A SKETCH OF SOCIALISTIC THOUGHT IN ENGLAND 659
viduals to satisfy a preference for durable goods instead of per- ishable, goods whose use is social rather than those whose con- sumption is selfish, and goods expressing individuality instead of fashion's products. The higher wants of life can only be satisfied by individual production. Art and music are not machine made. Machine products are exactly alike, but consumers are not. There can be little progressive consumption so long as consumers sink their individuality. As qualitative consumption increases the individuality both of consumer and producer is encouraged, a higher class of labor is employed. As such tastes increase there is a probability, almost a necessity, that the lower wants shall be satisfied by routine effort. Machinery is naturally adapted to the satisfaction of routine wants, provided it be under social control. The character of machine production is essen- tially collective. The maladies of machine industry are due to the fact that this collective character is inadequately recognized. But it is impossible to obtain this recognition until there is a greatly increased demand for the products of individualized labor. Qualitative consumption will stimulate the demand for a variety of products, but it must be accompanied by the desire to consume now. This is a necessity not only to avoid over- production, but because the effort to consume now in the satis- faction of existing wants will stimulate new ones. The truest conception of consumption is to combine work and life. It is a great evil for a laborer to work too hard to enjoy consumption today, and be too idle tomorrow to consume qualitatively. The problem of the overworked capitalist and the unemployed laborer is in a sense one. The manifest implications of such theories of consumption, though not necessarily claimed by the writers, are the collective organization of routine efforts and universality of labor and leisure. 1
1 References. INGRAM, History of Political Economy, article in Encyclopaedia Britannica. GEDDES, John Kuskin, Economist, Round Table Series, 1884; Tke CJaims of Labor, 1 886. MACKENZIE, Introduction to Social Philosophy, Glasgow, 1 890. SMART , The Theory of Value, London, 1891; Studies in Economics, London, 1895. HOBSON, The Evolution of Modern Capitalism, New York, 1889; The Unemployed, London, 1896.
