S C R I B N E R ' S M A G A Z I N E Important ... - Rparchives.org

September 17, 1913.
A t'AMlLY PAPER.
dngdom of God. We are just now enternff
into a second Revolution before the counjy
has half recovered from the shock of the
Srst; still, we believe she will pull through
this also, and have peace and order restored
throug:hout tbe country before long."
The Teacher of Old Testament in "The
gush Theological Seminary of tbe North
China Mission of the Southern Baptist Convention,"
Hwangihien;i writes, July >2o:
"Your booklet, 'A Message to China,' has
reached me, and I have read it with very
neat interest. It has revealed to me, as I
hadi not before realized, the fundamental
weakness of our own Constitution. Personally
I would rejoice to see tbe document
put into good Chinese and presented to tbe
Chinese. President and Assembly. I can
hardly believe tbat it would intensify opposition
on the part of the non-Christian Chinese,
while, if its main purpose should fail
of accomplishment, tbe efifect in general
would be salutary. The recent Call for
Prayer ,by the government is a hopeful sign,
andit may be the opportunity of ages to
press this important matter upon this great
people. Witb sincere desire for the success
of your undertaking," etc.
These are all the replies I have received
up to date, but they seem to me to reveal
something more thahi a passing interest in
the undertaking.
I received tbe bill of lading from Liverpool
the otber day for the shipment that was
tO' be made to the United States, and I hope
to have the booklets ready to send out at a
very early date. As many congregations as
would care to have copies of this booklet to
distribute among tbe families would do me
a great favor by writing me to the address
mentioned in tbis present report.
SOCIALISM. NO. 2.
By tbe Rev. J. M. Coleman.
Surplus Value.
Thisis tbe subject with which Karl Marx
begins his great work "Das Kapital" and
'A"hich some regard as the basis of the whole
Scientific Socialism. For Marx claimed that
no one of the socialistic writers who bad preceded
him were scientific. They had held to
the .belief that men were really lovers of their
fellows and that all one needed to bring in
the Golden Age was to show to men the
narrow way which led to it. St. Simon died
"1 the happy faith that on the publication of
"IS work would come the revolution.
Ma-rx had no such vision. Not an idealist,
'>ut a materialist, he thought that only force
could win for the laborer what was rightfully
bis. Man was ruled by material interests,
"nder physical laws which left no place for
"uman choice, or freedom, and which would
fflevitably work out certain ends.
*^ a socialistic order, and since it was the
O'Jtcotne of unvarying law tbe outcome might
be predicted, as an eclipse of the moon. Since
1' thus depended, not on man's opinions, or
'beliefs, but on law, he claimed he had discovered
Scientific Socialism.
If the structure is to rest on Surplus Value
it will be worth while tO' see what this doctrine
means.
According to Marx, and practically all Socialists
are in agreement on tbis point, all
value is produced by labor. If any one insists
that capital is a partner in the productive
process, tbe Socialist is ready with the
claim that without human labor capital has
no productive power. The train can haul
an immense load from point to point, but it
must have the engineer tO' turn on the steam.
The grain binder distances tbe sickle in competition,
but it requires a human agent to
make it work.
If one enters the claim that the train and
the binder as capital deserve some return as
well as the labor by which they are used,
the Socialist is ready witb the answer that
capital itself is the product of labor.'
This is a question around which the economists
have hammered for a century without
being able to come to an agreement and
therefore I -shall not attempt to settle it in a
paragraph. The stock illustration is of the
fisherman who' starts to catch fish with bis
hands and then finds it to- his interest, in
bis spare moments, to contrive a boat, which
takes him to a better fishing ground. Now
catching so many more fish htei turns the
boat over to anoither for iialf the fish caught
and thus becomes a capitalist and raises the
question of the morality of his dividends.
Should the man who uses the boat turn over
part of tbe fish to the owner, or does the
owner lose claim on the boat when he ceases
to use it?
If tbe readers of the Christian Nation settle
that question to the satisfaction of all
concerned, it may 'be taken out of the list of
unsettled problems.
Marx had no doubt and allows none among
his disciples that capital is dead and deserves
no dividends. But since the capitalist has
come into control of tbe machinery of production,
be does not give the laborer tbe
whole of the product, be does not give him
all the fish, but keeps a part of it for himself.
This part wbich tbe laborer produces, but
does not get, because it is taken over by th?
capitalist, is Surplus Value, according to
.Marx. ITe held that the laborer worked
twelve hours a day, wbich was the rule at
the time in England where his book was
written, but that tbe capitalist kept half of
the product for himself as dividends. That
is, the laborer worked twelve hours and received
pay for six, the remainder of his earnings
being added to capital as Surplus Value,
Now it is quite clear that if labor is not
This end the sole producer, Surplus Value is liable
to vanish and with it tbe argument of Marx.
Therefore there is no little dust raised in
trying to lay the foundation of the system.
Next Marx takes another step -which involves
yet another question. If labor is the
sole producer of value, he holds that it also
determines value. According to this tbe valuation
wbich I put upon a bat or coat sbould
be fixed by the labor which went into it.
Now it is quite clear that unless people want
to pay a certain amount for the goods that
no more of tbe article will be made, but it
is by no means clear that market valuation
is determined by labor cost. In fact, if Marx
is anywhere near right, the reduction sales
which are so generally advertised are all
wrong. If market value is determined by
labor cost, a straw hat should cost as much
in August as in May, for the labor cost is not
cut in half by the firstfrost. Also overcoats
should not be cheaper in March tban in December.
Very few are the buyers, socialists
or otherwise, who base tbeir pricemaking
on the labor cost of the goods, for the bargain
counter seems to gather around it all
classes, Socialists included.
Few will question, wben tbey analyze the
motives prompting them to buy goods, that
the real cause is the want in themselves for
the goods, and not the expenditure of someone
else in making them. Marx is logical
enough in trying to make labor the measure
of value as well as its cause, but no modern
economist holds with him.
I have given Surplus Value this important
place in the system, because it was given that
place by Marx himself, but his system is
not wrecked when Surplus Value is taken
out, though it is sadly damaged. It is Surplus
Value, however, which tbe orator usually
exploits to s.how how all capital is ai toll
taken from wages by tbe capitalist to wbich
he has no rightful claim. To quote Proudhon
"All capital is theft," and so it is if Surplus
Value is economic gospel.
Inthe Sabbath
School
Lesson i. October 5, 1913
By the Rev. W. A. Aikin.
MOSES' CRY FOR HELP.—Num. 11:4-33.
4-33-
Golden Text.—The supplications of a
righteous man availeth much in its working.
—James 5:16.
Psalms.—78:13-16. C. M. 20:1-6. L. M.
78:17-21. C. M.
Time.—B. C. 1490. Shortly after leaving
Mount Sinai, where Israel had tarried about
eleven months.
Place.—Near Mount Sinai.
ANALYSIS AND COMMENT.
The Book of Numbers tells of the chief
incidents of the thirty-eight years that
elapsed from tbe time Israel left Sinai until
tney came to the borders of Canaan. The
lesson before us is a study of a series of incidents
that took place shortly after the journey
was resumed.
I. ISRAEL CLAMORS FOR FOOD
FOR THEIR LUSTS, (v. 4-9.)
"And the mixed multitude tbat was among