insight from 1926 A person who does not have a job or any other source of income, and who does not know where to get one and how to go about canvassing the market effectively, does not possess the substance of liberty. That person is in a position to be exploited and to be forced to make contracts which are essentially made under duress. In addition to this equipment of knowledge, a person needs some reserve funds in order to be able to hold off from the market and see if the second or tenth or twentieth bargain that offers will not be better than the first. When pockets are empty this search may mean real privation. Often one of the chief obstacles to a real canvass of the market consists of the costs of transportation, in which case liberty and the pursuit of happiness may require a free ride on the railroad. If this is not forthcoming from public funds, the employers private interest may be strong enough to furnish it. But when the employer foots the bill, his interest in the case is likely to end when he gets enough labor, without regard to what happens to the laborers after he is through with them. For example, in this country there are various ways of getting harvest hands into the fields without requiring them to pay their railroad fares, but there is no system for getting them back again after the harvest is in. from Tim Taylor Conversable Economist.
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 14:55:09 +0000
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