176. CAN WE CONTROL THE GENIE ?* All this brings us clearly face to face with a very serious problemwhether we possibly can control the great political forces which economic forces have created. For the whole political and moral evolution was inherent in the machines that replaced the hand labor of former times. You would not have had the trusts in a régime of hand labor; you would not have had the enormous mills that united to form the trusts. It is the machine that has made the size of a mill so important and has made it impossible for any but the big one to survive. The fact that only a few did survive first caused those few to compete so vigourously with each other that they made almost no profits, then enabled them to save their profits by consolidating, and finally incited them to seek, besides legitimate profits to which they had a perfect right, an income not founded in justice and one to which a harsh term may correctly be applied. It is fair to say that this whole enormous transformation, which runs through the plan of modern industry and through the relations of employers and employed, which enters into and perverts our political life, and even lowers the moral tone of society, was inherent in the original steam engine which Watt manufactured in England more than a century and a quarter ago. It was all brewing in that teakettle which as a boy he sat and watched, noting the force of the steam as it raised the lid and let it fall. He saw that the force might be put to great account in driving such primitive machinery as he knew of; but he was far from foreseeing the transforming effects of the innumerable machines which his engines were destined to make available. No one for a hundred years thereafter realized their full economic and political consequences. From that economic application of physical force influences havefollowed which have put an end to small industry and to the old type of democracy. Can we save our democracy under a new form? Can we control the genie that has come out of the box we have opened? That depends on the question whether, as a people, we can regulate and guide the gigantic forces that have come into activity. 1 Adapted by permission from J. B. Clark, The Problem of Monopoly, pp. 21-23. (Columbia University Press, 1904.) 177. THE BRUTE Through his might men work their wills. They have boweled out the hills For food to keep him toiling in the cages they have wrought; Limbs of men to give him power; Brains of men to give him cunning; and for dainties to devour Children's souls, the little worth; hearts of women, cheaply bought: He takes them and he breaks them, but he gives them scanty thought. For about the noisy land, Roaring, quivering 'neath his hand, His thoughts brood fierce and sullen or laugh in lust of pride Breaks to dust and brings to be. Some he mightily establishes, some flings down utterly. Quietude and loveliness, Holy sights that heal and bless, They are scattered and abolished where his iron hoof is set; When he splashes through the brae Silver streams are choked with clay, When he snorts the bright cliffs crumble and the woods go down like hay; He lairs in pleasant cities, and the haggard people fret Squalid 'mid their new-got riches, soot-begrimed and desolate. They who caught and bound him tight Laughed exultant at his might, Saying, "Now behold, the good time comes for the weariest and the least! We will use this lusty knave: No more need for men to slave: We may rise and look about us and have knowledge ere the grave." But the Brute said in his breast, "Till the mills I grind have ceased, The riches shall be dust of dust, dry ashes be the feast! "On the strong and cunning few Cynic favors I will strew; Taken by permission from W. V. Moody, Poems and Plays, Vol. I, pp. 55-60. (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1912.) I will stuff their maw with overplus until their spirit dies; I will take the joys they know; They shall hunger after vanities and still anhungered go. Madness shall be on the people, ghastly jealousies arise; Brother's blood shall cry on brother up the dead and empty skies. "I will burn and dig and hack Till the heavens suffer lack; God shall feel a pleasure fail Him, crying to his cherubim, 'Who hath flung yon mud-ball there Where my world went green and fair?' I shall laugh and hug me, hearing how his sentinels declare, "Tis the Brute they chained to labor! He has made the bright earth dim. Store of wares and pelf a plenty, but they got no good of him."" So he plotted in his rage: So he deals it, age by age. But even as he roared his curse a still small Voice befell; Lo, a still and pleasant voice bade them none the less rejoice, For the Brute must bring the good time on; he has no other choice. All the desert that he made He must treble bless with shade, In primal wastes set precious seed of rapture and of pain; All the strongholds that he built For the powers of greed and guilt He must strew their bastions down the sea and choke their towers with silt; He must make the temples clean for the gods to come again, And lift the lordly cities under skies without a strain. In a very cunning tether He must lead the tyrant weather; He must loose the curse of Adam from the worn neck of the race; Dry away each fruitless tear, And make the fruitful tears to gush from the deep heart and clear. He must give each man his portion, each his pride and worthy place; He must batter down the arrogant and lift the weary face, Then, perhaps, at the last day, They will whistle him away, Lay a hand upon his muzzle in the face of God, and say, "Honor, Lord, the Thing we tamed! Let him not be scourged or blamed, Even through his wrath and fierceness was thy fierce wroth world reclaimed! Honor Thou thy servants' servant; let thy justice now be shown." Then the Lord will heed their saying, and the Brute come to his own, "Twixt the Lion and the Eagle, by the armpost of the Throne. CHAPTER VIII SPECULATIVE INDUSTRY: RISKS AND RISK BEARING A. Problems at Issue As compared with the customary régime of mediaeval England, ours is a speculative society. The term "speculative" is not here used in any critical sense. It means simply that in our exchangeco-operative society we look to the individual to make experimentsto try new ventures, and to estimate needs in old ventures. Such a function must be performed by some agency in any specialized society if progress is to occur. If the function is wisely performed, so much the better for society. It will move forward smoothly and rapidly; its people will have the basis for reasonable gratification of wants. If the function is poorly performed, so much the worse for society. Its progress will be halting and uncertain, its people not adequately cared for. Flowing in part from the speculative character of our industry come uncertainty and insecurity. They are not due to speculative industry alone. They flow also from machine industry, from specialization, from interdependence and indeed from all the outstanding features of our industrial society. There would be risks in industry under any organization of society. Some would be peculiar to the given organization; others would not. Naturally, any given organization would try to develop means of reducing risks no matter to what cause they should be attributed. In this section we shall study the forms of risks which modern capital and management have to meet; see the consequences of these risks and survey the structures which are emerging to meet the situation. QUESTIONS I. Differentiate these terms: "speculation," "organized speculation," "commercial speculation," "organized commercial speculation," "industrial speculation," "speculative society." 2. "Industrial speculation anticipates the wants of society. If the speculator has judged wisely, society is better provided with goods than it would have been had its entrepreneurs been averse to taking chances. If the speculator has miscalculated, he incurs a pecuniary |