Essays in Social JusticeHarvard University Press, 1915 - 429 pages What is justice?- The ultimate basis of social conflict.- The principle of self-centered appreciation commonly called self-interest.- The forms of human conflict.- Economic competition.- How ought wealth to be distributed?- How much is a man worth?- Interest.- Socialism and the present unrest.- Constructive democracy.- The single tax.- The question of inheritance.- The question of monopoly.- The cure for poverty.- The responsibility of the rich for the condition of the poor.- Social service.- How ought the burdens of taxation to be distributed? |
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ability abundant accumulation acre advantage altruism amount artificial selection assume become better combined conflict consumers consumption corporation cost cultivation demand desire diagram diminishing returns distribution distributive justice dollar duty earned economic competition economic scarcity effective enterprise equal existence fact factor factor of production farm farmer human energy important income increase individual industry inheritance inheritance tax interest justice kinds of labor labor and capital labor power laissez faire law of value less living matter means method Minor Premise monopoly moral nation nature needs nitrogen nomic occupations one's owner political possession potash present primogeniture principle problem proportion quantity question reason represented result rivalry sacrifice saltpetre scarce scarcity self-interest sense social socialist struggle sumers supply talent taxation theory things tion unit votes wage slavery wages wants waste wealth worth
Popular passages
Page 43 - When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?
Page 404 - For what reason ought equality to be the rule in matters of taxation? For the reason, that it ought to be so in all affairs of government. As a government ought to make no distinction of persons or classes in the strength of their claims on it, whatever sacrifices it requires from them should be made to bear as nearly as possible with the same pressure upon all, which, it must be observed, is the mode by which least sacrifice is occasioned on the whole.
Page 23 - One lesson, and only one, history may be said to repeat with distinctness: that the world is built somehow on moral foundations; that, in the long run, it is well with the good; in the long run, it is ill with the wicked.
Page 21 - Your ship cannot double Cape Horn by its excellent plans of voting. The ship may vote this and that, above decks and below, in the most harmonious exquisitely constitutional manner : the ship, to get round Cape Horn, will find a set of conditions already voted for, and fixed with adamantine rigor by the ancient Elemental Powers, who are entirely careless how you vote.
Page 22 - ... comfortable to the ship's crew, and to their Phantasm Captain if they have one : but if the tack they unanimously steer upon is guiding them into the belly of the Abyss, it will not profit them much ! — Ships accordingly do not use the ballot-box at all ; and they reject the Phantasm species of Captains : one wishes much some other Entities, — since all entities lie under the same rigorous set of laws, — could be brought to show as much wisdom, and sense at least of self-preservation, the...
Page 23 - First, it is a voice forever sounding across the centuries the laws of right and wrong. Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral law is written on the tablets of eternity. For every false word or unrighteous deed, for cruelty and oppression, for lust or vanity, the price has to be paid at last ; not always by the chief offenders, but paid by some one. Justice and truth alone endure and live. Injustice and falsehood may be long-lived, but doomsday comes at last to them,...
Page 22 - Unanimity on board ship; — yes, indeed, the ship's crew may be very unanimous, which doubtless, for the time being, will be very comfortable to the ship's crew, and to their Phantasm Captain if they have one: but if the tack they unanimously steer upon is guiding them into the belly of the Abyss, it will not profit them much! — Ships accordingly do not use the ballot-box at all; and they reject the Phantasm species of Captains: one wishes much some other Entities, — since all entities lie under...
Page 44 - Even if the wants of the individual never expanded at all, it is quite obvious that an indefinite increase in the number of individuals in any locality would, sooner or later, result in scarcity and bring them into conflict with nature, and therefore into conflict with one another. That human populations are physiologically capable of indefinite increase, if...
Page 52 - The ultimate man will be one whose private requirements coincide with public ones. He will be that manner of man who, in spontaneously fulfilling his own nature, incidentally performs the functions of a social unit; and yet is only enabled so to fulfil his own nature by all others doing the like.
Page 400 - ... taxpayer's interest in the affairs of the state, let us turn our attention to the sacrifices involved. There is, of course, to be considered the direct sacrifice on the part of him who pays a tax. Having his income curtailed by the amount of the tax, his power to consume, or to enjoy the use of wealth, is correspondingly reduced. This form of sacrifice is the most prominent, and has, naturally enough, generally appealed most strongly to writers on taxation. But there is also another form of sacrifice...