John Bates Clark

The Law of Wages and Interest

Is a robbery in which three quarters of the human family are victims perpetuated and legalized by the &dquo; capitalistic&dquo; system ? These things we shall know if we can find the forces that govern the rate of pay for labor. We shall do more, for we shall discover in what direction the system is tending, and whether its very progress is baneful. We shall know whether the system that perfects society as a whole is merciless to the workers who chiefly compose it. This is little less than knowing whether in the long run human life is worth living. Yet

The Possibility of Competition in Commerce and Industry

not continue, the safety of the public will depend on a regulation of prices by ofhcials of the state. The objections to this measure are little appreciated. The complexity and difficulty of the work of fixing prices by authority and the uncertainty of the results are self-evident. Not quite so self-evident are the checks which the policy would put on technical improvement and the paramount importance of such improvement. Prices as fixed by a commission would doubtless be based, in the main, on the cost of production and a reasonable return for the producer. On such a basis a great trust might be able to make as much with antiquated appliances as with modern ones, and it would naturally rebel against the necessity of &dquo; sacrificing capital &dquo; by throwing away the machinery it has. So to speak, it would make no adequate use of a junk heap, and invention would stagnate-than which, if it became a general condition, no greater evil of an economic sort is conceivable. On the other hand, if competition should continue, another measure would come into view as a possibility and it needs to be

The Surplus Gains of Labor

a laborer realizes a surplus gain from the last labor performed in a natural working day. A true surplus seems to me to be a net accession of well-being in consequence of all the effects of this final labor. The work of the last quarter of an hour benefits the man through the things that he can buy with the wages then earned. It injures him, first, by the weariness that it entails, and secondly, by the confinement that it involves. It deprives the man, first, of so much nervous and muscular tissue, which is a physical loss, and, secondly, of so much pleasure that he might otherwise have had from walking, conversing with friends, playing games, fishing, gardening, reading, etc. It trenches on enjoyments that cost nothing and require only time. In considering whether there is a surplus of benefit realized from working through the last fifteen-minute period of the day, one must take account of one plus quantity and of two minus quantities. The whole benefit comes from the articles bought with the wages of the final period ; while the injury is the sum of two sacrifices, of which one is caused by weariness and the other by confinement. If the plus quantity exceeds the sum of the two minus quantities there is a sur-

An Unfinished Study By Dr. Merriam

is constant, the force of gravity will be constant and the (absolute)* pressure exerted by the pound weight will be invariable. So, if the valuing force of the human mind is constant, the value of the dollar will be invariable. But while the mass of the earth would appear to be pretty nearly constant and the pressure exerted by the pound weight in consequence invariable, invariability cannot be predicated of the value of the dollar. The value of the dollar is equal to the value of what it will buy, and this is a variable. This variable depends on the one hand upon the number of physical units of goods which the dollar will buy, and on the other hand upon the value of a unit. That is, it depends upon the &dquo; purchasing power &dquo; of money as reflected in prices and explained by Mill and the other economists, and upon the general level of final utilities. But for money to perform perfectly the functions of a representative of value, of a measure of value and of a standard of deferred payments, its value must be stable. The conditions of stability are &dquo; the

Patten's Dynamic Economics:

This is the beginning of a great work. The pamphlet contains one hundred and fifty-three pages ; but it suggests several hundred to the reader, and imposes on the writer the necessity of furnishing a still greater number. It is made up of beginnings of studies that call for completion. The field of Dynamic Economics is unlimited, and each pioneer work that occupies a part of it has the effect of making the whole field seem larger. The economy of progress is unlike that of rest. Advanc-