would reorganize, 74; tariff effects upon, 101; victim of too m u c h competition, 69-70 Airplanes, streamlining of, 4s Alleghany Corporation, 133 Ambassadors, economic rôle under the new nationalism, 113 America: achievements of, pride in, justifiable, 173; aristocratic tradition in, 10-11; art in, 36-41, 45;

attitude of people of, toward technological change, 5; capitalistic theory dominant in, 18s; changes imminent in education in, i s ; confidence a characteristic of, 190-91; culture of, being built, 13; culture of, withdrawal of artists from, 37; democracy in, 9 - 1 1 ; dependence of, upon other nations, 97-98; distribution of income and wealth in, 49-54; economic life in, 46-71; economic planning favored by people of, 8; future of, uncertain, 191; industrialism in, 4-5; love of beauty in, 33-34; new, peaceful, industrial revolution under way in, 46; no revolution in, 175; particular type of education required for, 193; people of, not yet ready for economic planning, 72—73; productive capacity of, 46-49; results of cultural emphasis on science and technology in, 33; science in, 17-18; self-sufficiency of, fair, 104; social change in, 6 - 7 ; social planning in, 7-8; tariffs protected early development in, 108; traditional responsibilities of education in, 3-4 Americanization programs, a type of adult education, 201 American Legion, lobby of, 125-26 American Railroad Association, 126 American Sugar Cane League, i s 6

248

INDEX

American Sugar Refining Company, 60 American Tobacco Company, 60 American tradition, the: art in, 186-87; classless society in, 19798; concentration of wealth and protection of individualistic economic institutions opposed to, 71; controlling direction of artistic development, 45; democracy in, 11; dictatorship alien to, 139; educators must live and work in, 197; finest heritage from the past, 139-40; freedom in, 157; international economic planning desirable from viewpoint of, 118; outstanding contribution to Western culture, 188; "progress" in, 5; science in, 31-32; theory of protection of wealthy has deep roots in, 183 American Tragedy, An, 39 Anderson, Sherwood, on art in a machine age, 41 Antheil, George, 39 Anthropology, union of art and utility discovered by, 35 Architecture: as union of science and art, 40; progressive schools fail to deal with housing in teaching of, 200; relationship of, to American scene, 187 Aristocratic tradition: effect of frontier upon, 188; in America, 10-11 Arkansas Public Service Information Bureau, 136-37 Armaments: control and abolition of, objective of the new education, 206; increase in, 181; increases in expenditures for, 9394; isolationist policies accompanied by increase in, 104; lobbying in connection with, 128; new nationalism would make un-

necessary, 114-15; reduction of, aim of the new internationalism, 117-18. See also Navy Art: ally of science, 42-43; art for art's sake theory of, 37-38; controlling development of, 45; education must be concerned with, 197; effect of science on, 27; escape mechanism, 39; functional, 34-36; implications of non-functional theory of, 36-39; in a machine culture, 33-45; revolutionary concepts of, caused by science and technology, 176; social theory of, discussed, 186-87; study of, in the new education, 206-7; vitality of, in machine age, 38-45 Artists: confusion among, as to place of art in a machine culture, 36; withdrawal of, from main stream of American culture, 37 Associated Gas and Electric Company, 127-28 Associated Press, 137 Autocracy, social theory of, discussed, 184-85 Automobile industry, example of increasing productivity of workers, 47 Automobiles, streamlining of, 42 Ballet Michanique, 39 Baker, Newton, D „ 133 Banking and Finance Committee of the Senate of the United States, investigation by, 81-82 Banks: New Deal aid to, 83; reorganization of, 183 Bay State Milling Company, 130 Beard, Charles A., 57, 59 Beauty, functionalism and, 34-36, 38-45. See also Art Bel Geddes, Norman, 40-41, 207 Bell Telephone Company, 127

INDEX Benton, T h o m a s Hart, 39 Berengaria, 42 Berle a n d Means: statistics on corporate control of wealth cited by, 5 ° Bethlehem Steel Corporation, bonus system of, 129-30, 134 Big business, see Concentration of control of wealth Bill of Rights: guarantees of freedom in, 157; liberalization of the Constitution, 57 Biology, practical achievements of, 21 Black Shirts, 185 Bode, Boyd H., 7 Borsodi, Henry, 5 Boston Transcript, 130 Boycott, economic, method of enforcing international agreements, 117 Brandeis, Louis D., 144 Bremen, 42 Bridges, as examples of union between the functional and the beautiful, 34 Brookings Institution: estimates of productive capacity of America,48 Bryan, William Jennings, 10 Business: graft in, omnipresence of, 168-69; influence of, with political machines, 121-24; planning requires a realistic knowledge of, 119; protection of interest of, social theory discussed, 181-84; sabotage practiced by, 161; unsocial practices in, 129-35 Canada, economic colony of United States, 106 Capital: corollary of institution of private property, 55; interests of, conflicting with labor, to be recognized in a planned economy, 73-74

249

Capitalistic theory, dominant in America, 182 Cardozo, Benjamin, 7 Caribbean Sea: American empire in, 89; continuation of imperialism in, 91 Cather, Willa, 10 Cause-and-effect relationships: discoverability of, a faith of science, 22; omnipresence of, a faith of science, 22; scientific faith in, its effect o n common-sense attitude of t h e great mass of t h e people, 26 Change: effects of concepts of, 25; technological, attitudes toward, 5. See also Social change Charity, inadequacy of, 180 Chase, Stuart, 35; cited on increasing m a n - h o u r productivity of industry, 48 Chase National Bank, 134 Check-and-balance system: effects of, undesirable, 153-55; freedom h a m p e r e d by, 165; protection to vested economic interests, 57 Chemistry, practical achievements of, 20-21 Chicago, 39 Chicago World's Fair of 1933-34, 40 Child labor, 54; N.R.A. provisions concerning, 80 China, Open Door policy in, 89, 105 Cinema: agency for spread of power interests' propaganda, 136; exa m p l e of d e m a n d that art have relation to t h e American scene, 186-87; photography of, not accepted as art, 36 Cities: interdependence of, 178; political control of, 123 Cities Service Corporation, 136 City planning, combination of util-

250

INDEX

ity and beauty in, 42-44. See also Housing Civilian Conservation Corps, 84 Civil War: all thought of disunion ended by, 95-96; chaotic period produced by, 174 Classes, social theory of, 187-89 Classless society: American tradition, 197-98; cherished American possession, 9; social theory of, 187-89 Clay, Henry, 11 Clayton Act of 1914, 60, 143 Clergy, speakers for power interests, 137. See also Religion Cleveland, Grover, 10 Coal industry: planned economy would reorganize, 74; victim of too much competition, 69 Collective bargaining: conditions making for, 66; essential under present conditions, 143; violation of N.R.A. provisions concerning, 80-81. See also Labor unions Collectivism, new era of, emerging, 6. See also Planning Colonies, expense of, 106 Commerce, U. S. Department of, agency to stimulate commerce and industry, 8 "Common sense," 24 Communication: differences between states decreased by modern facilities of, 146-47; importance in national life, a direct application of scientific knowledge, 19 Communism: alien to American traditions, 139; Russia practicing, 184 Communists: advocates of overthrow of government, 9; deny possibility of planning in capitalist countries, 7

Competition, 54, 55, 56, 60-61, 6870; efficacy of, still believed in, 180; freedom guaranteed by radical changes in, 162, 164; institution of economic freedom, 158, 162; limitation of, due to increased consolidation of business concerns, 68-69; protected by legislation, 60; theory of, discussed, 182 Compulsory school attendance, ages of, raised in an economy of plenty, 212 Concentration of control of wealth, 50; controls over, 10; effects of, 50-54, 62-71; evils growing out of, 82; form of dictatorship, 185; freedom restricted by, 163; operates against impartial court decisions, 141; protection of, a method of conquering the depression, 182 Concrete, as architectural material, 40 Congress: constitutional limitation on power of, 152; effects of lobbying upon, 125-27; futile debating society dominated by vested interests, 153-54; power of Supreme Court transcends that of, 57-58. See also Lobbying Congressional Record, 127 Connecticut, 124 Constitution of the United States, 176; difficulty of change an inefficiency of, 152; guarantees of freedom in, 157; guarantees of freedom in, inadequate, 161; guarantees present economic institutions, 56, 57; protects right of contract, 59-60; states' interests protected by, 146 Consuls, function of, under the new nationalism, 113 Consumers: courts partial to pro-

INDEX ducers as against, 142; freedom of, questioned, 160; planned economy to further interests of, 75; protection to interests of, 78-79; right of, to information, as a modern basis for freedom, '59 Consumers' Guide, 78 Consumption: balance with production affected by distribution of income, 50; production lowered by balance with, 7s; reduced by increased incomes of business firms, 65 Contract: belief in inviolability of, shaken, 180; freedom guaranteed by radical changes in institution of, 162, 164; freedom of, 54, 55, 59-60, 65-68; institution of economic freedom, 158, 162; monetary fluctuation hinders equitability of, 163-64; New Deal stabilization of, 82-83; relationships guaranteed in planned economy, 74 Control: necessity of, for maintenance of necessary social functions, 178; need of, lesson of the new education, 209; of social change, 7-8; of social change, discussed, 173-75; possibility of, for terrestrial phenomena, a faith of science, 23; stabilization of money is necessary, 67. See also Planning Copeland, Morris A.: estimates of distribution of income, 49, 51-52 Copeland bill, 79 Corporations: concentration of control of wealth in, 50; defined as persons, 58; devices for divorcing social responsibility from use of wealth, 63-64; reorganizations of, a way of making easy money, 132; size alone no reason for

251

order of dissolution, 60; surplus accumulation justified, 183. See also Concentration of control of wealth Counts, George S., 6-7 Courts: inadequacy of, in light of modern conditions, 141-46; operation of, studied in the new education, 210; partial to employers as against workers, 142; partial to laissez faire individualism, 143; partial to vendors as against consumers, 142-43; unjust administration of justice by, 181. See also Justice Craftsmanship, close union of art and utility characteristic of, 35 Creativeness, in the new education, 207 Credit: control of, in planned economy, 74; overexpansion of, 67-68 Crime: challenge to science, 30; methods of dealing with, 181 Croker, Richard, 121 Cuba: abrogation of the Piatt Amendment, 114; American veiled protectorate, 89; commercial treaty with, 111; export-import bank to facilitate trade with, 112; lobbying activities in Washington concerning, 126 Culture: American, being built, 13; American, functional art an integral part of, 34-35; American, withdrawal of artists from, 37; effect of inequitable distribution of income upon, 54; in America, result of emphasis on science and technology, 33 Cutten oil pool, 133 Cynicism: result of failure and disillusion, 15; result of World War, 90-91; social effects of, 1909> Daily News Building, 40

252

INDEX

Dartmouth College Case, 59 Debts, effect of fluctuating money upon, 67. See also Contract Declaration of Independence, 157 Deductive reasoning, an element of the scientific method, 23 Deflation, 67; effects of, on property values, 8s Delaware, industrial conditions in, 80 Democracy, 9 - 1 1 , 139-56; concentration of wealth and protection of individualistic economic agencies opposed to, 71; conflict of new and old ideas of, summarized, 155-56; controlling direction of artistic development in tradition of, 45; government conducive to, 184-85; international economic planning desirable from viewpoint of, 118; majority representation opposed to, 14950; shift in present allegiances of courts necessary for, 145; teaching use of, a responsibility of education, 14; territorial representation a hindrance to, 147 Depression: belief in present economic institutions shaken by, 180; conquest of present, still open question, 174; governmental planning to conquer, 8; inadequacy of present system of justice made apparent by, 14546; lesson taught by, not learned, 181; maldistribution of income a major cause of, 148; recovery from, under theory of protection of wealthy, 182; symptom of failure of economic institutions, 62; unsocial b u s i n e s s practices brought to light by, 129; weathered by bold and intelligent leadership, 173 Dewey, John, 10; quoted on art,

Dictatorship: advocacy of, evidence of inadequacy of democratic governmental machinery, 139; social theory of, discussed, 184-85 Disarmament conferences, 92-93; lobbying in connection with, 128. See also Armaments Disease: curatives and palliatives of, a practical achievement of science, 21; relationship with income, 52-53. See also Health Distribution of products, 49-50; the problem preventing achievement of a higher standard of living. 49 Dreiser, Theodore, 10, 39 "Due process," protection to right of contract, 59 Dynamo, 39 Economic insecurity: economic planning must solve problem of, 73; elimination of, under planned economy, 75; freedom hampered by, 169 Economic interests, representation of, desirable, 129 Economics: limitations of scientific method in, 27-29; study of, in the new education, 207-9 Economy of plenty: achievement of, major aim of the new education, 207-8; basic elements determining a foreign policy for, 95-99; education in, 211-13; free trade not an instrument of achieving, 110; past relationship of American foreign policy to, 99-104; planning for, 72-86; possibility rather than dream, 175; relationship of foreign relations to, 87118 Education: basic beliefs of present practice, 3; changes imminent in, 12; cooperation of, with othCT

INDEX organized groups, 213; essential to economic planning, 86; function of, clearly delineated at one time, 193-94; in the new era, 193-213; leadership must be furnished by, 213; leaders stress rapidity of social change in, 6-7; limitations of scientific method in, 27-28; limitations of scientific specialization in, 28-29; need of campaign of, against war, 1 1 6 17; need of developing a modern theory of, 3-4; planned economy dependent upon, 75; planned economy would develop projects for, 74-75; power interests' shaping of, 135-37; responsibilities of, in time of social change, 12-16; social challenge to, 12-16; socioeconomic realities to be dealt with in new era of development of, 16; successful carrying out of social functions a responsibility of, ig6; traditional responsibilities of, in America, 3-4; uncertainty pervades, 193; use of scientific methods in, 19; variation in expenditures for, 53-54 Educators: prestige of, in economy of plenty, 2 1 2 - 1 3 ; responsibility of, to develop and practice a social theory, 13-16; social orientation of, 195-98. See also Teachers Egypt, ancient, 17 Eighteenth Amendment, example of inefficiency of amending procedure, 152 Electrical machinery, a product of the principles and techniques laid down by the physicist, 20 Electric Bond and Share Company, Electric power: aid to beauty in factory construction, 40-41; re-

253

duces smoke nuisance, 44; Tennessee Valley Authority attempt to lower price of, 84-85 Elementary education, 198-201 Emergency Farm Mortgage Act, 83 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 10, 186 Emotion, need for, in social faiths, 189-91 Engineering, as essential to architecture, 40. See also Technology Equality of opportunity: a basic motivation of the American people, 87; effect of poverty upon, 54; frontier conditions made for, 9-10; guaranteed by conditions of American frontier, 158 Escape mechanism, art as, 39 Europa, 42 Europe, American trade with, 106-7 Evolution, reorienting effect of concept of, 25 Export-import banks, aids to foreign trade, 112 Ezekiel, Mordecai, 102 Factories: combination of utility and beauty in, 40-41, 43-44; examples of union between the functional and the beautiful, 34 Faith, in our intelligence, necessary, •74

Faiths, 22; need for, discussed, 18991; old, being shaken, 176 Farewell Address, Washington's, 91 Farmers, income received by, 49. See also Agriculture Fascism: alien to American traditions, 139; testimony of growth of nationalism, 96 Federal Deposit Insurance, 82 Federal Emergency Relief Act, 84 Federal Reserve Act of 1913, 61 Fifth Amendment: protection to private profit, 58; protection to private property, 57

254

INDEX

Flynn, John T . , 169 Fordney-McCumber Bill, 126 Foreign debts: difficulties in paying, 9s; effects of insolationist policy upon collection of, 103-4; imperialistic use of, 106-7; improbability of collection of, 67-68; policy toward, under the new nationalism, 11s; result of American financial dominance, 92 Foreign relations: American, history of, 87-90; basic elements for an economy of plenty, 95-99; economy of plenty dependent upon, 87; past relationship to economy of plenty in America, 99-104; study of, in the new education, 211 Fourteenth Amendment: protection to private profit, 58; used as protection to private property, 57 Frame of reference, 3-11 France: colonial experiences of, 106; nationalistic country, 96; trade agreement with, 111-12 Franklin, Benjamin, 10 Frederick, J. George, estimate of minimum American standard of living, 51 Freedom, 157-70; children in present schools not allowed enough, 198; concepts of, an illustration of the divergence between old and new social principles, 177-79; economic insecurity destroys basis of, 73; modern beliefs as to basis for, 159, 161, 162, 165, 166, 168; satisfaction of human needs a requirement of, 162; social restraints necessary for, 196; summary of old and new guarantees of, 170; teaching use of, a responsibility of educators, 14; traditional and outworn faiths

concerning, 159, 161, 162, 165, 166, 168 Free trade, 108-10; disregard of nationalism a weakness of, 109; international planning impossible under, 118; opposite of planning, 110; still believed in, 180; study of, in the new education, 211 Frontier, American: disappearance of, 188; freedom made an essential American tradition by conditions of, 157-58; source of democracy, 9-10; spirit of, perpetuated in the school system through a growing emphasis upon the individual, 13; termination of, 89 Frozen Assets, 39 Functional representation, undercover manifestations at present, 148 Functionalism, in art, beauty and, 34-35, 40-43 Furniture, machine-made, beginning to receive attention of artists, 41 Garland, Hamlin, 10 Gary, Elbert H „ 69 General Electric Company, 132-33 General Federation of Women's Clubs, 137 George Washington Bridge, a triumph in the blending of art and science, 40 Germany: colonial experiences of, 106; nationalistic country, 96; tariffs acted as powerful force for unity in, 108-9 "Gerrymandering," hindrance to democratic government, 147 Gershwin, George, 39 Gilbert, S. Parker, 134 Gilded Age, 125

INDEX Glass, as architectural material, 40 Gold: acquisition of, an important step in American isolationist program, 100; attraction of world's supply of, an instrument of nationalistic policy, g6; desire that excess of exports over imports be paid in, 91; large share held by U. S. made difficult payment of foreign debts in, 9s Compere, Samuel, 143 Government: agency for planning, 8; American tradition requires republican form of, 197; arbitrator of conflicting economic interests in a planned economy, 73-74; basic faiths of, inherited from past, 141, 146, 149, 151-5*; centralization of responsibility in executive department of, desirable, 154; control of, 14-15; control of competition by, 61; control of foreign trade by, under the new nationalism, 112-13; control of industries by, limited by Supreme Court, 58-59; economic interests represented in, 129; efficacy of institutions of, questioned, 185; financial burden of planning upon, 86; freedom requires revision of, 165; freedom traditionally achieved through operation of present, 165; inefficiency caused by unplanned additions to machinery of, 152; interference of, in business, 61; limitations of scientific method in, 27-28; lobbying in, 124-29; machinery of, 139-56; majority representation destroys interest in, 150; money power's control of, 66; play of forces in, 119-21; political machines in, 121-24; social change stressed by leaders in, 7; study of, in the new educa-

«55

tion, 209-11; summary of new and old ideas for adequacy of, «55-56 Gradualism, a method of social change, 8 Graft in Business, 129, 169 Great Britain: free trade permitted by early development of Industrial Revolution in, 108; freetrade stronghold turning toward protection by tariffs, 110; India profitable to, 106; Navigation Acts, 87; purpose of Revolutionary War to secure freedom from, 87-88 Great God Brown, The, 39 Greece, ancient, 17; place of art in,

35. 3» Hadley, T . Arthur, 6i Hairy Ape, The, 39 Haiti, American veiled protectorate, 89 Hamilton, Alexander, 11, 57, 108 Hancock, John, 88 Handkerchiefs, cost of tariff protection of, 102 Hay, John, 105 Health: elimination of menaces to, part of the new education, 205; planned economy would develop projects for, 74-75; planning needed to increase, 43; public, in the new education, 204; relationship with income, 52-53. See also Disease Health insurance, necessity in planned economy, 75 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Associate Justice, 7 Home, sanctity of, being questioned, 176 Home Building, Committee on Large-Scale Operations of the President's Conference on, 43

256

INDEX

Home Owners Loan Act, 83 Homes, as examples of union between the functional and the beautiful, 34 Honegger, Arthur, 39 Honesty, present social system makes a luxury of, 169 Hoover, Herbert, administration of, contrasted with Roosevelt's, 8 Hours of work: international agreements as controls of, 116; lowering of, in a planned economy, 73; N. R. A. shortening of, 77 Housewives, dependence upon science, ig Housing: bad conditions of, in New York State, 53; need for fundamental changes in, 43; planned economy would develop, 75; progressive schools fail to deal with, in teaching architecture, 200. See also City planning Howells, William Dean, 11 Immigration laws, as control of labor supply, 8 Impartiality of courts, part of our democratic tradition, 141 Imperialism, 104-8; continuation of, after World War, 91-92; expense of, 106; fact in American history, 88-90; international planning impossible under, 118; isolation compatible with, 107; national economic self-sufficiency a policy of, 90-91; new nationalism opposed to, 113-14; still believed in, 180; study of, in the new education, 211; war caused by, 104, 107-8 Income: distribution of, in planned economy, 74; distribution of national, 49-54; effects of inequitable concentration of, 50-54; inequitable distribution of, pre-

vents full use of productive system, 162; planned economy would require heavy taxation of, 75. See also Concentration of control of wealth. Wealth Independent voting, majority representation system discourages, 150 India, 106 Individual, emphasis upon the, a result of the frontier spirit, 13 Individualism: age of, closing, 6; dominance of, in American life, 7; economic insecurity destroys basis of true, 73; freedom restricted by, 163; frontier made part of concept of freedom, 158; frontier spirit of, perpetuated in the educational system through a growing emphasis upon the individual, 13. See also Competition, Contract, Laissez faire. Private property. Profit Inductive reasoning, element of the scientific method, 23 Industrial Revolution: England's lead in, permitted free trade, 108; impact upon the schools of, 13; imperialism accentuated by fuller expansion of, 8g; new, peaceful one under way in America, 46; world made economic unit by, 97 Industry: adult education to meet requirements of, 201; beautifying of, 187; being revolutionized by technological improvement, 46-47; classes allowed to develop by, 188-89; combination of utility and beauty in, 44; condemnations of, 5; dependence of, upon materials and markets of other nations, 97-98; dependence of, upon science, 18; effects upon, of concentration of control of wealth, 62; enlarging functions

INDEX of education demanded by, 194; freedom guaranteed by labor participation in control of, 159; in America, 4-5; interests of, conflicting with agriculture, to be recognized in a planned economy, 73-74; interstate rather than intrastate, 147; limitation of production in, 76-77; maldistribution of income prevents full utilization of, 16s; mental health a problem in, 29-31; practical achievements of chemistry in, s i ; Reconstruction Finance Corporation loans to, 83; shifting of, to foreign lands, caused by tarife, 101; social principles adaptable to, discussion of, 177-79; study of, in the new education, 208; summary of new governmental ideas required by development of modern, 155-56. See also Machine age Infant mortality, relationship of, with income, 52 Inflation, 67 Initiative, the, a democratic movement, 10 Injunctions, labor, 142 Institutions, economic, 54-71; failure of, 62-71. See also Competition, Contract, Private property, Profit Insull, Samuel, 132 Insurance companies: New Deal aid to, 83; subject to governmental control, 58 Interdependence of nations, 97-98; basic element in foreign policy, 95; caused by concentration of industry, 6; localization of wars made difficult by, 99 Interest rates, legislative lowering of, 83 Interior, U. S. Department of the.

857

an agency to stimulate commerce and industry, 8 Internal Revenue, Commissioner of, statistics on distribution of income issued by, 49 International cooperation, 1 1 5 - 1 8 ; American share in, after World War, 92-95; attempts to follow policy of, 90; knowledge of government, business, and pressure groups requisite to, 119; nationalism stronger than, 93, 96-97; still in make-believe stage, 97 International Economic Conference, 94-95; example of international regulation of production, 115-16 International Harvester Company, 60 Internationalism: new, 1 1 5 - 1 8 ; old, see Free trade. Planning International Match Company of America, 132 International Paper Company, 138 International trade, 97-98; basic element in foreign policy, 95; control of, 8; facilitated by the new nationalism, 1 1 1 - 1 3 ; reciprocal trade agreements in, 1 1 1 - 1 2 . See also Planning Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, 61 Interstate Commerce Commission, 8 Invention, suppression of, 31 Investment, control of, in planned economy, 74 Isolation: imperialism compatible with, 107; international planning impossible under, 118; new cultural emphasis in America made possible by, 18; results of, 100104; sentiment for, 91; still believed in, 180; study of, in the new education, 2 1 1 ; theory rather than a fact, 88; war caused by, 107-8

258

INDEX

Italy: colonial experiences of, 106; nationalistic country, 96; suggested trade agreement with, 1 1 a Jackson, Andrew, 10, 140 James, Henry, 1 1 Japan: armament increase in, 181; ignoring of Kellogg-Briand Pact by, 94; nationalistic country, 96 Jay, John, 1 1 Jefferson, Thomas, 10, 140 Johnson, Hugh, 81 Johnson, T o m , 69 Junior colleges, expansion of, in an economy of plenty, 212 Justice, 141-46; administration of, in America, 1 4 - 1 5 ; allegiances of present system of, must be shifted, 145; always partial, 145; believed to be guaranteed by free competition, 56; effect of money power upon, 66; partial to rich as against poor, 141; pragmatic, desirable in a dynamic social system, 141; present administration of, 181; social, a cherished American possession, 9; social concept, 145. See also Courts Kahn, Otto H., 134 Kansas, 127 Keezer, Dexter M., 59 Kellogg-Briand Pact, 93, 94; mere expression of amity, 97 Kent, Frank, 123 Kilpatrick, William H., 7 King, Wilford I., statistics on distribution of wealth, 50; study of relationship between wages and health, 52 Kreuger, Ivar, 1 3 1 - 3 2 Kreuger and Toll, 1 3 1 - 3 2 Kuhn, Loeb and Company, 134 Labor: abundance of, reversal of

frontier equality of opportunity, 159; bargaining power of, 66; freedom of, guaranteed by participation in control of industry, 159; interests of, conflicting with capital, to be recognized in a planned economy, 73-74; international planning in relation to, 116; right of, to work, a guarantee of freedom, 15g; scarcity of, frontier condition making for equality of opportunity, 158; supply of, controlled by immigration laws, 8. See also Minimum wages. Workers Labor unions: agencies of social control, 8; conservatism of, 9; not a protection to unskilled workers, 66; under N . R A . , 8081. See also Collective bargaining Labor, U. S. Department of: agency to stimulate commerce and industry, 8; estimate of minimum standard of living for health and decency, 50-51; study of relationship between wages and infant mortality, 52 Laissez faire: age of, closing, 6; decisions of Supreme Court uphold concept of, 144; dominance of, in American life, 7; economy of plenty impossible under, 87; education for planned economy not to emphasize individualism of, 75; failure of, lesson in the new education, 208-9; free trade a policy of, 108; linked with concept of freedom, 158; no longer workable in schools, 196; perpetuated in the educational system through a growing emphasis upon the individual, 13. See also Competition, Contract, Individualism, Private property, Profit

INDEX Land, prohibitive valuation of, a chief obstacle to low rentals, 43 Latin America, continuation of imperialism in, gi. See also South America Law, social change stressed by leaders in, 7. See also Courts, Justice Lawson, John Howard, 39 League of Nations: American cooperation with, 94; American refusal to join, g i ; Covenant of, mere expression of amity, 97 Leighton, George R., 77 Leisure: aid to adult education, 201; as time reserved for art activities, 37; product of specialization, 44; science and technology responsible for increase in, 176 Leisure class: art must not be exclusive heritage of, 207; enjoyment of art by, 37 Lenin, V. I., 7 Lenroot, Irvine L., 128 Leviathan, 42 Lewis, Sinclair, 10 Liberal movements, a product of American frontier, 10 Lincoln, Abraham, 10, 140 Lindbergh, Charles A., 132, 133 Lindsay, Vachel, 39 List, Friedrich, 108-9 Lobbying, 124-29; advantage taken of territorial representation by, 148; international, 128. See also Pressure groups Locarno agreement, mere expression of amity, 97 Logic, trust in, a faith of science, London Economic Conference of 1933, see International Economic Conference London Naval Conference of 1930, 9«. 97 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 11

259

McAdoo, William G., 132, 133 Machinal, 39 Machine age: art in, 38-45; need of humanizing, 44-45. See also Industry Machine-made products: a challenge to the artist, 41; combination of utility and beauty in, 40-41; excluded from category of fine art, 36 Machines: as material for art, 3839; not accepted as art objects, 36 Magee, S. J., 127-28 Majority representation: traditional faith in, 149; undemocratic and inefficient, 149-50 Manchester School of Economics, 158 Mandate system, veiled form of imperialism, 97 Mann, Horace, 10 Markets, dependence of industry on distant, 6 Marriage, sanctity of, being questioned, 176 Marshall, John, 1 • Massachusetts, 124 May, Stacy, 59 Measurement, educational, limitations of, 28-29 Measurement, quantitative, an element of the scientific method, 23 Medicine, practical achievements of chemistry in, s i . See also Disease, Health Mellen, Charles Sanger, 124, 169 Mellen, Andrew, 11 Mental health, a colossal problem in our industrial society, 29-31 Merchant Marine Act of 1928, 128 Mexican War, an imperialistic venture. 88 Mexico, an example of close union between art and utility, 35

2ÔO

INDEX

Middle Ages, 17; " c o m m o n sense" in, 24; place of art in, 35, 38 " M i d d l e t o w n , " 120 Mill, John Stuart, 158 Mills, O g d e n , 11 M i n i m u m wages: effects of establishment of, 77; N . R . A . provisions concerning, 80 Mining, increasing man-hour productivity in, 48 Minority groups, majority representation denies representation to, 149-50 Mitchell, Charles E., 134 Money: attempt to raise prices by devaluation of, 8s; fluctuating value of, 67; freedom hampered by fluctuation of, 163: god of, a hard taskmaster, 167; international stabilization of, 95; need of stabilizing value of, 67; power of, 66; stabilization of, in planned èconomy, 74 Monopolies, prohibited by legislation, 60. See also Price-fixing Monroe Doctrine, purpose of, to warn European powers from expansion in N o r t h and South America, 88 Morgan and C o m p a n y , 133-33, 134 Morris, Gouverneur, 57 Morrow, Dwight W-, 13» Mortgages, legislation relating to, 83-84 M o v i n g pictures, see Cinema M u m f o r d , Lewis, 34 Munro, William Bennett, 123; quoted on political bosses and patronage, 121-22 Muscle Shoals, 84-85 Museums, mausoleums of dead past in art, 37 Music, modern tradition in, 187 Mussolini, Benito, 185 National Association of Manufac-

turers, l o b b y i n g activities of, 1*627 National City Bank, 134 National Education Association, Legislative Commission of, 53 National Electric L i g h t Association, '37 National Industrial Conference Board, m i n i m u m standard of livi n g estimated by, 51 National Industrial Recovery Act: attempt of, to raise purchasing power, 77; Section 7a, 80 Nationalism: basic element in foreign relations, 95; freedom hampered by, 165; power of, not recognized, 180-81; imperialism a policy of, 104; nature o f , 95-99; stronger than theory of international cooperation, g3, 96-97; the new, 1 1 0 - u ; the new, international economic body required by, 115 National L a b o r Board, 81 National Recovery Administration: as limiting competition, 69; attempt to raise prices, 82; effects of, 77-79; partiality of local boards of, 142 Natural resources, abundance of, a stimulus to science and technology. 18 Navy: large, needed for alism and 93. See also Nebbia, Leo,

belief in, 181; large, furthering of imperidefense of isolation, Armaments v. the People of the

State of New York, 144-45 Nelson, Henry Loomis, 126-27 Nelson, Herbert U., 78 Neutrality, educators cannot maintain attitude of, toward the needs of society, 15-16 New Bedford, relationship between wages and infant mortality in, 52

INDEX New Deal: consistency lacking in, 76; courts may uphold social controls of, 144-45; economic planning in, 76-86. See also Roosevelt, Franklin D. New Jersey, industrial conditions in, 80 Newspapers: control of, by special interests, 137-38; money power's influence over, 66; see also Press, freedom of New State Ice Company v. Liebman, 143-44 New York (city), cost of political campaigns in, 123 New York (state), 124; bad housing conditions in, 53; example of multiplicity of governmental units, 152; milk law, constitutionality of, 144-45; public utility lobbying in, 127-28 New York Committee on Public Utility Information, 137 New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railway, 124 Nicaragua, American veiled protectorate, 89 "No Excess Profits," 136 November IJ, 39 Nursery schools, in an economy of plenty, 212 Objectivity, an element of the scientific method, 23 Occupations, no well-defined hierarchy of, under frontier conditions, 10 Ohm Queen, The, 135 Oklahoma, 143-44 Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company Girls Quartette, 136 Old age insurance, necessity in planned economy, 75 Olive oil: cost of tariff protection, 102

a6l

O'Neill, Eugene, 39 Only Saps Work, 168 Open Door policy, 8g, 105 Open shop, traditional relationship between capital and labor, 66 Orient, 17 Orozco, José Clemente, 39 Pacific Ocean, American empire in, 89 Pacific 231, 39 Pan-American Union, 94 Parent-Teachers Associations, adult education agencies, 201 Patronage, political, 121-22 Peace: absolute necessity for economy of plenty, 98-99; basic element in foreign policy, 95; international planning dependent upon, 115; the new nationalism as an aid to, 113-14. See also War Pecora, Ferdinand, 82 Pecuniary standard of value: freedom requires dominance of values other than, 166; freedom traditionally achieved through, 166 Pennsylvania, industrial conditions in, 80 Perkins, Frances, 80 Pershing, John J., 133 Personal problems, uncertainty in regard to, 12 Philippines, provisions made for freeing, 114 Philosophy, effect of science upon, «7 Photography, grudgingly accepted as art, 36 Physics, practical achievements of, 20 Planning, 72-86; cost of, 85-86; economy of plenty dependent upon, 87; foreign trade under the

2 62

INDEX

new nationalism and, 110-15; freedom secured through, 164-65; free trade opposite to, n o ; international, 115-18; knowledge of government, business, and pressure groups essential to, 119; knowledge of unsocial business practices necessary to, 1x9; New Deal, 76-86; possibility of, in capitalist countries, 7-g; prevention of unsocial business practices required in, 135; social, in America, 7-8; study of, in the new education, 2og Piatt Amendment, 114 Playground facilities, in city planning, 43, 44 Pneumatic Drilling, 39 Police power, limitation of right of contract, 59-60 Political bosses, work for personal profit, 121-22 Political, campaigns, cost of, 12334; territorial representation hinders development of clear-cut issues in, 147-48 Political machines, 121; freedom hampered by, 166; majority representation system an aid to, 150; study of, part of the new education, sio; territorial representation easily manipulated by, 147-48 Population, growth of, a stimulus to science and technology, 18 Pound, Roscoe, 7 Poverty: conflict of, with freedom, 15; effects of, 52-54 Power Fight, The, 130 Power interests, electric: lobbying activities, 1x7-28; propaganda of, 135-37. S e e oko Electric power. Public Utilities Power machinery, a product of the principles and techniques of physics, 20

President of the United States, need for powers of, to grow more rapidly, 153 Press, freedom of, traditional guarantee of freedom, 159. See also Newspapers Pressure groups, 119-21; educators must form, 213; formation of, part of the new education, 206, 210, 211; influence of, upon government, 124-29. See also Lobbying Price fixing, 69; effects of, under N.R.A., 78; freedom hindered by, 164 Primary, the direct: a democratic movement, 10; political machine control of, 122 Primitive peoples: union between art and utility characteristic of, 35 Private property, 54-55. 56-58, 6264; definition of, by Supreme Court, 58; doctrine of protection of, 181-82; freedom guaranteed by social control of, 162, 164; institution of economic freedom, 158, 162; New Deal protection of, 82; protected by courts in America, 145; regulation of, in planned economy, 74 Processional, 39 Production: balance with consumption affected by distribution of income, 50; balance with consumption might decrease, 72; basic economic problem no longer increase of, 175; capacity of America for, 48; changes in methods of, 46-47; economic planning requires survey of capacity for, 73; freedom guaranteed by full utilization of, 161; freedom traditionally guaranteed by limitation of, 161; interna-

INDEX tional regulation of, 115-18; limitation of, 76-77; maldistribution of income prevents full utilization of, 16s; man-hour statistics of, 47-48; present economic system based upon limitation of, 161; studying capacity of, part of the new education, 208 Profit, 54, 55, 58-59, 64-65; doctrine of protection of, 181-8)1; freedom guaranteed by social control of, 16s, 164; freedom hampered by pursuit of, 166-68; institution of economic freedom, 158, 16»; limitation of, in planned economy, 74; right to a "fair return," 5g "Progress": "change" confused with, 15; powerful American tradition, 5 Progressive education, fails to deal with social issues, 199-100 Propaganda, 135-39 Proportional representation, 150-51 Protectorates, American, veiled, 89 Psychology, practical achievements of, si Public Health Service, U. S., study of relationship between income and health, 5* Public opinion: arousal of, part of the new education, 210; manipulation of, by business interests, >35-39 Public utilities: competition between, undesirable, 68; lobbying activities of companies, 127-28; present state of efficiency of, due to science, 19; subject to governmental control, 58. See also Power interests Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1913, 61 Racketeering, our social based upon, 168-69

order

263

Radio, agency for spread of power interests' propaganda, 136 Railroads: New Deal aid to, 83; planned economy would reorganize, 74; political corruption by, 124; unbridled competition of, ruinous, 68 Randall, John Herman, quoted on art in ancient Greece, 35 Raushenbush, Stephen, 130 Reality, effects of teaching in schools being in conflict with, Recall, the, a democratic movement, 10 Reconstruction Finance Corporation, 83 Recreation: part in adult education, 212; planned economy would develop projects for, 7475 Reed, Clyde M., 127 Referendum, a democratic movement, 10 Reform movements: effects of, 12223; majority representation system a discouragement to, 150 Relativity, reorienting effect of concept of, 25 Religion: freedom of, a traditional guarantee of freedom, 159; hold over people being lost, 176 Rents, low, prohibitive valuation of land a chief obstacle to, 43 Representation, 146-51; territorial basis once natural, 146. See also Functional representation, Majority representation. Proportional representation, Territorial representation Representative form of governmeni, social theory of, discussed, 184 85. See also Democracy, Government Research, question raised as to

264

INDEX

whether a disproportionate amount of time and effort has not been given to scientific methods of, 27; need for, 205 Respectability, art appreciation a mark of, 37 Restraint of trade, prohibited by law, 60. See also Price fixing Revolution: defined, 175; existence of, at present time, discussed, 17577; method of social change in America, 8-9 Revolutionary W a r , purposed to secure economic freedom from Great Britain, 87-88 Rhapsody in Blue, 39 R h o d e Island, 124 Rice, Elmer, 39 Rich, American courts partial to, 141. See also Leisure class Rivera, Diego, 39 Roads, place of, in city planning, 44 Rome, ancient, 17 Roosevelt, Franklin D., 10, 95; administration of, contrasted with Hoover's, 8; conscious of social change, 7; inaugural address quoted, 72; naval expenditures ordered by, 94; quoted on cost of sugar tariff, 102 Roosevelt, T h e o d o r e , xo Rosenwald, Lessing, 78 Rothwell, Bernard J., 130-31 Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 5 R u b b e r , cost of producing our own, 103 R u g g , Harold, 6 Russia: export-import bank to facilitate trade with, 112; fairly self-sufficient nation, 104; fundamental challenge to all other types of government, 184; nationalistic country, 96; social concept of property protected by courts in, 145

Sabotage, basis of present economic system, 161 Samoa: American acquisition of, 105; American sphere of influence in, 89 Sandburg, Carl, 10, 39 Santa Fe Trail, The, 39 Santo Domingo, American veiled protectorate, 89 Scales, combination of utility and beauty in, 41 Schlink. F. J., 79 Science, 17-32; achievements of, not wholly good, 174; aid to destructive efficiency in war, 31; ally of art, 42-43; basic source of social change, 175; basic understanding of, essential, 21-22; direction and control of, 29-32; effects u p o n fundamental beliefs and attitudes of our society, 24-26; faiths of, 22-24; in America, 17-18; limitations of, 26; part played by, in earlier civilizations, 17; practical achievements of, 19-22; result of cultural emphasis on, 33; revolutionary force, 46; study of, in the new education, 203-5 Scientific method, 23 Scientists, modern equivalent of priest, 18 Secondary schools, 201 Securities Act, 82 Securities and Exchange Commission, 82 Security, economic, basic to mental health, 30. See also Economic insecurity Self-sufficiency, national economic, 90-91. See also Isolation Senators, direct election of, a democratic movement, 10 Sert, José Maria, 39 Shearer, W i l l i a m Baldwin, 128 Sherman A n t i - T r u s t Act of 1890, 60

INDEX Sherman, Mrs. J o h n D., 137 Shipping, control of, through grants and subsidies, 8 Ships, combination of beauty and utility in, 42 Shoe industry: example of industry needing tariff protection, 109; example of limitation of output to make profit, 161-62 Shops, place of, in city planning, 43 "Simple life," proponents of return to, 5 Sinclair, Harry F., 133 Sinclair Consolidated Oil, 133 Skyscrapers: as displaying new trends in design, 40; as examples of union between the functional and the beautiful, 34 Slums: disease and delinquency conditions in, 53; possibility of eliminating, 30; removal of, 43-44 Smith, Adam, 108 Smith Corporation of Milwaukee, example of the amazing change in methods of production, 46-47 Smoke, use of electricity as reducing nuisance of, 44 Smoot-Hawley tariff, 100 Social change, 6-9; being achieved by a new, peaceful, industrial revolution, 46-49; control of, possibility of, 6-7; effects of, upon individuals, 12: essential to art's assuming significance in our culture, 42-45; existence of, 6-7; existence of, discussed, 175-77; impact of, upon economic and social institutions, 6-7; leading thinkers stress rapidity of, 6-7; methods of, 8-9; part played by science in, 24-26 Social responsibility: attempts to reestablish under New Deal, 82; divorced from ownership, 63-65; emphasis of education for

265

planned economy, 75; freedom restricted by divorce of control of wealth from, 163 Social Studies Investigation Committee, 6 Social theory: development of, a most important responsibility of educators, 13; dynamic, 170-93; methods of dealing with evils discussed, 179-81; most fundamental American problem the choosing of, 170; need for developing and putting into practice one in accord with American ideals and industrial conditions, 13; relationship to time, place, and social circumstances essential, 172 South America: American trade with, 106-7; export-import bank to facilitate trade with, 1 1 2 ; Monroe Doctrine warned off European powers from expansion in, 88 South Carolina, relationship between wages and health in, 52 Spain, war with, an imperialistic venture, 89, 105-6 Specialization: effects of, upon workers, 44; industry made interstate rather than intrastate by, 147; national, a product of reciprocal trade agreements, 1 1 1 - 1 2 ; result of the application of the scientific method, 28 Speculation, a means of profiting by inside information, 64-65 Speech, freedom of: a cherished American possession, 9; traditional guarantee of freedom, 159 Speed, demand for, results in streamlining, 42 Spengler, Oswald, 7 Spheres of influence, American, 89 Stalin, Joseph, 7 Standard of living: control of wages

266

INDEX

and prices for raising of, 78; effects of New Deal upon, 8a; foreign trade under the new nationalism will increase, 113; higher, made possible by new industrial revolution, 49; imperialism believed essential to rise in, 8g; international cooperation and planning makes possible a higher, 1 1 5 ; minimum for health and decency, 50-52; raising, problem of economic planning, 72-73; tariff increases cause lowering of, 1 0 1 - 3 Standard Oil Company, 60 Standards, Bureau of, aid to consumers, 78-79 State legislatures: lobbying activities in, 1 »7-28; political control of, 123; power of Supreme Court transcends that of, 57-58 States, communication and transportation as decreasing differences between, 146-47 States' interest: protected in Constitution, 146 States' rights: linked with concept of freedom, 158 Statistical thinking, 25 Statistics, educational, of, 28-29

limitations

Steel, as architectural material, 40 Steel industry, example of increasing productivity of workers, 47 Steffens, Lincoln, 1 2 1 , 124, 169 Stevenson, Charles R., 48 Stockholders, unimportance of, 6 3 65 Stock yards, subject to governmental control, 58 Stone, Harlan Fiske, 144 Streamlining: example of combination of utility and beauty, 42 Strikes, weapon in collective bargaining, 81. See also Collective bargaining

Suffrage, universal: demand for schools created by, 1 2 - 1 3 ; democratic movement, 10 Sugar: child labor flourishes in industry, 102; cost of producing our own, 103; cost of tariff protection, 102; necessary import, g8; tariff-protected industry, 102 Sullivan, Louis, 186 Supreme Court: decisions favorable to laissez faire individualism, 14344; derisions in regard to competition, 60-61; decisions in regard to right of contract, 59-60; decisions of, guarantee present economic institutions, 56, 58; freedom hampered by, 166; power of, dominates governmental and social policy, 154-55; power of, transcends that of state legislatures and Congress, 57 Sydenstricker, Edgar, study of relationship between wages and health made by, 52 Tammany, expenditures by, 123 Tariffs: controls of foreign trade, 8; effects of increases in, 100-103; examples of logrolling legislation, 154; freedom hampered by, 165; imperialistic agencies, 107; increase in, 100; instrument of economic planning, 1 1 1 ; lobbying in connection with, 126-27; method of conquering the depression, 182; obstacle to payment of foreign debts, 92; protection of the home market, 9 1 ; protection to early development of industry, 108; tool of nationalistic development, 96 Taxes: avoidance of, by deferring profits and writing up losses, 1 3 3 34; examples of logrolling legislative procedure, 154; place in eco-

INDEX nomic planning, 86; planned economy would require income and inheritance taxes, 75; social theory of, 183 Teachers, intellectual immaturity characteristic of, ioo. See also Educators Teacher-training institutions: expansion of, in economy of plenty, s i s ; failure to see possibilities of American social life, 2 1 1 - 1 2 ; fundamental changes required in, 194-95; inadequacies of present education largely flow from, 198 Technology: basic source of social change, 175; changes in communication and transportation brought by, 176; changes produced by, 5; improvement in, not confined to manufacturing, 48; improvements in, displacing men in industry, 46-47; in America, 17-18; result of cultural emphasis on, 33; revolutionary force, 46; social change caused by advance of, 6; study of, in the new education, 205 Telephone Building, 40 Tennessee Valley Authority, 84-85 Tentativeness of results, a faith of science, «3 Terrett, Courtenay, 168 Territorial representation: functional representation now actually masquerades as, 148; hindrance to democratic government, 147; traditional faith in, 146 Textile industry: planned economy would reorganize, 74; tariff-protected, child labor flourishes in, 102; victim of too much competition, 69 Thayer, W. T „ 127-28 Theater, social problems in, 187 Thoreau, Henry, 10

267

Toledo Scale Company, scales of, an example of combining utility and beauty, 41 Tolstoi, Leo, Count, 5 Trade associations: agencies of social control, 8; limitations placed upon competition by, 69; lobbying by, 1*6-17 Trains, streamlining of, 42 Transportation: differences between states decreased by modern facilities of, 146-47; importance of, in national life, a result of science, 19; increasing man-hour productivity in, 48; need of speed in, results in streamlining, 4*; progressive schools fail to deal realistically in teaching of, 200; study of, in the new education, 205 Travel: as part of teacher training, 212; international planning as facilitation of, 116 Treadwell, Sophie, 39 Treaties, as controls of foreign trade, 8 Truth, changing concept of, 25 Tugwell bill, 79 Tupelo, Mississippi, 84-85 Twain, Mark, 125, 186 Underwood, Oscar W., 126 Unemployment: methods of dealing with, discussed, 179-80, 183; solving problem of, part of the new education, 208 Unemployment insurance: a democratic movement, 10; necessity of, in planned economy, 75 Unemployment relief, 84-85; doles to financial manipulators huge compared to, 163 United Corporation, 132-33 United States, see America United States Beet Sugar Association, 126

268

INDEX

United States Shoe Machinery Company, 60 United States Steel Corporation, 69 Universities: adult education through extension courses of, 201; art appreciation courses in, 37; concerned with perpetuation of traditional subject matter, 194; education in, free in an economy of plenty, si2 University of Iowa, 136 Van Sweringen, O.P. and M.J., 133 Versailles, Treaty of, 91 Vinson Naval Construction Bill, 94 Wages: control of, in planned economy, 73, 74; international agreements as controls of, 116; right to living, a guarantee of freedom, 159. See also Minimum wages Wagner, Robert F., 81 Wallace, Henry A., 103 Wallace, William K., 152 War: abolition of, dependent upon changes in dominant habits, ideals, and institutions, 31; abolition of, part of the new education, 206; causes of, studied in the new education, 211; consequence of isolationist policies, 104; disaster to all nations brought by, 178; imperialism and isolation causes of, 107-8; new internationalism requires education against, 116-17; new internationalism to remove causes of, 118; new nationalism reduces possibility of, 114-15; new nationalism will eliminate many of the basic causes which have led to, 110; result of a class society, 189; ruinous to all under present conditions, 98-99; undesirable

method of enforcing agreements, 117. See also Peace War of 181», 88 Washington, D. C., lobbying in, i»5-*7 Washington, George, 88, 91 Washington Conference of 1922, 92, 96 Wealth: distribution of, 49-54; effects of inequitable distribution of, 50-54; inequitable distribution of, permitted by control of government, 148. See also Concentration of control of wealth, Income Wheat: American exports of, 98; international regulation of production of, 115-16; sale abroad reduced by tariff barriers, 101 Whitehead, A. N., 200 Whitman, Walt, 10, 186 Whitney, George, 133 Wiggin, Albert H „ 134 Williams, C. C., 136 Wilson, Wood row, 10 Women's clubs, means of spreading big-business propaganda, 137 Wood, Edith E., quoted on effects of slums, 53 Woodin, William H „ 132, 133 Workers: adult education for, 201; affected by specialization in industry, 44; courts partial to employers as against, 142; effect of concentration of control of wealth upon, 64; freedom of, questioned, 160; income received by, 49-52; N.R.A. protection of, 81; productivity of, increased by technological advance, 46-48; sabotage practiced by. 161. See also Labor World Economic Conference of 1933, see International Economic Conference

INDEX World War, 89-90; chaotic period produced by, 174; cost of, 99; disillusionment of American people by, go-91; lessons taught by, not learned, 181; social planning during, 8; use of science in, 174 "Yellow-dog" contracts: court decisions favorable to, out of har-

269

mony with modern conditions, 143; judicial interpretation of, 141 Young, James T., quoted on right of contract, 60 Young, Owen D., 133 Youth, American, social influences affecting, 14-15