WEBVTT 1 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:31.600 Hot Water History, Episode two, seventeen Wednesday night, Richard, What's 2 00:00:31.640 --> 00:00:31.920 going on? 3 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:35.399 I had a boomer walked by the house as that 4 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:39.159 I was outside, and he was among the now several 5 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:42.640 individuals who have felt bold enough to ask me are 6 00:00:42.679 --> 00:00:47.159 you Iranian? Because, as you know in our audience members 7 00:00:47.159 --> 00:00:50.200 who are faithful to the podcast know I have been 8 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:53.439 flying the Iranian flag for several weeks now outside my home, 9 00:00:53.640 --> 00:00:58.039 and an individual, along with others in the past today 10 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:01.159 just this evening, asked me are you Iranian? To which 11 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:04.120 I responded. I was a little bit taken off guard 12 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:05.799 because I didn't know what he was going to say. 13 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:09.079 You know when you have those very quick passing moments 14 00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:10.719 when you don't know the person, You don't know if 15 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:12.239 they're going to speak with you or what have you. 16 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:16.719 But over the fence he said again, are you Uranian? 17 00:01:16.760 --> 00:01:20.200 I said no, but I really do side with winners, 18 00:01:21.319 --> 00:01:23.799 and he looked at me a bit strange, and then 19 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:27.920 he look he chuckled a bit, so I thought that 20 00:01:28.280 --> 00:01:29.959 for a moment he was going to be a bit 21 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:32.760 more amenable to what I might have to further say 22 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:34.719 about why I'm flying the flag. He didn't ask me 23 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:39.920 as to what the purpose was or the message. But 24 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.480 he did say, boy, I wish that country would be 25 00:01:44.519 --> 00:01:48.840 able to free itself from those horrible clerics, to which 26 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:50.719 all I could say, And maybe I don't know if 27 00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:53.480 this was entirely charitable, but I thought it was witty 28 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:57.560 because it's true, and I hope he picked up on 29 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:02.079 my sarcasm. But I said, well, I wish we could 30 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:07.480 free ourselves from ourselves from our clerics, and I kind 31 00:02:07.480 --> 00:02:10.960 of wink winked and made it. Obviously I was speaking 32 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:15.280 about the rabbinical clerics that run the country, but that 33 00:02:15.400 --> 00:02:16.919 might be lost on the on the boomer but he 34 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:18.000 could just kept walking. 35 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:19.680 Cool. 36 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:22.639 So that was my exchange. I had to chuckle about 37 00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:27.360 it later, So I hope I wasn't uncharitable. How often 38 00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:32.560 does that happen? Once or twice a week the flag? Yeah, yeah, sure, 39 00:02:34.120 --> 00:02:36.639 Or I'll get a text from someone in the neighborhood 40 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:42.400 or in the general area who's who's gone by the 41 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:43.560 house or driven by the house. 42 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:48.800 Yeah, we got an awesome episode today. 43 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:51.080 I'm dare I say pumped? 44 00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:54.319 You dared to say it? 45 00:02:54.520 --> 00:02:59.800 Our fourth Dark Notes episode, and this one I think 46 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:02.159 I have the most amamo. Actually I know you took 47 00:03:02.199 --> 00:03:05.000 a bunch of notes. But we're gonna be talking about 48 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:10.439 in breaking down Monopoly and the game that's always used 49 00:03:10.439 --> 00:03:12.599 as the example for see what happens when you don't 50 00:03:12.599 --> 00:03:16.039 have enough regulation. One person just takes everybody's money. Sure, 51 00:03:16.199 --> 00:03:19.000 dogg eat dog capitalism. The object of the game is 52 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:21.919 to ruin everyone else, because that's what capitalism is about. 53 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:26.520 Yeah, exactly, one one rich guy and we're all poor. 54 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:29.479 Yeah, one rich guy that looks like mister Peanut is 55 00:03:29.479 --> 00:03:31.719 the winner and the symbol for the game, and you're 56 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:34.280 supposed to emulate that guy with his top hat and cane, 57 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:38.879 who obviously resembles And it was patterned after JP Morgan. 58 00:03:40.919 --> 00:03:43.159 So before we get into it, why why do you 59 00:03:43.159 --> 00:03:45.599 want to talk about Monopoly? Is there anything that's specific 60 00:03:45.879 --> 00:03:49.680 that is an inspiration to you on why you want 61 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:50.360 to talk about it? 62 00:03:50.919 --> 00:03:55.039 The inspiration came from someone an intellectual who posts a 63 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:58.520 lot on in long form tweets on x or Twitter. 64 00:03:59.400 --> 00:04:02.000 I have to follow a number of French accounts because 65 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:04.479 the French are extraordinarily interesting and I can read what 66 00:04:04.520 --> 00:04:08.000 they're saying and understanding what they're trying to convey. And 67 00:04:08.919 --> 00:04:13.639 it was AUGUSTE. Brudel or someone along those line. Baduek Or. 68 00:04:13.639 --> 00:04:15.599 I can't remember his last name, but his first name 69 00:04:15.639 --> 00:04:18.120 was August, and I've been following him, and he had 70 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:23.720 this exposition of sorts about monopoly being from what I 71 00:04:23.720 --> 00:04:31.639 could gather and determine, he's of the more socialistic anarchist side, 72 00:04:31.800 --> 00:04:37.759 and so he railed against the corporatism involved with the 73 00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:41.759 development and history of the game. And what I was 74 00:04:41.879 --> 00:04:44.040 what piqued my interest was, more so, what were the 75 00:04:44.040 --> 00:04:46.879 origins of the game, what was it intended to convey? 76 00:04:47.639 --> 00:04:54.519 And more so, are there any subliminal, if not less 77 00:04:54.519 --> 00:04:59.720 than subliminal messaging that would lead us to become even 78 00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:04.160 more indoctrinated even in the parlors of American homes and 79 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:08.680 after generation after generation, that this anti capitalist mentality might 80 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:12.439 be conveyed and communicated in a board game, of all things. 81 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:13.959 There's no safe room. 82 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:16.600 In other words, right, do you want to go through 83 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:18.879 your notes? Director? Did you have somewhere else you want 84 00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:19.360 to start? 85 00:05:19.879 --> 00:05:23.319 Oh, we could start with the notes. I'll try to 86 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:25.399 spin a yarn here that and what I mean by 87 00:05:25.399 --> 00:05:28.120 spinning yarn does not give you any kind of fallacious 88 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:33.120 or fictitious interpretation of past events, but just kind of 89 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:35.800 what's on the historical record for the purpose of people 90 00:05:35.879 --> 00:05:37.639 who might want to follow along and can read my 91 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:42.199 chicken scratch cursive. I just scanned all my notes and 92 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:44.160 then put it in a blog post on the website, 93 00:05:44.199 --> 00:05:47.319 so you can feel free to dag along if you 94 00:05:47.319 --> 00:05:52.000 should be listening to the episode on the origins of Monopoly, 95 00:05:52.439 --> 00:05:56.959 it was not created, despite Hasbro and Parker Brothers, the 96 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:02.360 owning company's story and narrative by Charles Darrow, at least 97 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:05.959 originally speaking now, one could argue that Darrow was the 98 00:06:05.959 --> 00:06:09.319 original innovator and deserved all the eventual royalties that he 99 00:06:09.399 --> 00:06:14.439 received because his game departed significantly from the true originator. 100 00:06:14.920 --> 00:06:18.759 Originator's game, and that was Elizabeth or Lizzie, Maggie or 101 00:06:18.839 --> 00:06:21.839 Maggie who that was her maiden name. She was Nay 102 00:06:21.959 --> 00:06:24.600 Maggie and Phillips. This poor guy is we're going to 103 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:28.000 turn come to know, was pretty lucky to have left 104 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:30.560 this mortal coil early. Once we get to know his 105 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:34.319 or know more about his wife, she's a real piece, Okay. 106 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:41.800 So Elizabeth Maggie created the first version of what we 107 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:44.959 would eventually call Monopoly, and she named it the landlord's game. 108 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:47.319 That sounds fantastic. I can't wait to play the landlord's game. 109 00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:51.800 In nineteen oh three, she was a progressive feminist, and 110 00:06:51.879 --> 00:06:55.959 she was a Georgist aka follower of Henry George. And 111 00:06:56.040 --> 00:06:59.399 let me just speak for a moment about what it 112 00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:01.560 meant to be a Georgist at the end of the 113 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:06.360 nineteenth into the early twentieth century in the progressive era. Now, 114 00:07:07.319 --> 00:07:12.759 George was supposedly an advocate for the poor, but in 115 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:16.160 his career and in his i suppose what you might 116 00:07:16.199 --> 00:07:21.439 otherwise call his intellectual works, he reinforced state legitimacy by 117 00:07:21.560 --> 00:07:26.839 arguing for single tax ideas. So the Georges were really 118 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:30.839 great in terms of their theories that often can be 119 00:07:30.920 --> 00:07:37.399 seen as very consistent with something like Rothbardian homesteading theory 120 00:07:37.879 --> 00:07:42.959 and what constitutes personal property and rightly gained property. So 121 00:07:43.560 --> 00:07:48.519 they were very much into utilization, proper utilization of the 122 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:53.839 land so as to accrue property that would be your own. 123 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:58.920 But where they depart from roth Bardian theory on property 124 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:04.959 is just how you're able to utilize land, and then 125 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:08.759 if you're able to, should you gain wealth or largest 126 00:08:08.839 --> 00:08:11.839 from it dispose of it? In whatever fashion you so desire, 127 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:14.920 this is where they depart. Now. It just so happened, 128 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:19.399 serendipity being what it is, that as I'm reading the 129 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:25.199 Great Manifesto, the Libertary Manifesto by Rothbart for a New Liberty, 130 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:27.879 he spoke of the Georges, and then I had to 131 00:08:27.879 --> 00:08:31.720 do the research. So this was almost simultaneous. As I'm 132 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:35.840 reading through the book and Rothbart addresses the Georgios, sure enough, 133 00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:38.559 Henry George pops up in the life of Elizabeth Maggie, 134 00:08:38.600 --> 00:08:41.799 the original creator of what we would know as monopoly. 135 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:46.200 The Georges claim that while individuals have a right to property, 136 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:48.120 as I said, they do not have a right to 137 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:52.519 the land. Now that might strike us as a bit odd. 138 00:08:53.799 --> 00:08:56.919 In other words, people cannot own real estate as we 139 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:01.759 would understand owning real estate today. Since quote nature or 140 00:09:01.799 --> 00:09:05.279 God created the land itself, no individual has the right 141 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:09.559 to assume ownership of that land. And that's Rothbard's explanation 142 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:14.399 of Georgism. Again, since nature or God created the land itself, 143 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:18.360 no individual has a right to assume ownership of the land. 144 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:22.679 In the George's conception, then it would almost be much 145 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:26.440 more appropriate to However, many billion people exist in the 146 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:29.159 land or in the land, that everyone has a right 147 00:09:29.240 --> 00:09:34.080 to that billionth of a parcel of arable or even 148 00:09:34.120 --> 00:09:39.840 just available land. The single tax idea was the notion 149 00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:43.399 that what was an epiphany for George in the late 150 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.840 eighteen sixties was that he saw the at the time 151 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:51.639 wild fluctuations in land values, especially stemming from panics like 152 00:09:51.639 --> 00:09:54.440 in eighteen fifty four and then in the aftermath of 153 00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:58.399 the Civil War, the panic of eighteen seventy two and 154 00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:01.840 the like. So what he did was he theorized that 155 00:10:02.279 --> 00:10:05.480 the fairest tax idea, as it pertains to the general 156 00:10:05.559 --> 00:10:08.919 populace in any state, but especially in America or the 157 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:11.720 United States, was to tax land in proportion to its 158 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:15.960 increase in value. So, in other words, tax equity in 159 00:10:16.039 --> 00:10:18.960 real estate, which George then maintained would lead to the 160 00:10:19.080 --> 00:10:23.200 end of all land property rights entirely. This is very 161 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:25.440 much akin to I write the notes. It reminds me 162 00:10:25.480 --> 00:10:28.879 of John Marshall's theory about the power to tax the 163 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:32.320 power to destroy, as he articulated in McCulloch versus Maryland. 164 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:38.279 So you see this progressivism redounding through the ages that 165 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:44.000 civil law should intervene so as to create taxation codes 166 00:10:44.279 --> 00:10:48.840 that would bring about non ownership or in a sense, 167 00:10:48.919 --> 00:10:53.120 communal use of property in this case land for George. 168 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:56.960 He thought that was much more equitable and fair. Now, 169 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:03.240 all that being the case, it's clear that when Maggie, 170 00:11:03.559 --> 00:11:05.960 that is, say Elizabeth Maggie made the original game, The 171 00:11:06.039 --> 00:11:10.399 Landlord's Game, it's chocked full of references to Georgism. 172 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:10.919 Right. 173 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:14.000 In fact, it was supposed to be an educational she 174 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:16.559 designed this game. Think about how much fund and how 175 00:11:16.759 --> 00:11:20.159 exciting this. I just don't understand how people found this 176 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:26.639 game to be exhilarating to play, because its entire objective, 177 00:11:26.759 --> 00:11:30.799 or the objective behind it, was to create an educational 178 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:35.799 critique of land monopolies, of renter capitalism, and of general inequality. 179 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:41.960 That imagine trying to advertise selling this game, right, Oh, 180 00:11:41.960 --> 00:11:43.759 play The Landlord's Game, where we're going to talk about 181 00:11:43.799 --> 00:11:47.639 Georgism and how land should be more equitably shared and 182 00:11:47.639 --> 00:11:51.559 that rentcher capitalism and general inequality might be resolved. 183 00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:52.279 Right. 184 00:11:54.840 --> 00:11:56.600 It struck me at that time, when I was doing 185 00:11:56.600 --> 00:12:00.399 research for this, that if William Jennings Bryan had built 186 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:02.679 a board game this would be it would it be 187 00:12:02.759 --> 00:12:04.799 called like the or would they have a property on 188 00:12:04.840 --> 00:12:08.039 it called like the Cross of Gold Boulevard, something along 189 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:12.559 those lines, just because he was so opposed to all 190 00:12:12.600 --> 00:12:19.440 of the frankly free market capitalistic conditions that had built 191 00:12:19.559 --> 00:12:24.600 up and created such wealth within the Gilded Age. So 192 00:12:25.639 --> 00:12:29.960 whether it was bimetallism, which to be sure, George's like 193 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:33.440 Maggie would be in favor of, or any of the 194 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:37.080 different from her point of view, progressive ideas that should 195 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:43.960 be inculcated in any American adults, in American youth as well. Question, 196 00:12:44.039 --> 00:12:46.919 So far, Charlie, when intervene or no? 197 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:47.559 This is good? 198 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:51.960 Okay, So Maggie's game plan, let's talk about that. The 199 00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:55.960 game plan had originally a board with properties as well 200 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:00.480 as wages for labor. Get this labor on Mother Earth. 201 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:05.120 So we're already getting into near eco worship with the 202 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:08.519 Monopoly game. And as I was reading and looking at 203 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:10.799 perusing and you can do you want to show her 204 00:13:10.840 --> 00:13:15.159 original board from the nineteen oh three nineteen oh four patent. 205 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:19.440 There it is. Boy, can't wait to dive into that one. Huh. 206 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:22.080 So one dollar for rent must be. 207 00:13:23.559 --> 00:13:28.320 Ten dollars for sale, luxury fifty dollars, railroads cost you 208 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:34.320 five and we'll be getting into how the essential parts 209 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:39.159 of the monopoly i e. Landlord aka Landlord's Game were 210 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:42.679 carried on. And it's the essential parts that are most problematic, 211 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:47.639 especially for those of us who argue for free freedom, 212 00:13:47.679 --> 00:13:54.120 human freedom, agency, free markets, and other civil liberties, okay, 213 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:57.480 or basic rights that should be enjoyed by the individual, 214 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:00.679 meaning the image of God. So when I'm reading all 215 00:14:00.679 --> 00:14:02.440 these things, so for example, you could see at the 216 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:06.159 in the top right corner, and obviously for those just 217 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:08.840 listening to audio this is you're gonna have to rely 218 00:14:08.919 --> 00:14:13.159 upon our description. Here the gohot spot or the beginning 219 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:17.080 is labor upon m is labeled labor upon mother Earth 220 00:14:17.159 --> 00:14:21.320 produces wages, and there's a kind of outline of a 221 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:28.399 globe in circular fashion, and that's where you begin. This 222 00:14:28.519 --> 00:14:35.799 reminded me, this weird New agey progressive reverence for mother 223 00:14:35.879 --> 00:14:39.200 Earth and the like. It strikes me that Maggie was 224 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:44.480 Maggie was probably very much like if you were to 225 00:14:44.519 --> 00:14:49.320 meet her, those early feminist suffragette types and that crowd 226 00:14:50.039 --> 00:14:54.480 who happened to be also into sorcery, the Elizabeth Katie 227 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:57.440 Stanton's the Julia Ward Howse of the reform movements of 228 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:02.360 previous decades. The whole game strikes me as a weird, 229 00:15:02.519 --> 00:15:08.879 calvinistic reprimand of people who wanted to engage in ambition 230 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:11.960 and entrepreneurship and enjoy the fruits of their labor. 231 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:16.480 Damn them, right, So she's Greta Thunberg nineteenth century. 232 00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:22.720 Yeah, although I do not think both the Georgists nor 233 00:15:24.279 --> 00:15:28.720 Maggie would have castigated Woodrow Wilson for trying to spread 234 00:15:29.320 --> 00:15:34.879 progressive ideas through imperialism. There's not much of that there. 235 00:15:35.080 --> 00:15:38.320 Although you know, as we know, by the time of 236 00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:41.440 World War One, or even before that, at the time 237 00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:45.720 in which Maggie was developing the game, you know, it's 238 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:49.440 just this is just the dawning of American overseas imperialism, 239 00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:52.399 the Spanish American War. So I don't know what Georgia. 240 00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:55.120 And we do know, for example, that many of the 241 00:15:55.840 --> 00:16:01.120 historical progressives of that time, example Sam of Gompers, the 242 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:04.559 labor leader, was adamantly against American imperialists. And now they 243 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:07.480 had their own reasons for that. Gompers didn't want a 244 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:13.240 flood of illegal immigrants coming and just diluting the labor 245 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:16.200 pool and driving wages lower and there was a strange 246 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:21.360 group of bedfellows that were in the anti imperial league, 247 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:23.840 but they were on the right side, even if their 248 00:16:23.960 --> 00:16:28.519 motives were flowed. So it should be noted that this 249 00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:31.639 is kind of weird when I discovered it that Maggie's 250 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:35.200 game eventually are actually in The original had two sets 251 00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:41.600 of rules. You could essentially play two different games. The 252 00:16:41.639 --> 00:16:45.879 first set of rules applied to the monopolists, so if 253 00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:48.679 you wanted to be a monopolist, you could play what's 254 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:52.840 called the competitive version. However, if you wanted to be 255 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:57.039 a Georgist and moral, you could play what's called the 256 00:16:57.080 --> 00:17:00.559 prosperity version. And it is a bit iron that the 257 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:04.480 prosperity didn't version never really would in the real world, 258 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:08.119 amount to any creation of real prosperity. But it was 259 00:17:08.119 --> 00:17:12.599 also ironic in that this was the anti monopolist cooperative version, 260 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:15.799 and it's this one that the free market rejected, So 261 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:21.000 eventually this one just went by the wayside, right. Maggie 262 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:23.319 stated in her own writings that the intent of the 263 00:17:23.319 --> 00:17:27.960 game was to teach against what she called land grabbing, 264 00:17:28.680 --> 00:17:33.200 so ownership of land entered the scene. Charles brace Daro, 265 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:36.119 So I should note that she filed for a patent 266 00:17:36.200 --> 00:17:38.759 of the game. It started to be played in Quaker 267 00:17:39.640 --> 00:17:45.960 left leaning university circles. Students love playing this game and 268 00:17:46.119 --> 00:17:51.240 in Quaker areas, especially in communities around southern and southeastern Pennsylvania. 269 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:53.359 And of all things, I didn't know that there was 270 00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:57.279 a sizeable Quaker community in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Quite 271 00:17:57.319 --> 00:18:01.160 the anomaly there and a fish out of water, But 272 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:05.839 there there was, and in fact the eventual the eventual, 273 00:18:06.519 --> 00:18:10.799 and she was actually from Maryland. So it was also 274 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:14.720 played by people in and around northern Virginia that area. 275 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:16.960 So you could see a little bit why it would 276 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:21.519 be popular for progressives who were working within or around 277 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:26.160 on the margins of the national government. You see advocating 278 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:30.759 for labor and the immense growth of government agencies that 279 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:34.880 had never been extant before were coming to fruition in 280 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:37.200 the wood in the Wilson and Progressive era, even under 281 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:40.079 Roosevelt Taft Okay So enter the scene. By the nineteen 282 00:18:40.119 --> 00:18:44.440 thirties in the Depression, Charles Bright Brace Darrow So Darrow 283 00:18:45.079 --> 00:18:47.519 learned a version of the game when he was visiting 284 00:18:48.039 --> 00:18:51.720 friends during the Great Depression. He had been out of work. 285 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:53.839 He was a World War One vet. Interestingly enough, he 286 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:56.559 had fought in France. He was a heater salesman and 287 00:18:56.640 --> 00:18:59.759 a heating and steam engineer. He lost a job early 288 00:18:59.799 --> 00:19:01.839 in the depression, as I had stated, and supported his 289 00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:06.079 family with odd jobs, including eventually adapting Maggie's game. He 290 00:19:06.119 --> 00:19:09.400 added different elements that I would deem it as so 291 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:15.000 essential that while there were some aspects of Maggie's game 292 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:19.319 that carried over, what Darrow's game was the pure monopolist 293 00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:22.279 competitive version, which people seem to like a lot more 294 00:19:22.680 --> 00:19:27.079 than the prosperity i e. Cooperative version that Maggie had created. 295 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:30.720 And he added familiar elements that we would know today, 296 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:33.960 the color coding, the wooden houses and hotels and other 297 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:37.000 property names. So in the this came from the whether 298 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:39.880 it's Marvin gardens or boardwalk or park place, this comes 299 00:19:39.880 --> 00:19:43.920 from the Philadelphia and Atlantic City area. He filed for 300 00:19:43.960 --> 00:19:46.839 a copyright of the game. By the way, he he 301 00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:50.200 and his wife made hand like, handmade versions of the game, 302 00:19:51.240 --> 00:19:53.200 and we could bring up we don't have to watch 303 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:55.440 look at this terrible board that was a Maggie's original 304 00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:57.799 board from the Landlords game. There's a monopoly board that 305 00:19:58.119 --> 00:20:01.480 we're with which we're all familiar. That's different. No, no, no, 306 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:04.839 go back. That's anti monopoly. That's something different. Okay, So 307 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:06.799 this is the Monopoly board. This is, by the way, 308 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:09.240 the Monopoly board as it appeared in nineteen thirty five. 309 00:20:09.319 --> 00:20:13.519 That's a thirty five version of the Monopoly game. He copyrighted, 310 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:16.079 filed for a copyright in nineteen thirty three, the patent 311 00:20:16.119 --> 00:20:19.319 in nineteen thirty five, and eventually he sold it to 312 00:20:19.640 --> 00:20:23.599 the Parker Brothers Game Company for seven thousand dollars and 313 00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:27.000 royalties in nineteen thirty five, after he had attained the patent. 314 00:20:27.640 --> 00:20:31.480 Now a bit of analysis here, then, this is my 315 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:36.119 own Even in the middle of the depression, players preferred 316 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:40.160 the entrepreneurial and competitive aspects of the Darrow reversion or 317 00:20:40.200 --> 00:20:44.599 revision excuse me, but the game still reinforces, and this 318 00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:46.000 is what we're going to spend most of the time 319 00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:51.599 or with the episode today. The game still reinforces a 320 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:56.559 decidedly anti capitalist mentality. What's amazing, I think is that, yes, 321 00:20:56.960 --> 00:20:59.640 first of all, the agency of Jarrow to take up 322 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:03.200 this game and then modify it, making it what he 323 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:07.160 thought was much more free market oriented and competitive, with 324 00:21:07.240 --> 00:21:10.160 the goal of essentially bankrupting all of your competitors and 325 00:21:10.200 --> 00:21:14.039 winning the game. But the holdover rules as well as 326 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:19.519 some of the even novel ideas that were guidelines and 327 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:22.880 rules for the game. We're not talking about the attendant 328 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:25.920 sort of house rules that some people made up, but 329 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:29.920 the actual rules that Darrow played the game and as 330 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:34.079 he designed the game are still incredibly anti capitalistic, as 331 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:35.839 we're going to see, whether it's in the gameplay, the 332 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:41.960 chance cards, or just how how different ventures in the 333 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:45.240 game are financed for example. All Right, so much of 334 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:49.279 the gameplay from the original was left intact, so unlike 335 00:21:49.559 --> 00:21:51.720 what was popular, apparently at the turn of the century 336 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:54.559 was to have board games that were linear. One of 337 00:21:54.599 --> 00:21:57.359 the Maggi's. One of Maggie's innovative features with You was 338 00:21:57.359 --> 00:22:01.319 that you went around a board. Interesting to note that 339 00:22:01.400 --> 00:22:03.279 the first board games weren't even board games. They were 340 00:22:03.720 --> 00:22:06.480 created on oil cloth, so you folded up the cloth 341 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:12.240 and then carried it around. So Darrow's Darrow creates the 342 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:15.359 board by the nineteen thirties. Okay, so a trip around 343 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:19.799 the board merited each player just wages. Now that is 344 00:22:19.880 --> 00:22:24.160 essentially a carryover from Maggie's game. A trip around the 345 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:28.400 board was to symbolize essentially a year of labor, and 346 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:31.720 that labor you had to traverse the board and essentially 347 00:22:31.720 --> 00:22:35.680 survive all of the pitfalls that come from just and 348 00:22:35.720 --> 00:22:40.400 this is what's key going onto the areas where property 349 00:22:40.519 --> 00:22:42.599 is held. I'm gonna get to that a little bit 350 00:22:42.599 --> 00:22:46.359 more because this is a bit of a nuanced and 351 00:22:46.839 --> 00:22:49.119 I don't want to make it too so esoteric or 352 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:52.039 anything like that. But there's something that always bothered me 353 00:22:52.119 --> 00:22:55.240 even as a kid playing Monopoly, and that is what 354 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:57.960 does it mean to land on a place? What does 355 00:22:57.960 --> 00:23:01.160 it mean to have landed on both Avenue or Saint 356 00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:06.000 Charles Place. So we'll get to that in a moment. Okay, 357 00:23:06.680 --> 00:23:11.440 So sales prices and rent costs were assigned to each square, 358 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:14.519 as you know and playing the game right, and these 359 00:23:14.519 --> 00:23:19.319 were mental reinforced that rent transactions are always involuntary railroads too, 360 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:22.839 So this is where I'm getting to the problem of 361 00:23:23.359 --> 00:23:27.519 what it means to land on a place. To land 362 00:23:27.559 --> 00:23:30.200 on a place is not only mandatory you have to 363 00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:33.240 go to a place in the game, but there's no 364 00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:37.839 voluntary exchange or negotiation. That is to say, the rent 365 00:23:37.880 --> 00:23:45.799 transactions are mandatory they're involuntary. There's no exchange, there's no 366 00:23:45.880 --> 00:23:49.640 trade off if you will, and there's certainly no negotiation. 367 00:23:50.440 --> 00:23:53.960 There were, as in Maggie's version, no trust passing and 368 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:57.960 go to jail squares and now eventually what Because Darrow 369 00:23:58.000 --> 00:23:59.960 thought that the no trust passing was a little bit 370 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:04.799 to socialistic, just because it reinforced that this is property 371 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:07.079 and that you're going to jail because you were truspassing 372 00:24:07.160 --> 00:24:09.880 just by being in a place, he removed the no 373 00:24:09.960 --> 00:24:12.079 trustpassing part, but he did keep the the go to 374 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:16.880 jail square all right. Also in Maggie's version there was 375 00:24:16.920 --> 00:24:21.519 a square called the poorhouse. Uh. And again Darrel thought 376 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:26.319 this was a little bit too facistic. I don't know 377 00:24:26.359 --> 00:24:29.400 what you would call it authoritarian, so he just put 378 00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:33.759 it as free parking. That was what it was changed. 379 00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:35.000 Okay. 380 00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:39.920 In the game, possessions are acquired mainly through luck. That's 381 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:43.039 the other thing. It's not as though you answer questions 382 00:24:43.119 --> 00:24:45.960 in trivia or you do some sort of cranium like 383 00:24:46.519 --> 00:24:49.839 to cite another board game challenge by which you earn points. 384 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:56.240 There's no competition vis v or as. There's no competition 385 00:24:56.319 --> 00:25:01.119 per se. You're you're essentially delegated. You win the game 386 00:25:01.160 --> 00:25:04.039 according to what we might call luck, and there's not 387 00:25:04.279 --> 00:25:08.319 too much strategy behind it. And this means that there's 388 00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:11.640 no consumer choice, as I mentioned earlier, nor consumer sovereignty, 389 00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:14.960 and this is replaced all by the roll of the dice. 390 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:19.079 Landing on a property creates only loss that's interesting, but 391 00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:23.200 no mutual gain. And I want to talk to now 392 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:25.680 about how that puzzled me as a kid. So even 393 00:25:25.720 --> 00:25:28.759 the first time I played in Monopoly, I couldn't ascertain 394 00:25:28.839 --> 00:25:31.720 for myself what does it mean to land on a place? 395 00:25:32.119 --> 00:25:35.319 Is that problem? Why would that be problematic? Boardwalk sounds 396 00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:38.640 like a nice place, you see. 397 00:25:38.839 --> 00:25:40.640 I can imagine you planning for the first time as 398 00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:41.480 a little kid. 399 00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:47.279 Right, But it just was entirely outside of my purview 400 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:50.039 of how life was lived. And it's not as though, 401 00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:54.359