. Now let this hired man come into the ownership of the
farm: presto! the house can be repaired at almost no cost; the tools are
good for some years yet; the harnesses can easily be mended; the
absolutely essential supplies dwindle exceedingly; and the outside labor
reduces itself to minor terms.

Work with machinery, in factories, may proceed more rapidly because the
operator must keep up with the machine; and there are also definite
standards or measures of performance. Yet even here it is not to be
expected that the work will be much more than time-service. In fact, the
very movement among labor is greatly to emphasize time-service, and
often quite independently of justice. There must necessarily be a
reaction from this attitude if we are to hope for the best human
product.

The best human product results from the bearing of responsibility; in a
controlled labor body the responsibility is shifted to the organization
or to the boss. Assuredly the consolidating of labor is much to be
desired if it is for the common benefit and for protection, and if it
leaves the laborer free with his own product. Every person has the
inalienable right to express himself, so long as it does not violate
similar rights of his fellows, and to put forth his best production; if
a man can best express himself in manual labor, no organization should
suppress him or deny him that privilege. It is a sad case, and a denial
of fundamental liberties, if a man is not allowed to work or to produce
as much as he desires. Good development does not come from repression.

Society recognizes its obligation to the laboring man of whatever kind
and the necessity of safeguarding him both in his own interest and
because he stands at the very foundations; the laboring man bears an
obligation to respond liberally with service and good-will.

Is it desirable to have an important part of the labor of a people
founded on ownership? Is it worth while to have an example in a large
class of the population of manual work that is free-spirited, and not
dominated by class interest and time-service? Is it essential to social
progress that a day's work shall be full measure?

_The group reaction_

One of the interesting phenomena of human association is the arising of
a certain standard or norm of moral action within the various groups
that compose it. These standards may not be inherently righteous, but
they become so thoroughly established as to be enacte