The Value Of Capitalism Remains Constant for 80 Years
By Nitin Julka
The Daily Cardinal |
Last week, I watched the 1923 silent film, Within the Law,
which was an adaptation of the Bayard Veiller play.
It was one in a series of screenings sponsored by the UW Cinematheque
about Norma Talmadge, an unsung star of the silent
film era.
Surprisingly, I only fell asleep for about 10 minutes of the
96 minute movie. The rest of the time, I did truly appreciate the silent black
and white film with live piano accompaniment.
I was not expecting much before watching the show. I am not
the artsy type and I have no clue about the silent film world. But afterwards,
my mind was spinning with ideas about various aspects of the movie.
The quality of the picture was excellent. Besides color,
there has not been much innovation in the area of film between 1920 and today.
Yes, the resolution in today’s televisions is significantly better, but the
basic model has not changed.
The plot of the film also got me thinking. It involved a
young Mary Turner (Talmadge), who worked for an
unscrupulous big businessman, Edward Gilder (Joseph Kilgour).
Mary, who was forced to work at an awful wage, was then convicted for a crime
that she did not commit: stealing from the businessman. In the courtroom,
Mary begged for clemency, but Edward persuaded the judge to
sentence her to 3 years in jail. Mary vowed revenge.
After getting out of jail, Mary wanted to lead an honest
life, but could not find employment as an ex-convict. As a result, she and her
friend resorted to earning money by a series of con jobs. They extorted money
from an old man and pretended to be high-class citizens. She also did all of
her cons and morally dubious behavior while staying within the law.
Eventually, she gained success and revenge by marrying the
son of her original employer. The theme of the movie was a bit disturbing. Mary
was only successful by taking advantage of the legal loopholes that existed in
the system. The businessman was only successful by paying his employees slave-labor
wages. The message was that the only path to success was by conforming to the
ways of the lying, cheating businessman and staying “within the law.”
I was struck by how familiar all of this sounded. In the
1920s, before labor laws, welfare, social security, and a regulated economy,
this made some sense. The Bolshevik revolution had just overthrown the
government in
Today, we know that communism fails. It makes far less sense
to use these socialist scare tactics when history has proven communism to be an
economically unviable solution. Read F.A.
Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom (1944) for an incredible discussion
of the relationship between socialism and human freedom
But today in
Since the 1920s, businesspeople have been condemned for
their greed and obsession with money. Yet business, competition, globalization,
and money are the best tools for human progress that we have yet discovered.
Why do some countries develop into modern successful
societies, while others remain behind? The key is that open participation in
the global marketplace causes countries to spend their energy specializing in
certain types of production instead of trying to create all of their goods on
their own. With this global division of labor, countries can all have the
highest quality goods at the best global price.
The result is a significantly higher standard of living for
countries that open their markets. The great progress of
So a random silent movie proved to be an inspiring experience. I started thinking about the context of the film, its history, and its parallels to today. As a graduating senior, the thing I regret most is not taking full advantage of the great resources of our University.
If it is the Distinguished Lecture Series, intramural sports, or even a silent film showing, we should fully utilize the tremendous opportunities here at UW.