few men of his years have thought as deeply as harper did, or had clearer perceptions, concerning conditions and forces which make for happiness and progress in social life, and the development of national greatness. had he been spared he would have been an earnest and practical reformer; silent as his voice is now, the words he once uttered are not without their value to our day and generation. he was a true patriot in sentiment and aspiration.
harper loved his country and its people, and in all that he undertook, which was of a public nature, he was animated by an enthusiasm for the common good. of the self-imposed tasks he had undertaken in addition to his regular duties at the department of labour, and in each of which he had made some progress, were treatises on “labour legislation in[106] canada,” and the “outlines of an industrial history of the dominion.” among his contributions to publications other than the labour gazette, was a short essay on colleges and citizenship in a christmas number of the acta victoriana of victoria college, one or two articles in the commonwealth on canada’s attitude towards labour, and an uncompleted monograph, intended for publication, on the study of political economy in the high schools. he was president of the ottawa social science club, secretary-treasurer of the ottawa section of the university of toronto alumni association, and an active member of the ottawa literary and scientific society. he was at the same time promoting the organization of a university club, a plan of which he had carefully prepared, and the object of which was to bring the university men of the city into closer touch with each other, and make their influence more widely felt in the civic and social life of the community.
the background of all harper’s thinking[107] on social and political problems was coloured by his belief in a moral order; in the forefront was ever the individual proclaiming this order, and seeking to realize it in his own life. institutions of whatever kind, whether national or religious, were to him of human creation. their usefulness was in proportion to the degree to which they helped to give expression to the unseen purpose in the universe. nature and man, alone, were divine. it followed logically from this that man’s work among his fellows in the world was to discover the moral order, reveal and maintain it, so far as within him the power lay. harmony with this order meant happiness, want of harmony, whether by the individual or the state, unhappiness. in this view, the individual is vastly superior to any institution he and his fellows may construct, superior as an end, and as a means to an end. if a set of conditions exist which are counter to the moral order, or obstruct its fulfillment in the lives of men, these conditions should be changed, the individual should not be sacri[108]ficed to them. on the other hand, change may be, and ought to be accomplished more by men than by institutions, and can only be accomplished in the degree to which beliefs become active, potent factors in individual lives.
it is true that human knowledge is limited, and that the purpose of god is infinite, and so there may rightly be among men differences of opinion as to what, under any circumstances, are the ends to be sought, and the best means to attain those ends; and humility may well characterize all expressions of belief relative thereto; but, to the extent of knowledge gained, the ground underfoot is firm, and humility will not excuse the want of assertion, where right reason is set at naught by wrongful conduct. moreover, there is much on which men can be agreed, broken arcs visible to all, though the perfect round is seen by none. there are right and wrong, truth and falsehood, honesty and dishonesty, love and hate, purity and vice, honour and dishonour, and the difference between them is as apparent and real as the difference[109] ’twixt day and night, albeit, now and again, a twilight of uncertainty may render doubtful the confines of separation. harper’s exclusive insistence was only upon what in this way was acceptable to all; and knowing that it was acceptable, he was sure the appeal would find a response in those to whom it was addressed. whatever men might be in seeking privately their own selfish ends, their belief in a moral order was apparent once action became collective; the public had a conscience to which it was generally true, though men at times might seem to betray their better selves; and public opinion might be expected to guard for society as a whole a right for which individuals sometimes lost respect. how great, therefore, was the responsibility upon those who had the capacity, or opportunity, to see that public opinion was rightly formed and directed, and that, in social and political affairs, truth and right should be made to prevail!
this insistence upon the recognition of responsibility in those favoured by educa[110]tional training or opportunity, is well brought out in a paragraph or two in the short essay on colleges and citizenship. referring to a quotation from sir alfred milner’s life of arnold toynbee, in which “the estrangement of the men of thought from the leaders of the people” is referred to as having constituted, in toynbee’s mind, the great danger of the democratic upheaval of the time, harper writes:
“people in canada to-day are doubtless not so anxious about democratic upheaval. fortunately the aggravated conditions of an old world metropolis have not yet been developed. the task is easier; the duty none the less imperative. it is more possible to secure the confidence of men who are not embittered by the pangs of slumdom. but because conditions here are not as distressing as they have been and are elsewhere, it is surely no less desirable, with a view to promoting industrial peace and healthy national development, that the men who have opportunity and capacity for the serious study of social and economic problems, should not allow themselves to become fenced off by a wall of indifference of their own[111] creation from those to whom the mass of the people look for direction, inspiration and suggestion. it is reasonable to expect that he who claims to be engaged in the pursuit of truth should not give countenance to what makes for social disorder and national decay.
“men are as much open to reason, as liable to accept truth, when they have been convinced of it, as when arnold toynbee studied, lectured and wrote. they are as prone to prefer what is genuine to what is pretense and dissimulation. surely a peculiar obligation to see that men think rightly and act sanely, devolves upon those whose vantage ground should enable them to distinguish what is genuine. sir alfred milner, having in mind the earnest friend of his undergraduate days, said six years ago to the members of toynbee hall: ‘i do not go so far as to say that what oxford thinks to-day england will do to-morrow, but certainly any new movement of thought at the universities in these days rapidly finds its echo in the press and in public opinion.’ indeed, is there not fair ground for the belief that much of the virtue which has marked the conduct of great britain’s high commissioner at cape town, throughout the south african crisis[112] is due to association with the high-minded student, who, in the congenial atmosphere of oxford, did not forget that he was a citizen?”
it was his belief in the importance of men recognizing their duties as citizens, and being able to discharge these duties with intelligence and for the common good, which led harper to prepare a scheme for the teaching of political economy in the high schools. the merits of this plan he had summarized as follows:
“such a study would tend to remedy the great evil of democratic institutions, the susceptibility of the masses to the influence of demagogues, and their liability to misconstrue the relations of cause and effect because of ignorance. it would tend to promote mental development, especially in the direction of individual thought. it would tend to raise the standard of such studies in the universities, and this in time would react upon the high schools in the way of more competent teachers, and, in the end, create great possibilities for the prosecution of research in this all important branch of knowledge in our country. it would tend to remedy social evils by giving the[113] philanthropist and the public generally, something like an accurate idea of the true state of society. it would react beneficially upon the government, which, with a more critical observation, would be more careful in its actions.”
he modestly concludes,
“i simply put forward a proposal which, i think, if carried out, would tend to modify the evils fostered by ignorance. i have to a great extent taken it as an axiom that whatever tends to disseminate knowledge, to advance truth, and to develop the intellect, cannot be wrong, and should be accepted by all liberal minded men; and this, i think, would be the result of the study of political economy in our high schools.”
from the notes he had made, and from what is contained in the body of the article, it would appear that he had in mind a course on civic ethics, quite as much as on the elements of economics, and that he would have liked, if possible, to have had a beginning made in the public schools.
scattered throughout his diary are such observations as the following:
[114]
“i am becoming more and more convinced that the true rulers of the nation are outside of our parliaments and our law courts, and that the safety of society lies in informing those who form public opinion.”
“i feel more and more the necessity of emphasizing the importance of the scientific study of economic and political problems in a country in which every man has the franchise, and is supposed to be in a position to express an intelligent opinion upon public questions, and particularly at a time when labour and kindred problems are prominent in the public mind.”
“a man who truly loves his country should be disposed to do his utmost to see it rightly governed.”
“the poor downtrodden have more to hope for from men who, having a specialized training in the operation of social forces, apply themselves to the proper remedy, than from all the windy, ultra-radical demagogues.”
[115]
“it is the alienation—partly, no doubt, due to indolence—of the men of thought from those from whom the mass of the people habitually receive their inspiration, which accounts for much of the crass ignorance and purposeless passion of the people and their demagogues.”
“for myself, i have long deplored the foolish worship of this or that set of political machinery by apparently well intentioned men. in matthew arnold’s culture and anarchy, there is a solution for much of our distressing bluster and blunder. with confidence in the possibilities of man and a resolute endeavour to strive towards perfection, to allow our best consciousness to play about our stock notions and our painful conditions of society, we should be able to see the real value of things, and ultimately to approach more nearly to right and truth. if our well-intentioned, but perhaps ‘over-hebraized’ ultra-socialists and ultra-individualists would have perfection more prominently in mind than the pet panacea they have ever before them, and would allow their best consciousness to play about their notions of society and its evils, there would be less of viciousness and ignorance in their propaganda.”
[116]
“the fallacy of political panaceas! and the vital importance of improving the individual morally, and encouraging him to elevate his ideals! what a splendid thing it would be if every labour agitator, every demagogue, every member of parliament, every professor, teacher and minister, and, in fact, every one who exerts an influence upon the public mind, could realize and act upon the truth which came to alton locke after his life of bitter trial: ‘my only ground was now the bare realities of life and duty. the problem of society—self-sacrifice, the one solution.’”
“we are too apt to regard social phenomena as if they are entities in themselves, instead of incidents in the development of society, a fact which a man who is amidst the strife of existing social and economic conditions should not lose sight of.”
“i am continually impressed with the wisdom of keeping a mind open to suggestion and impressions from the men one meets in the ordinary course of life, in fine, the importance of keeping an open mind. if one can accomplish this, even[117] the din of ‘the world’s most crowded streets’ becomes interesting and instructive, even beautiful, because of the opportunities of seeing truth and discovering the remedy for evils.”
“justice and truth must prevail over tyranny and ignorance.”
the true mind is revealed in its unconscious moments, and it is, therefore, from passages like these, casually expressed, and constantly recurring in much that he wrote, which was of a private nature, that his real views and beliefs are to be gathered. one or two other passages in a similar vein will disclose these views more fully.
during christmas week of 1900 he visited new york for the first time. of the many impressions made upon his mind, the contrasts of wealth and poverty, and all that they implied, were to him more real than aught else.
“what was particularly irritating to me,” he writes in his journal, after returning from this trip,[118] “was the constant evidence of the power of money rule in that throbbing metropolis. the story is written, even on the store signs on broadway, that this, the greatest commercial city in america, is practically owned by monied persons, whose tastes and ambitions strike one as being essentially low, mean and vulgar. i felt strongly a growing pride in british institutions and british character compared with what i saw about me. the ground taken by mr. mulock, on behalf of labour, came strongly before me. i felt that selfishness must be reckoned with in the solution of social problems. what is to be hoped is that strong men may be brought to see that right legislation is good politics, that they may thus be persuaded to lend their aid to those who hope to avoid the growth in canada of a corrupt system by which the power is in the hands of the octopus who owns the money bags, and who fattens on the blood of the people whom he crowds under him. there is luxury and magnificence on fifth avenue, but i envied not the proud possessors of those costly mansions. i want naught but what my own ability and effort will bring me. i believe in making one’s surroundings as beautiful as may be, but i feel that there is much waste and vulgar[119] display in the way in which wealthy new york arrays herself. her luxury is ponderous and heavy and dull, when one remembers that much of it rests on the necks of the hundreds of thousands of toilers who gasp for breath in the narrow streets, from whom are withheld god’s free gifts, the sunlight and the pure air.”
elsewhere, he writes after a walk through the city streets:
“on the way home i turned over in my mind the question as to how wealthy men come to be so much appreciated in spite of the fact that it is only the lovable in man which is truly loved—by right-minded men at all events, and i am satisfied that, consciously or unconsciously, men come to compromise with their own sense of justice in their estimate of men, until a habit of thought and regard is fixed. what goes forward is something like this: we do not love the man with the big house, but we would love to be the man with the big house. and since the man with the big house often has it in his power to get a bigger house than we have, we come to appreciate him. many men do this until it comes to be usual to appreciate the man with the big house, and he[120] comes to be a large figure in the eyes of the world, however little we may love him and his methods. this is particularly the case in a young nation like the united states which has, as yet, scarcely come to realize the really valuable things, an appreciation of which comes from genuine culture.
“again, whilst there is no great sin per se in being rich, i can see the truth in the old scriptural saying, ‘it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of god.’ when it is so hard for an earnest student to keep his mind rivetted upon the eternal realities of life, through which character building and true happiness come, how much harder must it be for the man whose circumstances make the existing order, if not sufficient, yet comfortable, who has his vanity flattered by the things which he has been pursuing, and who has a vast web of houses and other possessions to shut him off from even an occasional view of the realities. these facts, of course, only hold in their general application and tendencies. there have been, doubtless, splendid rich men. when these reach that state when, of their own free will, and of deliberate choice, they are prepared to go,[121] sell all that they have, and give to the poor, then they have reached an attitude of mind and heart which enables them to distinguish between semblances and realities, to deliberately select the latter, and so realize the greatest happiness, the kingdom of heaven.”
his fine spirit is no less clearly revealed in the views which he held of the duties of the department of labour, and of the ideals he believed should govern and direct its work. the following extracts from letters to the one with whom he was associated, may serve to show with what purpose and to what end he had given himself to the work. the letters were written during the summer of 1901, while he was in charge of the department:
“as i lay in a hammock last night at kingsmere, and gazed into the deep blue moonlit vault of heaven, and ran over in my mind the progress already made by the department, and taxed my imagination to see its future, the one formidable obstacle which i saw ever before us was the difficulty of keeping firm to one’s convictions in the face of growing clamours for things which one[122] cannot approve, yet which are uttered by people whom one cannot ignore. nevertheless, i am convinced that all will be well in the end. we will have the good will of the decent, fair-minded people, and that is all one should be much concerned about, after one has satisfied one’s own sense of right and justice. i feel a deep sense of the gravity of our position, and i am determined that you shall command my best effort in your endeavours to make the work of the department effective, and to defeat unworthy attacks. i do not think that i am lacking either in faith in human nature or in the ultimate triumph of right, but i am coming to realize more, day by day, that it is a great man’s work which we are called upon to perform. i have every confidence in our ability to weather the storms which we will undoubtedly be called upon to meet, and you can be assured that you will find me ready to do my share. it behooves us both to steadfastly keep before us those things which are true, and, if we do, nature, as carlyle says, will be on our side.
“the work on the labour gazette allows opportunity for a careful and searching analysis of the industrial and social life of the dominion. already i can see the practical usefulness of the[123] work. in addition to the obvious recognition of the claims of labour involved in the creation of the department, we have it in our power to publish information which should lead to a better understanding all round, as well as to further such movements as arbitration and conciliation which tend to promote industrial peace.
“with the added responsibility there has come to me an increasing sense of the usefulness of the work which we are doing. i believe we can do much towards determining the direction of social progress. with a knowledge of fact, an absence of sectarian prejudice, some understanding of the progress of human institutions, and of the motives which influence men, we should, if we can keep control of ourselves, and maintain high ideals as inspiration for the development of the best that is in us, be able to render a lasting service to this country.”
in this connection his views as to the relation of the state and labour, and of labour problems generally, may not be without interest.
“i think,” he writes, “we should discourage anything that tends to prevent canadian workers[124] from being good citizens, and enough means and leisure to avoid the brutalizing tendency of suppressed bitterness and poverty, is necessary to that end. i am inclined to believe that healthy, rational development will be best furthered by restraining those influences which tend to lower the level of citizenship, and the material well-being of the mass of the workers in a country in which, as in canada, the workers are an important element in the governing of the nation. society must insist upon rules of fairness governing our industrial system, and upon frowning down the ‘mean man.’ let each individual have to himself the reward of his energy, and of his legitimate effort, but let him work in accordance with rules of fair play, and frown down, and banish, if need be, the ‘mean man.’
“there are those who have held that man has but one right, the right to live, if he can. modern british democracy does not stop there. that same sense of self-respect which prevents us considering as tolerable a society which allows men and women, who are unable to provide for themselves, to lie down on the street and die, forces us to insist that there shall be some rules for the regulation of industrial life, more particularly[125] where the parties in an industrial contest are of unequal strength. most modern societies are prepared to admit that industry should be so conducted that men who are willing to work shall be allowed to work under as wholesome conditions as are reasonably possible, and that they shall be allowed such a return for their labour and so much leisure, as is necessary to health. for, to put it on no higher ground, no society, however hard hearted, can afford for long, when the remedy lies in its own hands, to countenance conditions which create in the hearts of reasonable men, that bitterness which tends to provoke social upheavals and revolutions.
“where the governing power is dependent upon the governed, no abstract theory of individual liberty or what not, will long prevent the state from taking cognizance of apparent and remediable injustice. doctrinaire political philosophers, painters of utopias, peddlars of political panaceas, still have their own little nostrums for society, but the law has been built up, as has seemed right or expedient to the law makers of the time, as a series of arbitrary rules based upon experience, and defining the terms upon which people may best live in each other’s society.
[126]
“the attitude taken by those who have fashioned british policy in industrial matters, recognizing the principle that upon individual ability and individual energy rests national progress, allows to the individual the enjoyment of the fruits of his industry. but it insists that in the getting of it he must be governed by rules of fair play. the rule which underlies the various labour laws seems to be ‘leave well enough alone, but get after the mean man.’ a parent has a right to chastise his child, but that does not mean that he has a right to beat his child whenever he feels inclined, or allow him to be so worked as to start him in life a crippled, deformed, little creature. the factories acts, perhaps the best known department of labour legislation, both in england and in canada, have been created to correct abuses, which would not have arisen but for the practices of hard-hearted employers. in order to thwart the mean man, who will consider neither the comfort nor the well-being of his employees, certain rules have been laid down, declaring how establishments, where abuses are likely to arise, shall be conducted.
“the generally accepted rule nowadays is, that good done is sufficient justification of an act, in[127] the absence of evidence that equal or greater evil will follow. take as an illustration the inspection of apples and pears, which does not fall within the scope of what is normally considered labour legislation. it was found that, left to themselves, some men who sold apples were so short-sighted as to fill the centre of the apple barrels with inferior fruit, straw, old boots, clothes, and other material which cost less than the hand-picked fruit of the canadian orchards, and which could not be seen when covered up with rosy, sweet smelling northern spies. but the appetite of the british consumer does not extend to the contents of the refuse cart, and canadian fruit growers as a whole suffered. because some men are prepared to carry their meanness to the extent of counterfeiting, and of impairing the reputation of their countrymen, the canadian parliament felt called upon, in the interest of common decency and the good of the apple trade, to require an inspection, which, while it will defeat the mean man, will involve the regulation of every honest canadian shipper who is content to take his chances on the principle, ‘caveat emptor.’
“here, then, is an illustration which may be applied. let every man stand upon his own feet,[128] says the parliament at westminster. let every man choose and pursue his own aim in life, and have for himself the reward of his efforts. but where an abuse develops to such an extent that it becomes a menace to public safety, or an invasion of the rights of others, we are prepared to so legislate as to defeat the offender, whilst restricting individual enterprise to the least possible extent.”
and of the application of the same principle of fair play to industrial disputes, he writes:
“partly because society feels that it cannot afford to see the machinery of production tied up and inactive, partly because of the effect upon consumers of increased inconvenience and increased prices as the result of that suspension, but largely, i think, because society demands that the men who work shall have fair treatment, because the great heart of society, stripped of its shams, its semblances, its dilettantisms, its hypocrisies and its follies, demands that justice and fair play shall rule between man and man, that they who are willing to work with, their hands shall have a fair return for their work, and shall be allowed to work under fair conditions, it has come to pass[129] that, in british countries, there is an answer to the demand of labour for some kind of arbitrament other than the strong hand, when the parties to an industrial dispute fail to agree. in new zealand the answer has come in compulsory arbitration, which, at bottom, means, practically, the fixing of wages by the state. in great britain and canada individualism will not go so far. public opinion, for the time being at least, is satisfied with the creation of machinery for the operation of voluntary conciliation. we hope that public opinion will, in most cases and in the long run, strike a true note. under modern conditions, as carlyle says, ‘democracy virtually extant will insist upon becoming palpably extant.’
“inasmuch as many industrial disputes have their origin in misunderstandings, and in sentimental alienations from the arbitrary disposition of one party or the other, the acts in great britain and canada, providing as they do for the appointment of an unbiased mediator to bring the parties together, are calculated to sweep away all unessential entanglements, and make the way clear for a settlement by means of amicable compromise without taking away from either of the parties the privilege, to which each claims a right, of using[130] its strength to further its own legitimate individual ends. the existence of the machinery makes it difficult for either party in a serious dispute to refuse to employ it; the prestige of the government behind the conciliator enables him to deal freely with each party, and to throw the full light of day upon the real condition of affairs. this done, the full strength of the system of voluntary conciliation comes into play. public opinion will force a settlement which approximates to justice and fairness. the mean party, whether it be the employer or the labour organization, must inevitably give way to the extent of its meanness, and at the same time, the right of the individual to realize for himself the fullest fruits of his legitimate effort, at once the stimulus of the capitalist, and raison d’être of the trade union, is preserved. the system, it is true, acknowledges, at once, the imperfection of trade union machinery, and the selfishness, even to the extent of meanness, of employers; it goes further than the grasping and heartless employer would allow; it falls short of what many unionists, especially among the socialists in the organizations, would demand; but it adequately represents the general attitude of the british public in matters of labour legislation[131] generally, preserves the reward of individual effort to the individual who makes the effort, but makes it impossible for the mean man to profit by his meanness. meanwhile, with the option, in case of disputes, of the arbitrament of public opinion, an employer is apt to give greater consideration to a proposal for the creation of a permanent conciliation board, representative of himself and his employees, to determine questions which may arise within his establishment.
“such a bringing together of the two classes in the producing scheme for the consideration of their mutual interests, as well as their mutual differences, is calculated to promote a harmony which should make for the great aim of all, the promotion of industrial peace. granted the existence of a fair rate of wages and fair conditions of work, the existence of conditions, which can, with little difficulty, merge into a modified form of industrial association or partnership, and there is the vindication of the truth, that there is no necessary warfare between the parties to production.”
lastly, of democracy; its problems were to him mainly industrial; a well informed public opinion was the one hope, a[132] recognition of the duties of citizenship, the one necessity of the times. in obedience to a moral order lay the secret of happiness, for the heart of a people like the heart of man, was governed by truth.
“if we are to have faith in democracy, we must believe that the people, when informed, will choose what is right in preference to what is base. if we can judge of the disposition of the press and the expressed opinions of prominent men who give thought to the matter, canada has deliberately set her face towards the promotion of industrial peace, the stamping out of the mean man. canadians seem disposed to declare with carlyle, that ‘cash payment is not the sole nexus of man with man. deep, far deeper than supply and demand are laws, obligations as sacred as man’s life itself. he that will not learn them, perpetual mutiny, contention, hatred, isolation, execration, will wait on his footsteps, till all men discern that the thing which he attains, however golden it look or be, is not success, but the want of success.’”
“working men are not asking for favours. in their federations less and less is heard of technical[133] differences, and more of a desire to secure the good will of the general public by means of a cool, deliberate presentation of views upon public questions primarily affecting them. it is impossible not to accept the general views of mr. henry compton, that as working men acquire their full rights, their leaders will turn to the noble task of impressing upon them the duties of citizenship. outside of parliaments and law courts, the destiny of the nation’s workers and employers is being shaped by the consciousness of right in the minds of the mass of the people.”
“i have confidence that public opinion will, in most cases and in the long run, strike a true note. i have faith in the saying, ‘the people may make mistakes, but the people never lie.’ show the people what it all means, and the people will do what is right. they are learning the insufficiency of political catch words. they know that no political pill, call it by ever so attractive a word, is a cure for all ills.”
“whatever course we may pursue we must not forget that it is but a means to an end. machinery is good, so long as we remember that it[134] is machinery. no system will, even for a short time, avoid industrial evils unless the people have respect for what is right and true and just. the present system has its omissions and its weaknesses, but it keeps in mind some of the principles of public policy, which experience has shown to be sturdy, sane and wholesome. i think it is a stride in the right direction. if men will but be true to themselves, a new era is dawning upon us; an era, which, if it will not be free of pain, hardship and suffering for many, will, while preserving a premium as a reward for the energetic, a punishment for the mean, leave the final judgment in industrial questions with public opinion, which, when informed, is ready to choose what is right in preference to what is base. the ultimate solution of industrial problems, now as never before, lies with the people at large, and all will be well if citizens will but discharge the duties of their citizenship.”
