Read Ebook: Grace Harlowe's Third Year at Overton College by Chase Josephine

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BOOK I

THE DIVISIBLE WEALTH OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

CHAP. PAGE

A Ground of Agreement for all Parties 3 Facts and Principles which are the same for everybody 6 The Income of the Individual as the Aim and Test of Government 8 Private Income and the Empire 10 Patriotism and the Home 11 Cupidity as a motive in Politics 12 The right Education of Cupidity 13

Cupidity and the Poorer Classes 14 The Limits of Sane Cupidity as fixed by the Total Production 16 Unforeseen Results of an Equal Division of Wealth 18 Contemporary Agitator on Slavery 20 Workmen as their own Masters 21 Ownership of the Means of Labour impossible for Modern Workman 22 Equality possible only under a Universal Wage-System 24 Equality and Universal Labour 26

The Income of Great Britain 27 Division of the National Income 29 How to divide the Income equally 30 Shares of Men, Women, and Children 31 The Maximum Income of a Bachelor 32 Smallness of the result 33 Maximum Income of a Married Couple 34 Practical absurdity of an Equal Division of Income 36 A complete Redivision of Property advocated by nobody 38 The attack on Landed Property 40 Popular ignorance as to the Real Rental of the Landlords 42 The Landed Aristocracy 44 Multitude of Small Landowners 45 Owners of Railway Shares and Consols 46 Inappreciable cost of the Monarchy 47 Forcible Redistribution impossible 48

Difference between Wealth and Money 49 Wealth as a whole not divisible like Money 52 More luxurious forms of Wealth incapable of division 54 The Wealth of Great Britain considered as Capital 56 The elements which compose the National Capital 58 Ludicrous results of an Equal Division of Capital 60 Division of Income, not of Capital, alone worth considering 62 Elements which compose the National Income 64 Material Goods and Services 66 Home-made Goods and Imports 67 Two-thirds of the Population dependent on Imported Food 68 Variation of the National Income relatively to the Population 70 Incomes of other countries compared with that of our own 72 Productivity of Industry not determined by Time 74 Unperceived increase of the Income of the United Kingdom 76 Immense Possible Shrinkage in our National Income 78 The Great Problem 80

BOOK II

THE CHIEF FACTOR IN THE PRODUCTION OF THE NATIONAL INCOME

The Cause of Production generally 84 The Production of Given Quantities 85 Production a Century Ago 86 Amount of Capital employed in it 87 Land, Capital, and Human Exertion 88 How much produced by each 89 The chief Practical Problem in Contemporary Economics 90

Rent the Product of Land 93 The Accepted Theory of Rent illustrated by an Example 94 The Product of Agricultural Labour 96 The Product of Land 97 Maximum Produce of Labour 98 Surplus produced by Land 99 Land a Producing Agent as distinct from Labour 100 The Existence of Rent not affected by Socialism 102 Rent necessarily the Property of whoever owns the Land 104 The Argument of this Volume embodied in the case of Rent 106

Capital of Two Kinds 108 The part of the Product produced by Machinery or Fixed Capital 110 Example of Product of Machinery as distinct from that of Labour 112 The Products of a Machine necessarily the Property of Owner 114 The Cotton Industry in the Last Century 116 Arkwright's Machinery 118 The Iron Industry of Great Britain 119 Machinery and Production of Iron 120 Machinery and Wage Capital 121

Simplest Function of Wage Capital 122 Distinguishing Function of Modern Wage Capital 124 Wage Capital mainly productive as a means of directing Labour 126 Slaves and Free Labourers 128 Wage Capital and Progress 129 Wage Capital as related to the production of New Inventions 130 Capital the Tool of Knowledge 132 Wage Capital and Arkwright 133 Wage Capital as Potential Machinery 134 How to discriminate the amount produced by Wage Capital 136

The best Labour sometimes useless 138 Labour not the same faculty as the faculty which directs Labour 140 Extraordinary confusion in current Economic Language 142 Labour a Lesser Productive Agent 144 Ability a Greater Productive Agent 145 The Vital Distinction between Ability and Labour 146 Ability not a form of Skilled Labour 148 Capital applied successfully the same thing as Ability 150 Obvious Exceptions 152 Ability the Brain of Capital 153 Ability as the Force behind Capital the Cause of all Progress 154

Production in the Last Century 156 Growth of Agricultural Products 158 Growth of Production of Iron 159 Ability and Agriculture in the Last Century 160 The Maximum Product that can be due to Labour alone 162 Present Annual Product of Ability in the United Kingdom 164 The Product of Capital virtually Product of the Ability of the Few 166

AN EXPOSURE OF THE CONFUSIONS IMPLIED IN SOCIALISTIC THOUGHT AS TO THE MAIN AGENT IN MODERN PRODUCTION.

A confusing Socialistic Formula 171 A Plausible Argument 173 A Plausible Argument analysed 174 Its implied meaning considered 175 The real Taskmaster of Labour not an Employing Class, but Nature 176 Different position of Ability 178 The Organist and Bellows-blower 179 The Picture and the Canvas 180 The Qualifying Factor 181 Do all men possess Ability 182 Labour itself non-progressive 183 Ancient Labour equal to Modern 184 A Remarkable Illustration 185 Labour as trained by Watt 186 Labour as assisted by Maudslay 187

A Socialistic Criticism 188 Primaeval Progress and Labour 190 Rudimentary Ability 191 Primaeval and Modern Inventions 192 A more Important Point 193 The necessity for Managing Ability increased by Inventive Ability 194 The main results of Past Ability inherited by Living Ability 196 Productive Ability the Ability of Living Men 198 Fresh demonstration of the Productivity of Ability 200

An Error of Mr. Herbert Spencer's 202 A Philosophic Truth, but an Economic Falsehood 204 Whole body of Successful Inventors a very small Minority 206 Ability and Opportunity 208 Ability not produced by Opportunity 209 Ability the Maker of its own Opportunities 210 Ability as a matter of Character 212 Function of such Ability 213 Characters not equalised by Education or Opportunity 214 Progress due solely to the Few 216 Progress in the Iron Industry 217 Early Applications of Ability to British Iron Production 218 Ability opposed by the Age instead of representing it 220 Isolated Action of Ability 222 Arkwright and his associates 223 The Value of Watt's Patent as estimated by his Contemporaries 224 Industrial Progress the work of the Few only 226

Grades of Ability 228 Proportion of Able Men to Labourers 230 A Rough Calculation 231 More than half our National Income produced by a Small Minority 232

BOOK IV

THE REASONABLE HOPES OF LABOUR--THEIR MAGNITUDE, AND THEIR BASIS

Short Summary of the preceding Arguments 237 The preceding Arguments from the Labourer's Point of View 240 The Share of Labour in the growing Products of Ability 242 The amount produced by Labour 244 The amount taken by Labour 245 Continuous Recent Growth of the Receipts of Labour 246 Growth of the Receipts of Labour during Queen Victoria's Reign 248 Actual Gains of Labour beyond the Dreams of Socialism 250 Two Points to be considered 252

Land and its Owners 253 Passive Ownership of Capital 255 The Class that Lives on Interest 256 The Hope of Interest as a Motive 257 Capital created and saved mainly for the sake of Interest 258 Family Feeling 260 The Bequest of Capital 261 Interest a Necessary Incident as the Price of the Use of Capital 262 A Part of the Interest of Capital constantly appropriated by Labour 264 Interest not to be confused with Large Profits 266 Interest not to be confused with the Profits of Sagacity 268 Enormous gains of Labour at the expense of Ability 270 Labour and the Existing System 272

A Miserable Class co-existing with General Progress 273 Relative Decrease of Poverty 276 Two Causes of Popular Progress 277 The Riches of a Minority e newspaper girl. "Let us stop gossiping and go to dinner."

At dinner Grace was not sorry to note that Kathleen West had been placed at the end of the table farthest from her. Through the meal she found her eyes straying often toward the erect little figure of the newcomer, who, exhibiting not a particle of reserve, chatted with the girls nearest to her with the utmost unconcern. "I suppose her newspaper training has made her self-possessed and not afraid of strangers," reflected Grace. But she could not refrain from secretly wondering a little just how strong a friendship existed between Kathleen West and Mabel.

GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE NEWSPAPER GIRL

"It was just this way," began Kathleen West, setting down her tea cup and looking impressively from one girl to the other, "Long before I graduated from high school I had made up my mind to go to college. Now that I have passed my exams and have become a really truly freshman, I'll tell you all about it."

Elfreda and Miriam were giving a tea party with Grace, Anne and Kathleen West as their guests. It was a strictly informal tea and both hostesses and guests sat on the floor in true Chinese fashion, kimono-clad and comfortable. A week had passed since Kathleen's advent among them. She had spent the greater part of that time either in study or in valiant wrestling with the dreaded entrance examinations, but she had managed, nevertheless, to drop into the girls' rooms at least once a day. In spite of the almost unfavorable impression she had at first created, it was impossible not to acknowledge that the newspaper girl possessed a vividly interesting personality. As she sat wrapped in the folds of her gray kimono, arms folded over her chest, she looked not unlike a feminine Napoleon. Elfreda's quick eyes traced the resemblance.

"You look for all the world like Napoleon," she observed bluntly.

"Excuse me for interrupting," apologized Elfreda. "Go on, please."

"Where was I?" asked Kathleen. "Oh, yes, I remember. Well, as soon as I had fully determined to go to college, I began to save every penny on which I could honestly lay hands. I went without most of the school-girl luxuries that count for so much just at that time. You girls know what I mean. Mother and Father didn't wish me to go to college. They planned a course in stenography and typewriting for me after I should finish high school, and when I pleaded for college they were angry and disappointed. They argued, too, that they couldn't possibly afford to send me there. As soon as I saw that I was going to have trouble with them, I kept my own counsel, but I was more determined than ever to do as I pleased. At the beginning of the vacation before my senior year in high school I went to the only daily paper in our town and asked for work. The editor, who had known me since I was a baby, gave me a chance. Father and Mother made no objection to that. They thought it was merely a whim on my part. But it wasn't a whim, as they found out later, for I wrote stuff for the paper during my senior year, too, and when I did graduate I turned the house upside down by getting a position on a newspaper in a big city. Father and Mother forgave me after awhile, but not until I had been at work on the other paper for a year.

"At first I did society, then clubs, went back to society again, and at last my opportunity came to do general reporting. I was the only woman on the staff who had a chance to go after the big stories. I have been doing that only the last two years, though.

"Naturally, I made more money on the paper than I would as a stenographer. I saved it, too. It was ever so much harder to hang on to it in the city. There were so many more ways to spend it. But I kept on putting it away, and, now, by going back on the paper every summer, I will have enough to see me through college."

"But why do you wish so much for a college education when you are already successful as a newspaper woman?" asked Elfreda.

"Because I want to be an author, or an editor, or somebody of importance in the literary world, and I need these four years at college. Besides, it's a good thing to bear the college stamp if one expects always to be before the public," was the prompt retort.

"Suppose you were to find afterward that you weren't going to be before the public," said Elfreda almost mischievously.

"But I shall be," persisted Kathleen, setting her jaws with a little snap. "I always accomplish whatever I set out to do. On the paper they used to say, 'Kathleen would sacrifice her best friend if by doing it she could scoop the other papers.'"

"What do you mean by 'scoop the other papers'?" queried Elfreda interestedly.

"Why, to get ahead of them with a story," explained Kathleen. "Suppose I found out an important piece of news that no one else knew. If I gave it to my paper and it appeared in it before any other newspaper got hold of it then that would be a scoop."

"Oh, yes, I see," returned Elfreda. "Then a scoop might be news about anything."

"Exactly," nodded Kathleen. "The harder the news is to get, the better story it makes. People won't tell one anything, and when one does find out something startling, then there are always a few persons who make a fuss and try to keep the story out of the paper. They generally have such splendid excuses for not wanting a story published. I never paid any attention to them, though. I turned in every story I ever ran down," she concluded, her small face setting in harsh lines.

"But didn't that make some of the people about whom the stories were written very unhappy?" asked Miriam pointedly.

"I suppose so," answered Kathleen. "But I never stopped to bother about them. I had to think of myself and of my paper."

"How long have you known Mabel Ashe?" asked Grace, abruptly changing the subject. Something in the cold indifference of Kathleen's voice jarred on her.

"Just since she appeared on the paper," returned Kathleen unconcernedly. "She is very pretty, isn't she? But prettiness alone doesn't count for much on a newspaper. Can she make good? That is the question. She imagines that journalism is her vocation, but I am afraid she is going to be sadly disillusioned. She seems to be a clever girl, though."

"Clever," repeated Grace with peculiar emphasis. "She is the cleverest girl we know. While she was at Overton, she was the life of the college. Everyone loved her. I can't begin to tell you how much we miss her."

"It's very nice to be missed, I am sure," said Kathleen hastily, retreating from what appeared to be dangerous ground. "I hope I shall be eulogized when I have graduated from Overton."

"That will depend largely on your behavior as a freshman," drawled Elfreda.

"What do you mean?" asked Kathleen sharply. "I thought freshmen were of the least importance in college."

"So they are to the other classes," returned Elfreda. "They are of the greatest importance to themselves, however, and if they make false starts during their freshman year it is likely to handicap them through the other three."

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