Property and Contract
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
PROPERTY AND CONTRACT IN THEIR RELATIONS TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH BY RICHARD T. ELY, PH. D., LL. D. CONTENTS PAQEl CHAPTER XIX. The Present and Future Development of Private Property (Concluded) : The Uni- versalisation and the Socialisation of Pri- . vate Property. ....................... 475 XX. The Transformation of: 1. Public Property into Private Property. 2. Private Prop erty into Public Property. ............. 484 XXI. The Management of Public Property with Reference to Distribution. ............. 517 XXII. Theories of the Origin of Private Property. 531 PART 11. CONTRACT AND ITS CONDITIONS CHAPTER I. Introductory Observations. ................ 555 11. Contract Defined and Described. ........... 561 111. The Economic Significance of Contract, es- pecially with Respect to the Distribution of Wealth.. .............................. 576 IV. Contract and Individualism, Limited and Un- liited ................................ 586 V. Criticism of the Individualistic Theory of Con- tract and the Social Theory of Contract. ... 603 APPENDIXTO CHAPTERV. .................... 624 VI. Contracts for Personal Services with Special Reference to the Labour Contract. ........ 627 VII. Class Legislation. ........................ 643 VIII. Facts as to Impairment of Liberty. Depriva- tion of Property and Possibility of Individual Regulation of Contract as Opposed to Class Regulation. Law versus Trade Unions for Class Regulation.. ..................... 651 APPENDIXTO CHAPTERVIII. "The Bakers' Case" 662 v vi CONTENTS CONTENTS vii PAGE CHAPTERIX. The Courts and Constitutions in the United PAGE PRODUCTION,PRESENT AND FUTURE....................... 825 States.. ................................ 680 BY Concluding Observations on Contract: The X. I. W. I. KING,PH.D., INSTRUCTORIN STATISTICS, UNIVERSITYOF new Feudalism and Old Contractual Rela- WISCONSIN tions of Dependence; 11. Limitation of Con- tracts with Respect to Tie; 111. The Revi- sion of Contractual Relations; IV. The APPENDIX IV Social Supervision of Contract an Indis- LIST OF CASESILLUSTRATING THE Amm~ OF COURTB ............ pensable Condition of Liberty. 711 TOWARDSPROPERTP AND CONTRACTRIGHTS AND THE CONSE- APPENDIXTO CHAPTERX. Contract and Social QUENT EVOLUTION OF TEIESE RIGHTS.................... 855 .................... Progress in England.. 745 BY SAMUELP. ORTH, PH.D., PROFESSOROF POLITICAL SCIENCE,Con- NELL UNIVERSITY PART I11 VESTED INTERESTS CHAPTERI. Vested Interests Defined and Described.. ..... 755 11. Various Theories of Vested Interests. Grounds for a Far-reaching Recognition of Vested In- terests.. ............................... 765 III. Vested Rights, Economic Justice, and Social Progrw.. ..............................778 PART IV PERSONAL CONDITIONS CHAPTER I. Introductory.. ............................ 795 11. Slavery and Distribution. ................... 800 111. Caste and other Forms of Status. ............ 808 IV. Personal Conditions as Governed by Contract. fieedom and Its Structure. The Social Theory of Liberty and the Police Power. .... 817 PROPERTY AND CONTRACT IN THEIR RELATIONS TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH CHAPTER XIX THE PRESENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF PRIVATE PROPERTY (Concluded) : THE UNIVERSALISATION AND THE SOCIALISATION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY I. The Universalisation of Private Property. We have seen the advantages of private property. Socialists frequently claim, however, that these ad- vantages of private property simply emphasise the dis- advantages of those who have no private property, making helpless dependents of the latter. It is con- ceivable that even if it is necessary that many people should be~permanentlywithout the advantages of pri- vate property, its advantages would nevertheless out- weigh the disadvantages, even for the propertyless. But it is pertinent to ask the question, Can we not uni- versalise private property and confer upon everyone the advantages of private property? Why should we not be able to universalise property as we have univer- salised education? While it is admittedly a more da- cult undertaking, it is by no means hopeless, except in the case of the incompetent who form the sad " rubbish heap" of humanity; and it may be maintained that even they are better off on account of private property. First of all we may consider the general measures for the universalisation of private property. Inasmuch as property is accumulated by production and by saving 475 476 PROPERTY AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH DEVELOPMENT OF PRIVATE PROPERTY 477 all general measures for productive efficiency and self- savings banks in the United States, inasmuch as these control are helpful towards a wide diffusion of property. institutions are perfectly secure and are found every- Among these measures we may mention everything where in our country as well as in most modern coun- that tends to the physical, moral, and mental uplift tries. School savings banks are especially to be em- of the population. The benefits of physical training are phasised, for there is little danger in our time of large illustrated by the advantages derived from training in expenditure and self-indulgence that thrift will be over- the German army. It has been remarked that few of emphasised. Building and loan institutions and a wise those who have gone through the army become depend- extension of insurance are to be recommended. With ent. The advantages of mental training are obvious; respect to insurance, we have only made a beginning in but the necessity of moral training for economic well- the United States. The author is pleased to be able to being has been too much overlooked. The whole trend say that his own State, namely Wisconsin, has taken of the present work should protect the author against the lead in the United States in establishing state in- the charge that he fails to appreciate the importance of surance. social measures. While we recognise what can be done Another measure which is under consideration in for the individual by the state and by society, we have Wisconsin and in many other places is the develop- at the same time to acknowledge that the prime cause ment of a sound land policy, making it easy for men to of distress is individual and that social measures must, acquire lhded property. Probably we shall come very as John Stuart Mill long ago taught us, be judged by generally to government aid in acquiring land, the gov- their effect upon the qualities of the individual. By ernment improving the land, rendering it fit for settle- cultivation and by a suitable social environment the ment, and then selling it on the instalment plan. Ger- individual can generally become a property owner. many and Ireland both afford us examples, and at the We must also consider certain special measures which present moment the Board of Public Affairs in Wiscon- are helpful in the universalisation of property. As sin is working out plans of this general nature. property is accumulated by production and by saving, This is merely an outline which, in connection with all savings institutions for the masses are of the greatest other chapters in this book, shows that it is by no means importance. They should be provided with all possible Utopian to hope that private property, like education, safeguards, inasmuch as every failure of such an institu- may be universalised. tion acts as a deterrent, especially for the weak-willed, II. The Socialisation of Private Property. who need every encouragement. We have then to con- We have already shown that the essential purpose of sider under this head savings banks of all kids. We all private property is the general welfare. It is es- must especially welcome the establishment of postal tablished and maintained for social purposes, and in 478 PROPERTY AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH DEVELOPMENT OF PRIVATE PROPERTY 479 every country with a sound civilisation it fulfils these either with nominal charge or entirely without cost. purposes increasingly. All property undergoes social- Indeed the private sleeping apartments and other living isation while it still remains private property. But in rooms of reigning families are often treated in their ab- a peculiar and more restricted sense an ever increasing sence as if they belonged to public museums. The pri- mass of private property undergoes socialisation. vate parks surrounding the palaces, though often main- If we think about the psychological processes by tained at the sovereign's expense, are frequently opened which altruism is developed, it will be seen that progress to the general public for enjoyment, and the Tiergarten necessarily carries with it socialisation as a part of eco- of Berlin, the private property of the Hohenzollern nomic evolution. It has been shown that the ego and family, has become a real public park, the only private the alter grow and develop together. Self becomes con- right reserved to the members of this family noticeable scious of self through its contacts and relationships to the traveller being the exclusive privilege of going with other selves. The play between the "I" and the through the central arch of the gateway, the Branden- "you" forms the major part of our thought and our burger Tor, the outer drives and walks being open to the feeling. Sympathy and altruism are as natural as ego- public. ism and individualism. Now this must show itself in Frequently it is difficult in the case of property of the our property relations; and as by social processes al- Crown to ;tell what is private property and what is pub- truism grows and expands from localism