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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Economics - 9. Economic Inequality - 3. The Value Premises
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Chapter 9. Economic Inequality 213
Another change is that of an increasing interest in the distribution of
income and wealth as such. The rise of taxation to pay for social policy
—
and now also for the War—is forcing public attention to this problem. The
old idea in public finance that taxation should leave the distribution of
incomes and wealth between individuals and classes ‘^unchanged” has
become impractical. There Is a strong tendency to expect some leveling
off of the differences through taxation. It is rationalized by giving a new
meaning to the old normative formula that taxes should be imposed accord-
ing to ^^abillty to pay.” Similarly, there is a trend away from the attempt
to construct social welfare policies in such a manner that they would not
have any influence on the labor market.
All these trends are gradually decreasing the sanctity of individual
enterprise, which Is slowly coming under public control, although not
necessarily public ownership. The American public has been critical of the
huge “monopoly” and the “holding company” for over fifty years. The
general trend for big business and corporate finance to grow at the expense
of small business—which will be accentuated by the present War—has made
Americans more and more willing to have government restrictions on
private business. Even if big business still utilizes the old individualistic
formulas for its purposes, the observer feels that its success in this is
declining.’* Private property in business itself seems less holy to the average
American when it is no longer connected to individually-run enterprise and
when large-scale interferences are necessitated by international crises and
when taxation is mounting and its burden must be placed somewhere. In
agriculture, the increase in tenancy and migratory labor and the decline of
the independent farmer are having a similar effect.
In all these respects the American Creed is still in flux. The change has,
however, only strengthened the basic demand for equality of opportunity.
But it is becoming apparent to most Americans that conditions have so
changed that this demand will require more concerted action and even
state intervention to become realized. It is commonly observed that the
closing of the frontier and the constriction of immigration tend to stratify
the social order into a more rigid class structure. Occupational mobility and
social climbing are tending to become possible mainly by means of educa-
tion, and a significant shift now takes two generations instead of one. The
self-made man is a vanishing social phenomenon.
The perfection of the national educational system, while increasingly
opening up fairer chances for individuals starting out even from the lowest
social stratum, is at the same time restricting opportunities to move and to
rise for individuals who have passed youth without having had the benefit
of education and special training. If they are in the laboring or farming
classes they will. In all probability, have to stay there. As this situation is
becoming realized among the masses, and as cultural heterogeneity is
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