A plea for liberty an argument against socialism and socialistic legislation

Front matter

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'1^

^ 'V JC#

Conclusion

Against confiscation, as only repeating on a larger scale the injustice of the past 257

But above all against confiscation

which transfers capital to the

unprofitable tenure of the State xvu

VII. Feee Education.

The question to be considered on its merits, apart from the bribes offered by political parties . . . 261

Proposed order of discussion. The arguments in favour of 'Free' schools. The objections urged to the arguments. The general objections 262

I. The new financial burden to be thrown on the rates is justified, because

(i) Free Education is the logical sequence of the Act of 1870 263

(2) If education is compulsory, it shoidd be free 263

(3) Practically both political parties have accepted the principle, and resistance is useless . 264

(4) Sentimental argument based on the word 'Free.' Absurdity of the terms ' Free,' ' National,' 'Voluntary,' with regard to schools 265

II. These arguments might prevail if the principle of the new proposal were sound 265

The poverty of some is made an excuse to give to all . . . . 265

The proposal involves a new departure 266

The State has hitherto dealt only with exceptional classes of children 266

These are — pauper schools for children whose parents cannot support them 266

Industrial schools for uncontrollable children 266

Assisted education for children whose parents cannot pay full cost . 266

The proposal now is — to pay for all out of the rates, whether they require it or not 267

Will not this prove an injury to the self-discipline of English character? 267

The race will not improve physically by declining hardship, nor morally by evading duty 26S

The parental tie already weak among the poorer classes . . . . 268

The present proposal fatal to parental responsibility 268

Free education not comparable to the occasional and exceptional assistance of endowments for education 269

A residue of duty should be left for parents 269

Can this risk of deterioration of character be safely incurred ? . 269

Irregular attendance at school not due to fees but to 'washing day,' 'errands,' &c 270

The sentimental desire to give away what we prize for nothing — tendency of free gifts to be little valued 271

This proposed deposition of fathers from their fatherhood is an indignity to be resented . . . . 271

Knowledge gained for them at the cost of self-denial the best inheritance a man can give his children.

Parents urged not to part with this opportunity of well-doing . . 272

XVIU

VIIL The Housing of the Working-Classes and OP THE Poor.

Universal solicitude felt at the present day for the lot of the Poor.

Liberal economists share in this feeling, but, mindful of the sinister effects of legislation like the English Poor Law, deprecate rash action

The pretensions of sanitary reformers.

M. Leon Say urges the necessity of scrutinising their claims . . 276

A new '89 necessary to combat the encroachments of sanitarians

This universal meddlesomeness not the best way of attaining end in view 277

A statement of the demands made by German Socialists . . . . 277

Proposals made in Prance . . 278 Do. in England . . 279

A summary of the proposals of would-be reformers . . . . 279

Importance of the subject . . 280

Unsatisfactory nature of present condition 280

The difficulty not local but world-wide 280

Part of social problem equally with questions of food and clothing 281

The interference of the State discourages private enterprise . 281

Sanitary regulations innumerable have existed, but the indifference and opposition of the inhabitants have rendered them inoperative

The difficulty one of cost. Poor people cannot pay a high rent . . 283

Improvement in ways of locomotion of first-class importance . . 283

Necessity of keeping public interest alert ' . . . . 284

Useful part played by various societies

Proposal for an International Society for the study of the subject . 285

The increasing success of private enterprise in the business of house-building proof that such investment is remunerative . . . 286

The supply still limited, but the elite of the working-class provided for ; a consequent improvement throughout 286

The building of industrial villages in France, England, America, Prussia

Other forms of private enterprise

I. Building Societies.

For the purchase of a house by instalments ... 288

Suggestion that the reserves of Savings Banks should co-operate in the building of workmen's dwellings 292

II. The Joint Stock Company (for

letting or selling small

houses).

Successful case of Mulhouse . . 292 Excessive sub-letting by working-class landlords . . . 292 (note)

III. Societies for the licilding of

blocks of dwellings.

Their necessity when the building has to be done in the centre of a

large town 296

Instance of a loan from a Savings

Bank 297

The system of Miss Octavia Hill 297 M. Coste's scheme of 'Tenant Thrift.' Suggestion that insurance might aid in helping purchase by instalment 298

Proposals passed at the International . Congress of Paris at the instance of

the author . 299

Do. at the instance of M. Picot . 300 Summary 300

Synopsis of Conte?its.

XIX

IX. The Evils of State Teadixg as illusteated by THE Post Office.

The multifarious duties assumed by the State interfere with its efficient performance of any one duty 305

The Post Office put forward as an example of a successful State department 305

The Post Office not originated by the State 306

The Post Office monopoly . . 307

An instance of its enforcement 308

Enormous margin of profit on the penny post 309

Extension of Government monopoly to other spheres would more than double the cost of living in England 309

Some instances of Post Office anomalies 310

Doubt as to the possibility of making State postal system highly efficient

The Book-keeping of the Post Office

The discourtesy of the officials of a monopoly 312

The arbitrary way in which its customers are treated .... 313

The recent strike 314

State officials called on to surrender their right of combination in exchange for a promise of pensions and other advantages . . . 315

Is the English working-class prepared for this surrender ? . . . . 315

Mrs. Besant represents the Post Office as a model 315

The Sec. of the Union describes the service as that of a task-master worse than the vilest East End

sweater 315

The Parcel Post a financial failure

3'5 The Savings Bank, its irritating and

inconvenient arrangements . 316 Compared with the National Penny

Bank 318

Insurance Department . . . 319 Infinitesimal business done by the

Post Office 319

Telegraphs another financial failure

The only brancli of business that pays is the letter- carrying . 321

The Postmaster-General's device for raising the price of post-cards 321

The Post Office and the Telephone

Blackmail of 10 per cent, levied by the Post Office on all telephonic enterprise 323

The yearly Christmas break-down unworthy of a great and rich corporation — even in this point monopolies are inferior to private enterprise 324

Danger to the public from the complete cessation of the service furnished by a monopoly through a strike 325

Conclusion that an impartial examination of the Post Office supplies an answer to those who demand municipalisation or nationalisation of other and more important industries . . . 325

XX

Synopsis of Contents.

X. Free Libearies.

The Free Library the Socialist continuation school 329

The logic of men taught to read at public expense asking for material to read from the same source 329

But there is a point at which the rates will bear no more . . 329

The forestalling of individual effort inimical to self- discipline. . 330

Good books not out of the reach of the working-class . . . . 331

The alleged educational value of Free Libraries considered . . . 332

Absurdity of thinking that a supply of books is a synonym for education 333

Free Libraries principally used for novel reading — a harmless pursuit, but not of sufficient importance to be endowed by rates . . . 333

Statistics in proof of above . . 335

The rate limited to \d. in the pound

Various expedients for evading this limitation 34°

Activity of the Library Association in pushing the interests of a new bureaucracy 34^

The class of readers in Free Libraries a large proportion 'of no occupation.' At Wigan a fuller classification shows a large majority of well-to-do people . . . . 343

Reading not as a rule a working-class amusement 344

If books are supplied by the rates — why not theatres, cricket bats, bicycles, &c. &c. ? . . . . 344

Absurdity of term 'Free.' The accommodation provided only sufficient for I per cent, of the population. Consequent long delay in getting popular novels . . . 346

Solid works not read, the rules regulating issue of books really prohibitive of study 347

Free Libraries a typical example of compulsory co-operation . . . 348

The majority has learned the lesson of tolerance in religious matters and forbears to tax the minority

The lesson has still to be learnt with regard to our amusements . 348

In social and political questions the fight for Liberty only beginning

The tyranny of the few over the

many past, that of the many over

the few to come 34S

A bitter experience in store for us, but the result not doubtful . 349

XI. The State and Electrical Distribution.

Introductory, sketching the course of events up to 1882 ; the Paris Electrical Exhibition ; the Playfair Committee ; the private (Corporations) Electric Lighting Acts ; the Electric Lighting Bills of 1 88 2 ; the desirability shown of general legislation . 353-5

The character it should assume ; might reasonably be encouraging ; for:- should at least provide

1 . The easy acquisition of statutory

powers.

2. Non-injurious regulations for

supply.

3. Tenure sufficiently liberal to

attract investors, &c. . 355-6

Analysis of the public Bill of 1882,

showing the spirit in which the

Synopsis of Co7i tents.

XXI

Government approached th.e question ; the Select Committee ; the form in which the Bill issued therefrom . . . 356-8 The Electric Lighting Act, 1882 ; its provisions summarised — (a) As affecting local authorities — a really facilitating Act 359-60 (&) As affecting private enterprise, with special reference to the above-named essentials ; acquisition of powers, and regulations of supply, generally satisfactory ; conditions of tenure restrictive and impossible 360-2

Compared with the Tramways Act, its precedent ; conditions shown to be utterly dissimilar. The Act inaugurated a new principle in industrial legislation. 362-5 The amending Bills of 1886. (i) Lord Eayleigh's Bill. (2) Lord Ashford's Bill. (3) The Government Bill. Their provisions summarised. The Lords' Committee ; reasons for the failure of the previous Act ; the evidence of scientific and financial experts

365-7 Analysis of the amending Act of

1888. Tenure extended, though the confiscatory provisions retained ; power of veto given to local authorities . . . 367-8

Effect, so far, of these provisions (a) in London, (&) in the provinces ; illustrating instances cited 368-9

The concession last Session (1890) of the Corporations Transfer clause ; its probable effect considered, especially in the hands of gas-owning corporations. Summary, showing how private enterprise has been discouraged, to promote the supply of electricity by local authorities . . 369-7 1

Some reasons given for the belief that in their hands the industry will not be as efficiently or as economically developed as it would be by the old form of individual enterprise ; the policy discussed of using the rates (a) in speculative trading, (&) in competition vnth the private purse, as well as of creating a body of obstructionists to the utilization of any future discovery . 371-4

The probable effect of such a precedent on industrial operations generally ...... 375

XII. The True Line of Deliverance.

New Unionism will do good by reopening the whole question of Trade-Unionism .... 379 Effect of the new Unionism on the

old Unionism 380

Aims of new Unionism . 381-2 The two methods for bettering condition of labour : — restriction and open competition . . . . 383 Restrictian : — The minimum wage ; the left-outside ; the restricted entrance . . 384-5 All wage artificially enhanced is war upon other labour .... 385

The tendency of restriction to spread ; its unhealthy forms . . 386-7 Ignoring personal differences . 388 Tending towards the completed system of universal restriction . 389 Is the price worth paying ? . . 390 How far Trade-Unionism can affect

wages 390-1

Open Competition :—

The true method of raising wages 392

Faults and mistakes which prevent

the growth of capital, and the

bettering of the eondition of labour

392-3

XXll

Synopsis of Contents.

Comparison of cases of prosperous trade, with and without Trade- Union interference . . . 394-5 Frightening away the fish . . 395 Wages raised by a monopoly in trade are a tax upon all other labour

396 Mr. Thornton supposed Trade-Unionism could raise wages ; cases examined 397-8

The two meanings of high wages 399

Perfect competition would assign to

each the just reward for his work

4C0 Perfect competition impossible in old days ; how far possible now . 401 Improving competition . . . 401 Form which the new Trade-Union would take .... 401-2-3-4 Expansion of capital under a state of industrial peace ; capital, instead of going abroad, would undertake home services for workmen ; trades kept in more vigorous condition

New conditions that favour the workmen 496

Large profit of employer promotes interest of workman . . . 407

With abandonment of industrial war, must be abandonment of political war, and other forms of monopoly

Note A. How the workman's share increases in value . . . . 410

Note B. Some employers favour restricted trades 412

Note C. The two great ends : — Eeform within the Unions ; abandonment of war with capital 41 2

Introduction

FBOM FIIEED03I TO BONDAGE.

HERBERT SPENCER.

INTRODUCTION.

FROM FREEDOM TO BONDAGE.

OF the many ways in which common sense inferences about social affairs are flatly contradicted by events (as when measures taken to suppress a book cause increased circulation of it, or as when attempts to prevent usurious rates of interest make the terms harder for the borrower, or as when there is greater difficulty in getting things at the places of production than elsewhere) one of the most curious is the way in which the more things improve the louder become the exclamations about their badness.

In days when the people were without any political power, their subjection was rarely complained of; but after free institutions had so far advanced in England that our political arrangements were envied by continental peoples, the denunciations of aristocratic rule grew gradually stronger, until there came a great widening of the franchise, soon followed by complaints that things were going wrong for want of still further widening. If we trace up the treatment of women from the days of savagedom, when they bore all the burdens and after the men had eaten received such food as remained, up through the middle ages when they served the men at their meals, to our own day when throughout our social arrangements the claims of women are always put first, we see that along with the worst treatment there went the least apparent consciousness that the treatment was bad ; while now that they are better treated than ever before, the proclaiming of their grievances daily strengthens : the loudest outcries coming from ' the paradise of women,' America. A century ago, when scarcely a man could be found who was not occasionally intoxicated, and when inability to take one or two bottles of wine brought contempt, no agitation arose against the vice of drunkenness ; but now that, in the course of fifty years, the voluntary efibrts of temperance societies, joined with more general causes, have produced comparative sobriety, there are vociferous demands for laws to prevent the ruinous effects of the liquor traffic. Similarly again with education. A few generations back, ability to read and write was practically limited to the upper and middle classes, and the suggestion that the rudiments of culture should be given to labourers was never made, or, if made, ridiculed ; but when, in the days of our grandfathers, the Sunday-school system, initiated by a few philanthropists, began to spread and was followed by the establishment of day-schools, with the result that among the masses those who could read and write were no longer the exceptions, and the demand for cheap literature rapidly increased, there began the cry that the people were perishing for lack of knowledge, and that the State must not simply educate them but must force education upon them.

And so it is, too, with the general state of the population in respect of food, clothing, shelter, and the appliances of life. Leaving out of the comparison early barbaric states^ there has been a conspicuous progress from the time when most rustics lived on barley bread, rye bread, and oatmeal, down to our own time when the consumption of white wheaten bread is universal — from the days when coarse jackets reaching to the knees left the legs bare, down to the present day when labouring people, like their employers, have the whole body covered, by two or more layers of clothing — from the old era of single-roomed huts without chimneys, or from the 15th century when even an ordinary gentleman's house was commonly without wainscot or plaster on its walls, down to the present century when every cottage has more rooms than one and the houses of artizans usually have several, while all have fire-places, chimneys, and glazed "vsondows, accompanied mostly by paperhangings and painted doors ; there has been, I say, a conspicuous progress in the condition of the people. And this progress has been still more marked within our own time. Any one who can look back sixty years, when the amount of pauperism was far greater than now and beggars abundant, is struck by the comparative size and finish of the new houses occupied by operatives — by the better dress of workmen, who wear broad-cloth on Sundays, and that of servant gii'ls, who vie with their mistresses — by the higher standard of living which leads to a great demand for the best qualities of food by working people : all results of the double change to higher wages and cheaper commodities, and a distribution of taxes which has relieved the lower classes at the expense of the upper classes. He is struck, too, by the contrast between the small space which popular welfare then occupied in public attention, and the large space it now occupies, with the result that outside and inside Parliament, plans to benefit the millions form the leading topics, and everyone having means is expected to join in some philanthropic efibrt. Yet while elevation, mental and physical, of the masses is going on far more rapidly than ever before — while the lowering of the death-rate proves that the average life is less trying, there swells louder and louder the cry that the evils are so great that nothing short of a social revolution can cure them. In presence of obvious improvements, joined with that increase of longevity which even alone yields conclusive proof of general amelioration, it is proclaimed, with increasing vehemence, that things are so* bad that society must be pulled to pieces and re-organized on another plan. In this case, then, as in the previous cases instanced, in proportion as the evil decreases the denunciation of it increases ; and as fast as natural causes are shown to be powerful there grows up the belief that they are powerless.

Not that the evils to be remedied are small. Let no one suppose that, by emphasizing the above paradox,, I wish to make light of the sufferings which most men have to bear. The fates of the great majority have ever been^ and doubtless still are, so sad that it is painful to think of them. Unquestionably the existing type of social organization is one which none who care for their kind can contemplate with satisfaction ; and unquestionably men's activities accompanying this type are far from being admirable. The strong divisions of rank and the immense inequalities of means, are at variance with that ideal of human relations on which the sympathetic imagination likes to dwell ; and the average conduct, under the pressure and excitement of social life as at present carried on, is in sundry respects repulsive. Though the many who revile competition strangely ignore the enormous benefits resulting from it — though they forget that most of all the appliances and products distinguishing civilization from savagery, and making possible the maintenance of a large population on a small area, have been developed by the struggle for existence — though they disregard the fact that while every man, as producer, suffers from the under-bidding of competitors, yet, as consumer, he is immensely advantaged by the cheapening of all he has to buy — though they persist in dwelling on the evils of competition and saying nothing of its benefits ; yet it is not to be denied that the evils are great, and form a large

Intro dttction, 5

set-off from the benefits. The system under which we at present live fosters dishonesty and lying. It prompts adulterations of countless kinds ; it is answerable for the cheap imitations which eventually in many cases thrust the genuine articles out of the market ; it leads to the use of short weights and false measures; it introduces bribery, which vitiates most trading relations, from those of the manufacturer and buyer down to those of the shopkeeper and servant ; it encourages deception to such an extent that an assistant who cannot tell a falsehood with a good face is blamed ; and often it gives the conscientious trader the choice between adopting the malpractices of his competitors, or greatly injuring his* creditors by bankruptcy. Moreover, the extensive frauds, common throughout the commercial world and daily exposed in lawcourts and newspapers, are largely due to the pressure under which competition places the higher industrial classes ; and are otherwise due to that lavish expenditure which, as implying success in the commercial struggle, brings honour. With these minor evils must be joined the major one, that the distribution achieved by the system, gives to those who regulate and superintend, a share of the total produce which bears too -large a ratio to the share it gives to the actual workers. Let it not be thought, then, that in saying what I have said above, I under-estimate those vices of our competitive system which, thirty years ago, I described and denounced^. But it is not a question of absolute evils ; it is a question of relative evils — whether the evils at present suffered are or are not less than the evils which would be suffered under another system — whether efforts for mitigation along the lines thus far followed are not more likely to succeed than efforts along utterly different lines.

This is the question here to be considered. I must be excused for first of all setting forth sundry truths which are, ^ See essay on ' The Morals of Trade.'

to some at any rate, tolerably familiar, before proceeding to draw inferences which are not so familiar.

Speaking broadly, every man works that he may avoid suffering. Here, remembrance of the pangs of hunger prompts him ; and there, he is prompted by the sight of the slavedriver's lash. His immediate dread may be the punishment which physical circumstances will inflict, or may be punishment inflicted by human agency. He must have a master ; but the master may be Nature or may be a fellow man. When he is under the impersonal coercion of Nature, we say that he is free ; and when he is under the personal coercion of some one above him, we call him, according to the degree of his dependence, a slave, a serf^ or a vassal. Of course I omit the small minority who inherit means : an incidental, and not a necessary, social element. I speak only of the vast majority, both cultured and uncultured, who maintain themselves by labour, bodily or mental, and must either exert themselves of their own unconstrained wills, prompted only by thoughts of naturally-resulting evils or benefits, or must exert themselves with constrained wills, prompted by thoughts of evils and benefits artificially resulting.

Men may work together in a society under either of these two forms of control: forms which, though in many cases mingled, are essentially contrasted. Using the word co-operation in its wide sense, and not in that restricted sense now commonly given to it, we may say that social life must be carried on by either voluntary co-operation or compulsory co-operation ; or, to use Sir Henry Maine's words, the system must be that of contract or that of status- — that in which the individual is left to do the best he can by his spontaneous efforts and get success or failure according to his efficiency, and that in which he has his appointed place, works under coercive rule, and has his apportioned share of food, clothing, and shelter.

The system of voluntary co-operation is that by which, in civilized societies, industry is now everywhere carried on. Under a simple form we have it on every farm, where the labourers, paid by the farmer himself and taking orders directly from him, are free to stay or go as they please. And of its more complex form an example is yielded by every manufacturing concern, in which, under partners, come clerks and managers, and under these, time-keepers and overlookers, and under these operatives of different grades. In each of these cases there is an obvious working together, or co-operation, of employer and employed, to obtain in one case a crop and in the other case a manufactured stock. And then, at the same time, there is a far more extensive, though unconscious, co-operation with other workers of all grades throughout the society. For while these particular employers and employed are severally occupied with their special kinds of work, other employers and employed are making other things needed for the carrying on of their lives as well as the lives of all others. This voluntary co-operation, from its simplest to its most complex forms, has the common trait that those concerned work together by consent. There is no one to force terms or to force acceptance. It is perfectly true that in many cases an employer may give, or an employe may accept, with reluctance : circumstances he says compel him. But what are the circumstances? In the one case there are goods ordered, or a contract entered into, which he cannot supply or execute without yielding ; and in the other case he submits to a wage less than he likes because otherwise he will have no money wherewith to procure food and warmth. The general formula is not — 'Do this, or I will make you ; ' but it is — ' Do this, or leave your place and take the consequences.'

On the other hand compulsory co-operation is exemplified by an army — not so much by our own army, the service in which is under, agreement for a specified period, but in a continental army, raised by conscription. Here, in time of peace the daily duties — cleaning, parade, drill, sentry work, and the rest — and in time of war the various actions of the camp and the battle-field, are done under command, without, room for any exercise of choice. Up from the private soldier through the non-commissioned officers and the half-dozen or more grades of commissioned officers, the universal law is absolute obedience from the grade below to the grade above. The sphere of individual will is such only as is allowed by the will of the superior. Breaches of subordination are, according to their gravity, dealt with by deprivation of leave, extra drill, imprisonment, flogging, and, in the last resort, shooting. Instead of the understanding that there must be obedience in respect of specified duties under pain of dismissal ; the understanding now is — ' Obey in everything ordered under penalty of inflicted suffering and perhaps death.'

This form of co-operation, still exemplified in an army, has in days gone by been the form of co-operation throughout the civil population. Everywhere, and at all times, chronic war generates a militant type of structure, not in the body of soldiers only but throughout the community at large. Practically, while the conflict between societies is actively going on, and fighting is regarded as the only manly occupation, the society is the quiescent army and the army the mobilized society: that part which does not take part in battle, composed of slaves, serfs, women, &c., constituting the commissariat. Naturally, therefore, throughout the mass of inferior individuals constituting the commissariat, there is maintained a system of discipline identical in nature if less elaborate. The fighting body being, under such conditions, the ruling body, and the rest of the community being incapable of resistance, those who control the fighting body will, of course, impose their control upon the non-fighting body ; and the regime of coercion will be applied to it with such modifications only as the different circumstances involve. Prisoners of war become slaves. Those who were free cultivators before the conquest of their country, become serfs attached to the soil. Petty chiefs become subject to superior chiefs ; these smaller lords become vassals to over-lords ; and so on up to the highest: the social ranks and powers being of like essential nature with the ranks and powers throughout the military organization. And while for the slaves compulsory co-operation is the unqualified system, a co-operation which is in part compulsory is the system that pervades all grades above. Each man's oath of fealty to . his suzerain takes the form — ' I am your man.'