George Gunton

Background

George Gunton the only son of Matthew Gunton, an agricultural laborer, and Ann Middleton, was born in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, England, on September 8, 1845.

Education

George Gunton had only a meager schooling, but his desire for education was early displayed and as a youth he read widely.

Career

George Gunton first settled in Fall River, Massachusetts, where he worked as a weaver, and while there he wrote articles for the Labor Standard of Paterson, New Jersey, under the name of Middleton. In 1875 he was secretary of the Weavers’ Union which engaged in an unsuccessful strike.

As a consequence he was black-listed and found it impossible to secure work as a weaver.

Even his family which had now joined him was ostracized.

He attracted the attention of Ira Steward and George McNeill, leaders of the labor movement in New England, and through their intercession with General Butler, he secured work as a laborer in the custom-house and later in the navy yard.

In 1878 the Labor Standard and the Fall River Labor Journal were merged at Fall River and Gunton was made manager, serving in this position for four years.

In 1882 the Labor Standard suspended publication and Gunton was again without settled occupation.

He devoted a portion of his time to securing an amendment of the ten-hour act passed by the Massachusetts legislature in 1874, whereby the law restricting the labor of women and children was strengthened.

In 1880 he ran for the Massachusetts legislature on the Greenback ticket.

In 1883 a labor group persuaded Gunton to edit manuscript material left by Steward.

These notes, however, proved to be too fragmentary for editing, but the project gave birth to Gunton’s own volume, Wealth and Progress, which appeared in 1887 and passed through several editions.

In the meantime (1885) he moved to New York and attracted the attention of Rev. Heber Newton, who placed Gunton at the head of an economic society in his church.

Through Newton’s influence others became interested, and as a result of this backing, the Institute of Social Economics was established in 1890.

The following year Gunton became editor of a new magazine known as the Social Economist, published under that name until 1896 when it appeared under the title of Clinton’s Magazine, which continued publication until 1904.

In addition to Wealth and Progress, he wrote: Principles of Social Economy (1891); Trusts and the Public (1899); Outlines of Social Economics (1900), with Hayes Robbins; and Outlines of Political Science (1901), also in collaboration with Robbins.

His last work, Americanization and the League of Nations (1919), written shortly before his death, had a wide distribution. In 1899 he was appointed director of economic and sociological work of the national Young Men’s Christian Association.

Achievements

• During the years from 1890 to 1905 Gunton’s writings undoubtedly influenced the direction of economic thought in the United States. Human economy rather than money economy was the center of his philosophy. In particular he urged that an increase in the standard of living of laborers together with shorter hours would elevate the wants of laborers which in turn would increase production and thus be beneficial to the manufacturer. While the theory was not consciously accepted at the time by manufacturers, it later received wide acceptance.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Gunton's Magazine Of American Economics And Political Science, Volume 7

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Gunton's Magazine, Volume XIV

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • Gunton's Magazine, Vol. 26 (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Gunton's Magazine, Vol. 26 It may be frankl...)

  • Gunton's Magazine, Vol. 5 (Classic Reprint)

    (Editorial Crucible . . . 119 Book Reviews . . . 124 Foote...)

Views

Gunton did not believe that trusts were an evil for he reasoned that the concentration of capital led to lower prices and this in turn meant higher real wages.

Trusts in his opinion did not destroy competition but simply changed the plane of competition.

Connections

In 1862, at the age of seventeen, George Gunton married Elizabeth Bocock, by whom he had eight children.

Gunton separated from his first wife in 1882, and in 1886 he married Mrs. Whipple, a woman of forceful character, who assisted him in establishing a position of influence in New York.

This marriage ultimately was dissolved and in February 1904 he married Mrs. Rebecca Douglas Lowe, president of the American Federation of Women.

The third marriage also proved unfortunate, however, and in 1915 Gunton moved to New York, where he died.

Father:

Matthew Gunton

Mother:

Ann Middleton

1st wife:

Elizabeth Bocock

3rdwife:

Mrs. Rebecca Douglas Lowe

2nd wife:

Mrs. Whiple

References

• Debate on Trusts: Between O. C. Barber and Hon. J. A. Kohler, Ex Member of the General Assembly, and Ex-Attorney-General of the State of Ohio; Also ... Ohio and George Gunton, of New York City;