Looking Backward: 2000-1887 Read online

  CHAPTER XVII.

  I found the processes at the warehouse quite as interesting as Edithhad described them, and became even enthusiastic over the trulyremarkable illustration which is seen there of the prodigiouslymultiplied efficiency which perfect organization can give to labor. Itis like a gigantic mill, into the hopper of which goods are beingconstantly poured by the train-load and ship-load, to issue at theother end in packages of pounds and ounces, yards and inches, pintsand gallons, corresponding to the infinitely complex personal needs ofhalf a million people. Dr. Leete, with the assistance of datafurnished by me as to the way goods were sold in my day, figured outsome astounding results in the way of the economies effected by themodern system.

  As we set out homeward, I said: "After what I have seen to-day,together with what you have told me, and what I learned under MissLeete's tutelage at the sample store, I have a tolerably clear idea ofyour system of distribution, and how it enables you to dispense with acirculating medium. But I should like very much to know something moreabout your system of production. You have told me in general how yourindustrial army is levied and organized, but who directs its efforts?What supreme authority determines what shall be done in everydepartment, so that enough of everything is produced and yet no laborwasted? It seems to me that this must be a wonderfully complex anddifficult function, requiring very unusual endowments."

  "Does it indeed seem so to you?" responded Dr. Leete. "I assure youthat it is nothing of the kind, but on the other hand so simple, anddepending on principles so obvious and easily applied, that thefunctionaries at Washington to whom it is trusted require to benothing more than men of fair abilities to discharge it to the entiresatisfaction of the nation. The machine which they direct is indeed avast one, but so logical in its principles and direct and simple inits workings, that it all but runs itself; and nobody but a fool couldderange it, as I think you will agree after a few words ofexplanation. Since you already have a pretty good idea of the workingof the distributive system, let us begin at that end. Even in your daystatisticians were able to tell you the number of yards of cotton,velvet, woolen, the number of barrels of flour, potatoes, butter,number of pairs of shoes, hats, and umbrellas annually consumed by thenation. Owing to the fact that production was in private hands, andthat there was no way of getting statistics of actual distribution,these figures were not exact, but they were nearly so. Now that everypin which is given out from a national warehouse is recorded, ofcourse the figures of consumption for any week, month, or year, in thepossession of the department of distribution at the end of thatperiod, are precise. On these figures, allowing for tendencies toincrease or decrease and for any special causes likely to affectdemand, the estimates, say for a year ahead, are based. Theseestimates, with a proper margin for security, having been accepted bythe general administration, the responsibility of the distributivedepartment ceases until the goods are delivered to it. I speak of theestimates being furnished for an entire year ahead, but in realitythey cover that much time only in case of the great staples for whichthe demand can be calculated on as steady. In the great majority ofsmaller industries for the product of which popular taste fluctuates,and novelty is frequently required, production is kept barely ahead ofconsumption, the distributive department furnishing frequent estimatesbased on the weekly state of demand.

  "Now the entire field of productive and constructive industry isdivided into ten great departments, each representing a group ofallied industries, each particular industry being in turn representedby a subordinate bureau, which has a complete record of the plant andforce under its control, of the present product, and means ofincreasing it. The estimates of the distributive department, afteradoption by the administration, are sent as mandates to the ten greatdepartments, which allot them to the subordinate bureaus representingthe particular industries, and these set the men at work. Each bureauis responsible for the task given it, and this responsibility isenforced by departmental oversight and that of the administration; nordoes the distributive department accept the product without its owninspection; while even if in the hands of the consumer an articleturns out unfit, the system enables the fault to be traced back to theoriginal workman. The production of the commodities for actual publicconsumption does not, of course, require by any means all the nationalforce of workers. After the necessary contingents have been detailedfor the various industries, the amount of labor left for otheremployment is expended in creating fixed capital, such as buildings,machinery, engineering works, and so forth."

  "One point occurs to me," I said, "on which I should think there mightbe dissatisfaction. Where there is no opportunity for privateenterprise, how is there any assurance that the claims of smallminorities of the people to have articles produced, for which there isno wide demand, will be respected? An official decree at any momentmay deprive them of the means of gratifying some special taste, merelybecause the majority does not share it."

  "That would be tyranny indeed," replied Dr. Leete, "and you may bevery sure that it does not happen with us, to whom liberty is as dearas equality or fraternity. As you come to know our system better, youwill see that our officials are in fact, and not merely in name, theagents and servants of the people. The administration has no power tostop the production of any commodity for which there continues to be ademand. Suppose the demand for any article declines to such a pointthat its production becomes very costly. The price has to be raised inproportion, of course, but as long as the consumer cares to pay it,the production goes on. Again, suppose an article not before producedis demanded. If the administration doubts the reality of the demand, apopular petition guaranteeing a certain basis of consumption compelsit to produce the desired article. A government, or a majority, whichshould undertake to tell the people, or a minority, what they were toeat, drink, or wear, as I believe governments in America did in yourday, would be regarded as a curious anachronism indeed. Possibly youhad reasons for tolerating these infringements of personalindependence, but we should not think them endurable. I am glad youraised this point, for it has given me a chance to show you how muchmore direct and efficient is the control over production exercised bythe individual citizen now than it was in your day, when what youcalled private initiative prevailed, though it should have beencalled capitalist initiative, for the average private citizen hadlittle enough share in it."

  "You speak of raising the price of costly articles," I said. "How canprices be regulated in a country where there is no competition betweenbuyers or sellers?"

  "Just as they were with you," replied Dr. Leete. "You think that needsexplaining," he added, as I looked incredulous, "but the explanationneed not be long; the cost of the labor which produced it wasrecognized as the legitimate basis of the price of an article in yourday, and so it is in ours. In your day, it was the difference in wagesthat made the difference in the cost of labor; now it is the relativenumber of hours constituting a day's work in different trades, themaintenance of the worker being equal in all cases. The cost of aman's work in a trade so difficult that in order to attract volunteersthe hours have to be fixed at four a day is twice as great as that ina trade where the men work eight hours. The result as to the cost oflabor, you see, is just the same as if the man working four hours werepaid, under your system, twice the wages the other gets. Thiscalculation applied to the labor employed in the various processes ofa manufactured article gives its price relatively to other articles.Besides the cost of production and transportation, the factor ofscarcity affects the prices of some commodities. As regards the greatstaples of life, of which an abundance can always be secured,scarcity is eliminated as a factor. There is always a large surpluskept on hand from which any fluctuations of demand or supply can becorrected, even in most cases of bad crops. The prices of the staplesgrow less year by year, but rarely, if ever, rise. There are, however,certain classes of articles permanently, and others temporarily,unequal to the demand, as, for example, fresh fish or dairy productsin the latter category, and the products of high skill a
nd rarematerials in the other. All that can be done here is to equalize theinconvenience of the scarcity. This is done by temporarily raising theprice if the scarcity be temporary, or fixing it high if it bepermanent. High prices in your day meant restriction of the articlesaffected to the rich, but nowadays, when the means of all are thesame, the effect is only that those to whom the articles seem mostdesirable are the ones who purchase them. Of course the nation, as anyother caterer for the public needs must be, is frequently left withsmall lots of goods on its hands by changes in taste, unseasonableweather, and various other causes. These it has to dispose of at asacrifice just as merchants often did in your day, charging up theloss to the expenses of the business. Owing, however, to the vast bodyof consumers to which such lots can be simultaneously offered, thereis rarely any difficulty in getting rid of them at trifling loss. Ihave given you now some general notion of our system of production,as well as distribution. Do you find it as complex as you expected?"

  I admitted that nothing could be much simpler.

  "I am sure," said Dr. Leete, "that it is within the truth to say thatthe head of one of the myriad private businesses of your day, who hadto maintain sleepless vigilance against the fluctuations of themarket, the machinations of his rivals, and the failure of hisdebtors, had a far more trying task than the group of men atWashington who nowadays direct the industries of the entire nation.All this merely shows, my dear fellow, how much easier it is to dothings the right way than the wrong. It is easier for a general up ina balloon, with perfect survey of the field, to manoeuvre a million mento victory than for a sergeant to manage a platoon in a thicket."

  "The general of this army, including the flower of the manhood of thenation, must be the foremost man in the country, really greater eventhan the President of the United States," I said.

  "He is the President of the United States," replied Dr. Leete, "orrather the most important function of the presidency is the headshipof the industrial army."

  "How is he chosen?" I asked.

  "I explained to you before," replied Dr. Leete, "when I was describingthe force of the motive of emulation among all grades of theindustrial army, that the line of promotion for the meritorious liesthrough three grades to the officer's grade, and thence up through thelieutenancies to the captaincy or foremanship, and superintendency orcolonel's rank. Next, with an intervening grade in some of the largertrades, come the general of the guild, under whose immediate controlall the operations of the trade are conducted. This officer is at thehead of the national bureau representing his trade, and is responsiblefor its work to the administration. The general of his guild holds asplendid position, and one which amply satisfies the ambition of mostmen, but above his rank, which may be compared--to follow the militaryanalogies familiar to you--to that of a general of division ormajor-general, is that of the chiefs of the ten great departments, orgroups of allied trades. The chiefs of these ten grand divisions ofthe industrial army may be compared to your commanders of army corps,or lieutenant-generals, each having from a dozen to a score ofgenerals of separate guilds reporting to him. Above these ten greatofficers, who form his council, is the general-in-chief, who is thePresident of the United States.

  "The general-in-chief of the industrial army must have passed throughall the grades below him, from the common laborers up. Let us see howhe rises. As I have told you, it is simply by the excellence of hisrecord as a worker that one rises through the grades of the privatesand becomes a candidate for a lieutenancy. Through the lieutenancieshe rises to the colonelcy, or superintendent's position, byappointment from above, strictly limited to the candidates of the bestrecords. The general of the guild appoints to the ranks under him, buthe himself is not appointed, but chosen by suffrage."

  "By suffrage!" I exclaimed. "Is not that ruinous to the discipline ofthe guild, by tempting the candidates to intrigue for the support ofthe workers under them?"

  "So it would be, no doubt," replied Dr. Leete, "if the workers had anysuffrage to exercise, or anything to say about the choice. But theyhave nothing. Just here comes in a peculiarity of our system. Thegeneral of the guild is chosen from among the superintendents by voteof the honorary members of the guild, that is, of those who haveserved their time in the guild and received their discharge. As youknow, at the age of forty-five we are mustered out of the army ofindustry, and have the residue of life for the pursuit of our ownimprovement or recreation. Of course, however, the associations of ouractive lifetime retain a powerful hold on us. The companionships weformed then remain our companionships till the end of life. We alwayscontinue honorary members of our former guilds, and retain the keenestand most jealous interest in their welfare and repute in the hands ofthe following generation. In the clubs maintained by the honorarymembers of the several guilds, in which we meet socially, there are notopics of conversation so common as those which relate to thesematters, and the young aspirants for guild leadership who can pass thecriticism of us old fellows are likely to be pretty well equipped.Recognizing this fact, the nation entrusts to the honorary members ofeach guild the election of its general, and I venture to claim that noprevious form of society could have developed a body of electors soideally adapted to their office, as regards absolute impartiality,knowledge of the special qualifications and record of candidates,solicitude for the best result, and complete absence of self-interest.

  "Each of the ten lieutenant-generals or heads of departments ishimself elected from among the generals of the guilds grouped as adepartment, by vote of the honorary members of the guilds thusgrouped. Of course there is a tendency on the part of each guild tovote for its own general, but no guild of any group has nearly enoughvotes to elect a man not supported by most of the others. I assure youthat these elections are exceedingly lively."

  "The President, I suppose, is selected from among the ten heads of thegreat departments," I suggested.

  "Precisely, but the heads of departments are not eligible to thepresidency till they have been a certain number of years out ofoffice. It is rarely that a man passes through all the grades to theheadship of a department much before he is forty, and at the end of afive years' term he is usually forty-five. If more, he still servesthrough his term, and if less, he is nevertheless discharged from theindustrial army at its termination. It would not do for him to returnto the ranks. The interval before he is a candidate for the presidencyis intended to give time for him to recognize fully that he hasreturned into the general mass of the nation, and is identified withit rather than with the industrial army. Moreover, it is expected thathe will employ this period in studying the general condition of thearmy, instead of that of the special group of guilds of which he wasthe head. From among the former heads of departments who may beeligible at the time, the President is elected by vote of all the menof the nation who are not connected with the industrial army."

  "The army is not allowed to vote for President?"

  "Certainly not. That would be perilous to its discipline, which it isthe business of the President to maintain as the representative of thenation at large. His right hand for this purpose is the inspectorate,a highly important department of our system; to the inspectorate comeall complaints or information as to defects in goods, insolence orinefficiency of officials, or dereliction of any sort in the publicservice. The inspectorate, however, does not wait for complaints. Notonly is it on the alert to catch and sift every rumor of a fault inthe service, but it is its business, by systematic and constantoversight and inspection of every branch of the army, to find out whatis going wrong before anybody else does. The President is usually notfar from fifty when elected, and serves five years, forming anhonorable exception to the rule of retirement at forty-five. At theend of his term of office, a national Congress is called to receivehis report and approve or condemn it. If it is approved, Congressusually elects him to represent the nation for five years more in theinternational council. Congress, I should also say, passes on thereports of the outgoing heads of departments, and a disapprovalrenders
any one of them ineligible for President. But it is rare,indeed, that the nation has occasion for other sentiments than thoseof gratitude toward its high officers. As to their ability, to haverisen from the ranks, by tests so various and severe, to theirpositions, is proof in itself of extraordinary qualities, while as tofaithfulness, our social system leaves them absolutely without anyother motive than that of winning the esteem of their fellow citizens.Corruption is impossible in a society where there is neither povertyto be bribed nor wealth to bribe, while as to demagoguery or intriguefor office, the conditions of promotion render them out of thequestion."

  "One point I do not quite understand," I said. "Are the members of theliberal professions eligible to the presidency? and if so, how arethey ranked with those who pursue the industries proper?"

  "They have no ranking with them," replied Dr. Leete. "The members ofthe technical professions, such as engineers and architects, have aranking with the constructive guilds; but the members of the liberalprofessions, the doctors and teachers, as well as the artists and menof letters who obtain remissions of industrial service, do not belongto the industrial army. On this ground they vote for the President,but are not eligible to his office. One of its main duties being thecontrol and discipline of the industrial army, it is essential thatthe President should have passed through all its grades to understandhis business."

  "That is reasonable," I said; "but if the doctors and teachers do notknow enough of industry to be President, neither, I should think, canthe President know enough of medicine and education to control thosedepartments."

  "No more does he," was the reply. "Except in the general way that heis responsible for the enforcement of the laws as to all classes, thePresident has nothing to do with the faculties of medicine andeducation, which are controlled by boards of regents of their own, inwhich the President is ex-officio chairman, and has the casting vote.These regents, who, of course, are responsible to Congress, are chosenby the honorary members of the guilds of education and medicine, theretired teachers and doctors of the country."

  "Do you know," I said, "the method of electing officials by votes ofthe retired members of the guilds is nothing more than the applicationon a national scale of the plan of government by alumni, which we usedto a slight extent occasionally in the management of our highereducational institutions."

  "Did you, indeed?" exclaimed Dr. Leete, with animation. "That is quitenew to me, and I fancy will be to most of us, and of much interest aswell. There has been great discussion as to the germ of the idea, andwe fancied that there was for once something new under the sun. Well!well! In your higher educational institutions! that is interestingindeed. You must tell me more of that."

  "Truly, there is very little more to tell than I have told already," Ireplied. "If we had the germ of your idea, it was but as a germ."