-Caveat Lector-
Below is an interesting, short article, which goes along with the Anarchist
thread in a way, shedding a little light on human behavior, at least as it
applies to economics in a "profit-maximizing" economy with everything
measured by "gain".
I don't agree with the article at all -- the writer leaves off some crucial
ideas, like that of USURY, not to mention common human decency. The writer
disregards "humanness" when dealing with our fellow man, which was the idea
of Dickens' short novel to begin with.
But I do have to agree with young Scrooge in the scene where he leaves his
wife. He says to her that it is a remarkable fact that Society professes the
evil of money and its pursuit, yet will condemn the man who doesn't have it,
all in the same breath. Paraphrased, as Dickens wrote it much better.
Dickens' (Scrooge's) observation, however, puts us right back where we
started. See what you think...
In Defense of Scrooge
by Michael Levin
It�s Christmas again, time to celebrate the transformation of Ebenezer
Scrooge. You know the ritual: boo the curmudgeon initially encountered in
Charles Dickens�s A Christmas Carol, then cheer the sweetie pie he becomes
in the end. It�s too bad no one notices that the curmudgeon had a
point�quite a few points, in fact.
To appreciate them, it is necessary first to distinguish Scrooge�s outlook
on life from his disagreeable persona. He is said to have a pointed nose and
a harsh voice, but not all hardheaded businessmen are so lamentably endowed,
nor are their feckless nephews (remember Fred?) alwavs �ruddy and handsome,�
and possessed of pretty wives. These touches of the storyteller�s art only
bias the issue.
So let�s look without preconceptions at Scrooge�s allegedly underpaid clerk,
Bob Cratchit. The fact is, if Cratchit�s skills were worth more to anyone
than the fifteen shillings Scrooge pays him weekly, there would be someone
glad to offer it to him. Since no one has, and since Cratchit�s
profit-maximizing boss is hardly a man to pay for nothing, Cratchit must be
worth exactly his present wages.
No doubt Cratchit needs�i.e., wants�more, to support his family and care for
Tiny Tim. But Scrooge did not force Cratchit to father children he is having
difficulty supporting. If Cratchit had children while suspecting he would be
unable to afford them, he, not Scrooge, is responsible for their plight. And
if Cratchit didn�t know how expensive they would be, why must Scrooge assume
the burden of Cratchit�s misjudgment?
As for that one lump of coal Scrooge allows him, it bears emphasis that
Cratchit has not been chained to his chilly desk. If he stays there, he
shows by his behavior that he prefers his present wages-plus-comfort package
to any other he has found, or supposes himself likely to find. Actions speak
louder than grumbling, and the reader can hardly complain about what
Cratchit evidently finds satisfactory.
More notorious even than his miserly ways are Scrooge�s cynical words. �Are
there no prisons,� he jibes when solicited for charity, �and the Union
workhouses?�
Terrible, right? Lacking in compassion?
Not necessarily. As Scrooge observes, he supports those institutions with
his taxes. Already forced to help those who can�t or won�t help themselves,
it is not unreasonable for him to balk at volunteering additional funds for
their extra comfort.
Scrooge is skeptical that many would prefer death to the workhouse, and he
is unmoved by talk of the workhouse�s cheerlessness. He is right to be
unmoved, for society�s provisions for the poor must be, well, Dickensian.
The more pleasant the alternatives to gainful employment, the greater will
be the number of people who seek these alternatives, and the fewer there
will be who engage in productive labor. If society expects anyone to work,
work had better be a lot more attractive than idleness.
The normally taciturn Scrooge lets himself go a bit when Cratchit hints that
he would like a paid Christmas holiday. �It�s not fair,� Scrooge objects, a
charge not met by Cratchet�s patently irrelevant protest that Christmas
comes but once a year. Unfair it is, for Cratchit would doubtless object to
a request for a day�s uncompensated labor, �and yet,� as Scrooge shrewdly
points out, �you don�t think me ill used when I pay a day�s wages for no
work.�
Cratchit has apparently forgotten the golden rule. (Or is it that Scrooge
has so much more than Cratchit that the golden rule does not come into play?
But Scrooge doesn�t think he has that much, and shouldn�t he have a say in
the matter?)
Scrooge�s first employer, good old Fezziwig, was a lot freer with a
guinea�he throws his employees a Christmas party. What the Ghost of
Christmas Past does not explain is how Fezziwig afforded it. Did he attempt
to pass the added costs to his customers? Or did young Scrooge pay for it
anyway by working for marginally lower wages?
The biggest of the Big Lies about Scrooge is the pointlessness of his
pursuit of money. �Wealth is of no use to him. He doesn�t do any good with
it,� opines ruddy nephew Fred.
Wrong on both counts. Scrooge apparently lends money, and to discover the
good he does one need only inquire of the borrowers. Here is a homeowner
with a new roof, and there a merchant able to finance a shipment of tea,
bringing profit to himself and happiness to tea drinkers, all thanks to
Scrooge.
Dickens doesn�t mention Scrooge�s satisfied customers, but there must have
been plenty of them for Scrooge to have gotten so rich.
Scrooge is said to hound debtors so relentlessly that�as the Ghost of
Christmas Yet To Be is able to show him�an indebted couple rejoices at his
demise. The mere delay while their debt is transferred will avert the ruin
Scrooge would have imposed.
This canard is triply absurd. First, a businessman as keen as Scrooge would
prefer to delay payment to protect his investment rather than take
possession of possibly useless collateral. (No bank wants developers to fail
and leave it the proud possessor of a half-built shopping mall.) Second, the
fretful couple knew and agreed to the terms on which Scrooge insisted. By
reneging on the deal, they are effectively engaged in theft. Third, most
important, and completely overlooked by Ghost and by Dickens, there are
hopefuls whose own plans turn on borrowing the money returned to Scrooge
from his old don�t pay up, and he won�t make a penny unless he puts the
money to use after he gets it back.
The hard case, of course, is a payment due from Bob Cratchit, who needs the
money for an emergency operation on Tiny Tim. (Here I depart from the text,
but Dickens characters are so familiar to us they can be pressed into
unfamiliar roles.) If you think it is heartless of Scrooge to demand
payment, think of Sickly Sid, who needs an operation even more urgently than
Tim does, and whose father is waiting to finance that operation by borrowing
the money Cratchit is expected to pay up.
Is Tim�s life more valuable than Sid�s just because we�ve met him? And how
do we explain to Sid�s father that his son won�t be able to have the
operation after all, because Scrooge, as Christmas generosity, is allowing
Cratchit to reschedule his debt?
Scrooge does not circulate money from altruism, to be sure, but his motives,
whatever they are, are congruent with the public good.
But what about those motives? Scrooge doesn�t seem to get much satisfaction
from the services he may inadvertently perform, and that seems to be part of
Dickens�s point. But who, apart from Dickens, says that Scrooge is not
enjoying himself? He spends all his time at his business, likes to count his
money, and has no outside interests.
At the same time, Scrooge is not given to brooding and shows absolutely no
sign of depression or conflict. Whether he wished to or not, Dickens has
made Scrooge by far the most intelligent character in his fable, and Dickens
credits his creation with having nothing �fancy� about him. So we conclude
that, in his undemonstrative way, Scrooge is productive and satisfied with
his lot, which is to say happy.
There can be no arguing with Dickens�s wish to show the spiritual advantages
of love.
But there was no need to make the object of his lesson an entrepreneur whose
ideas and practices benefit his employees, society at large, and himself.
Must such a man expect no fairer a fate than to die scorned and alone?
Bah, I say. Humbug.
* * * * *
Michael Levin is professor of philosophy at the City University of New
York.
"Anarchy doesn't mean out of control. It means out of 'their' control."
-Jim Dodge
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