Problems of Conduct eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 487 pages of information about Problems of Conduct.

Problems of Conduct eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 487 pages of information about Problems of Conduct.
of workers today are on salary; and on the whole they probably work as faithfully as the few at the top (continually becoming fewer) who have the spur of private profit.[Footnote:  1 Cf. this testimony in regard to former owners of stores in Minnesota and Wisconsin who have been bought out and retained as managers by cooperative societies:  “they work for moderate salaries, and in almost all cases are working as ardently for success as they ever did for their own gain.”  N. O. Nelson, in Outlook, vol. 89, p. 527.] Not all capitalists are hard workers; much of the real work is done for them by salaried managers.  It is very questionable if doctors and lawyers, who work for profits, give any more loyal service to the community than teachers, ministers, or nurses, who work on salary.  There would still be the need of earning one’s living, and the incentive of rising to positions of higher salary, greater authority, and wider interest.  And, after all, most of the really good work of the world is done on honor, from the normal human pleasure in doing things well, and pride in being known to do things well.  When freed from the private greed and antisocial class feelings which now inhibit it, this zest in efficient work and loyal service might receive a new impetus.  A socialistic regime would surely make a business of inculcating in its public schools the conception of all work as public service; and the pressure of public opinion would bear more heavily upon workers-as there is today much freer criticism of public than of private undertakings.  But even if there should be a considerable increase in slackness and a decrease in per capita production, that economic loss might be more than made up by the saving of labor through organization.  And if not, it is true that efficiency is not the only good.  Considerations of humanity should weigh with us as well as considerations of moneymaking; if socialism can cure the intolerable evils in our present selfish and chaotic system, a certain decrease in production might not be too great a price to pay.

(2) The running of the complicated socialistic machine would involve a great deal of friction, with consequent dissatisfaction and dissension.  Problems would arise on all hands:  On what basis should the wage-rate in this industry and in that be determined?  How much of the public moneys should be put into this and how much into that undertaking?  Was this department head fair in discharging this man and promoting that man?  Suspicion of bribery and graft would continually recur.  Bad seasons would be encountered, blunders would be made, overproduction would occur, men would be thrown out of employment in the work they had chosen, floods, fires, plagues, and other disasters would sweep away profits; the adjustment of these losses would be an enormously delicate matter.  At present, the poor are apt to feel that prosperity for them is hopeless; under a socialistic regime they would expect it, and be loath to see their incomes diminished when things went wrong.  Socialism would require a great deal of good temper and willingness to submit to decisions which seemed unwise or unfair.  It is highly doubtful if human nature is yet good enough to fit the system.

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Problems of Conduct from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.