George Gunton

George Gunton (1845–1919) was an influential figure in the labor movement of the United States around the turn of the 20th century and was an avid supporter of industrial combinations, or 'trusts'. He was a close colleague of Ira Steward, and upon Steward's death in 1883 he agreed to complete and prepare for publication a book that Steward had been writing. Gunton found only notes, not a nearly complete book. Deciding the notes were not suffiecient for editing, Gunton discarded them, instead building on the ideas of his colleague to formulate his own book on the labor movement, "Wealth and Progress", which was published in 1887, followed by "Principles of Social Economics" in 1891. He founded a school, the Institute of Social Economics, in 1891, with the aim of educating the masses in the path of responsible citizenship.

Gunton was the editor of Gunton's Magazine, a goal-oriented publication, which drew many prominent thinkers of his time. An early supporter and adviser to Theodore Roosevelt, Gunton later became a vocal critic of the president, when the administration began attacking trusts, forming a Bureau of Corporations with full investigative powers in 1903. Though Gunton was accused in his life of being 'bought' by big business, he genuinely believed, and made good argument to the fact, that well organized capital was vital to the protection of the rights of a well-organized labor force.

George Gunton was of a scientific mind and thus rooted his philosophy in the principle of evolution. He articulated the principle of evolution, defined progress, as follows: the development from the simple and similar to the complex and heterogeneous. In other words, as a system develops, it becomes increasingly multifaceted and specialized. Applying this view of progress to human society, Gunton distinguished three elements at play within this process. These elements he defined as material, intellect, and morality. He saw the material factor as the most fundamental, initiating social development through human want and the exploitation of nature. Intellect is the guide of humanity, and morality is the result. For example, in the case of altruism, the moral codes against murder or theft are rooted in self-preservation, the gains to be had from being a member of a stable society outweighing the gains of the immediately selfish act. He believed that the development of egoistic wants stimulated man's intellect, which in turn differentiated, specialized, the social environment (the field of morality) and thus the conscious egoism and unconscious morality transforms into unconscious egoism and conscious morality. So ultimately, it is the development of man's desires that leads to the development of moral character.

Gunton saw the exploitation of nature as man's greatest power, and he saw no limit to the progress that could be made by its harnessing. In relation to matters of the labor movement, he saw this as the key to the mutual benefit of worker and employer. Gunton was an enthusiastic optimist, believing nature to be an unending wealth from which all could reap. All that was needed to augment the technological advances now bringing nature under man's domination was a balanced system of organized capital and organized labor.

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