SCIENTIFIC ASPECT OF THE HE^^RY GEORGE .MOVEMENT. "35 



defensible alike on grounds of natural justice and political expediency, 

 but with these political science has nothing to do. It is defensible 

 also on purely scientific grounds, when we come to examine the 

 origin of what is called the " unearned inci-ement," and it is in this 

 part of his case that Mr. George's recxsoning breaks down. His 

 argument tends to weaken his case, not to strengthen it, and he has 

 in this way alienated support of a valuable kind from the movement 

 which goes "by his name, and the pi'opaganda which he is actively 

 promoting. That there is something wrong with Mr. George's 

 reasoning is shown by the fact that John Stuart Mill, who maintained 

 the wage fund theory and the Malthusian law, both of which Mr. 

 George thinks it necessary in the interest of his case to i-efute, was as 

 strong an advocate as Mr. George is of the a])propriation by the 

 community of the "unearned increment.*'' 



The lecturer before specifically criticizing portions of Mr. George's 

 argument gave his own view of the origin of the unearned increment. 

 The most striking class of phenomena which present themselves for 

 economic investigation are those desci'ibed by the term " exchaiige " 

 or " barter." Things that have value exchange for each other in 

 accordance with the law of supply and demand where competition 

 prevails, and George correctly defines the law of competition to be 

 the law of " least exertion." In an ideal competitive state each 

 tries to get as much and give as little as possible, but in the actual 

 state competition is limited by custom, by combination, and by the 

 comparative immobility of capital and labor. In the true sense of tlie 

 term "' economic " non-exchanging parties are not proper sulijects of 

 economic investigation at all, and some of Mr. George's errors arise 

 from his habit of going back to the conditions of primitive society for 

 illustrations of the operations of our complex industrial community. 

 As a matter of fact some economic principles of great importance do 

 not emerge at all until industry becomes organized. Exchange of 

 valuable articles for each other is conditioned on (1) transferability, (2) 

 desirability, and (3^ scarcity, and the first two being assumed the 

 value will vary with the scarcity, or practically with the efficiency of 

 productive agencies in overcoming difficulties. The productive 

 agencies are (1) natural powers, desci'ibed by the term " land," (2) 



* Since the above paper was read, Mr. Edward AtkiHson, in the Aufjust number of the 

 Fi'Tum has, while repudiating Mr. George's conclusion, concurred in his denunciation of Ma!- 

 thusianisni. 



