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diff --git a/13706-0.txt b/13706-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dbadf85 --- /dev/null +++ b/13706-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1346 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13706 *** + +SOCIALISM AND AMERICAN IDEALS + +BY +WILLIAM STARR MYERS, Ph.D. +PROFESSOR OF POLITICS, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY + + + +PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS +PRINCETON +LONDON HUMPHREY MILFORD +OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS +1919 + + + + +1919, by +PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS + + +Published February, 1919 +Printed in the United States of America + + + TO + THE MEMORY OF + SAMUEL SELDEN LAMB +IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF A + MUTUAL PROMISE MADE AT + "DEAR OLD CHAPEL HILL" + + + + +PREFACE + + +The following essays originally appeared in the form of articles +contributed at various times to the (daily) New York _Journal of +Commerce and Commercial Bulletin_. Numerous requests have been received +for a reprinting of them in more permanent form, and this little volume +is the result. + +I am deeply indebted to my friend Mr. John W. Dodsworth, of the _Journal +of Commerce_, for his kind and generous permission to reprint these +articles. Since numerous changes and modifications from the original +form have been made the responsibility for these statements and the +sentiments expressed rests entirely upon me. + +I hope it is not necessary for me to say that this is not intended as an +exhaustive study of the more or less widespread movement to advance +paternalism in Government. My object is to lay before the people, in +order that they may carefully consider them, the reasons for thinking +that Socialism is in theory and practice absolutely opposed and contrary +to the principles of Americanism, of democracy, and even of the +Christian-Jewish religion itself. + +WM. STARR MYERS. + +Princeton, N.J. +November 28, 1918. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Introduction--Materialism and Socialism 3 + +I. The Conflict with the Idea of Equality of Opportunity 13 + +II. Why Socialism Appeals to Our Foreign-Born Population 23 + +III. Its Conflict with the Basic Principles of Democracy + and Religion 34 + +IV. Some Instances of its Practical Failure 54 + +V. The True Antidote Found in Co-operative Effort 74 + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +MATERIALISM AND SOCIALISM + + +It was about a decade ago that Professor E.R.A. Seligman of Columbia +University published his valuable work on the "Economic Interpretation +of History," which gave a great impetus to the study, by historians, of +the economic influences upon political and social development. Professor +Seligman showed conclusively that one of the most potent forces in the +growth of civilization has been man's reaction upon his material +environment. Since that time the pendulum has swung so far in this +direction that many students of history and economics would seem to +think that all of life can be summed up in terms of materialism, that +environment after all is the only important element in the advance of +society, and that mankind is a rather negligible quantity. This is just +as great a mistake as the former practice of ignoring economic +influence, and even so great an authority as Professor Seligman would +seem to tend in that direction. + +On the other hand, Mr. George Louis Beer rightly claims that "the chief +adherents of economic determinism are economists and Socialists, to whom +the past is, for the most part, merely a mine for illustrative material. +The latter, strangely enough, while explaining all past development by a +theory that conceives man to be a mere self-regarding automaton, yet +demand a reorganization of society that postulates a far less selfish +average man than history has as yet evolved."[1] + +Most thoughtful people of to-day know that the political and economic +elements were just as strong as the religious one in the Protestant +Reformation in Germany, but that fact by no means would lessen the value +of the gains for intellectual and religious freedom that were won by +Martin Luther. Again, bad economic conditions had as much, or more, to +do with the outbreak of the French Revolution as did political and +philosophical unrest. Also taxation, trade and currency squabbles had +more to do with causing an American Revolution than did the idealistic +principles later enunciated in the Declaration of Independence. And +there was a broad economic basis for the differences in crops, +transportation and the organization of labor which expressed themselves +in a sectionalism which finally assumed the political aspect that +caused the Civil War. Yet the student who would forget the spiritual +element in our life, who would overlook the fact that man is a human +being and not a mere animal, will wander far astray into unreal bypaths +of crass materialism. + +On the other hand, it would be hard to find an economic explanation for +the emigration of the Pilgrim Fathers to Plymouth, for the Quaker +agitation that supported John Woolman in his war upon slavery or for +most of the Christian missionary enterprises of the present day. Also it +would take a mental microscope to find the economic cause for the +extermination of the Moriscos in Spain by Philip III. or the expulsion +by Louis XIV. of the Huguenots from France. These two great crimes of +history had important economic consequences, but the cause behind them +was religious prejudice. Prof. James Franklin Jameson, of the Carnegie +Institution at Washington, rightly has stressed a study of the religious +denominations in the United States, of the Baptist, Methodist and other +"circuit riders" of the old Middle West, as one of the most fruitful +sources for a fuller knowledge and understanding of the history and +development of the American nation. Neither George Whitefield, Peter +Cartwright, nor Phillips Brooks of a later day, can be explained in +terms of economic interpretation. + +This false and entirely materialistic conception of the development of +society and civilization is a mistake not only of the learned, but of +the pseudo-learned, of the men and women of more or less education whose +mental development has not progressed beyond an appreciation of Bernard +Shaw, Henrik Ibsen and H.G. Wells. Most of them are estimable people, +but the difficulty is that they are so idealistic that, so to speak, +they never have both feet upon the ground at the same time. This is +especially true of our esteemed contemporaries, the Socialists. These +cheerful servants of an idealistic mammon pride themselves upon +completely ignoring human nature. A few years ago, at a London meeting +of the "parlor Socialists" known as the Fabian Society which, by the +way, was presided over by Bernard Shaw, an old man began to harangue the +audience with the words, "Human nature being as it is--" At once his +voice was drowned out by a chorus of jeers, cat-calls and laughter. He +never made his address, for the audience was unwilling to hear anything +about "human nature." No Socialists in general are willing to do so, for +human nature, with the mental and spiritual sides of life, is just the +element with which their fallacious creed cannot deal, and they know it. +But the human element must enter into business and trade in the problems +of direction, management, even in the form of competition itself, and +cannot possibly be eradicated. + +It is amusing to note that these same Socialists are busily occupied +with pointing out what they consider to be the failures of government, +as well as of "business and capitalism." Yet they do not realize that +they are thus condemning their own system, for if the governments of the +world have failed to do the work at present laid upon them, how can they +ever undertake the gigantic additional political and capitalistic +burden that Socialism would impose? Thomas Jefferson, the patron saint +of the party that President Wilson now leads, always expressed a fear of +"too much government." It would appear that the present Administration +and the Democratic members of Congress have wandered far from their old +beliefs, and if recent legislation is the result of it, their +Socialistic experiments have not been much of a success. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: _The English-Speaking Peoples_, p. 203.] + + + + +SOCIALISM--IS IT AMERICAN? + +I + +ITS CONFLICT WITH THE IDEA OF EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY + + +One of the main difficulties in discussing Socialism is to find a +working definition; for this political or social movement is based upon +a system of a priori reasoning which often is vague and lacking in +deductions from practical experience. Socialism also is unreal in its +assumptions and impractical in its conclusions, so that a person finds +it almost impossible to give a definition that will include within its +scope all the Socialistic vagaries and explain all the suppositions +based upon nonexistent facts. Bearing this difficulty in mind, perhaps +the following will serve as a working definition for the purposes of +the present discussion. Socialism is the collective ownership (exerted +through the government, or society politically organized) of the means +of production and distribution of all forms of wealth. This means wealth +not alone in mere terms of money but in the economic sense of everything +that is of use for the support or enjoyment of mankind. Of course +"production and distribution" means the manufacture and transportation +of all forms of this economic wealth. + +Inevitably this system would imply the substitution of the judgment of +the government, or of governmental officials, for individual judgment, +and for individual emulation and competition in all forms of human +endeavor. Dr. David Jayne Hill recently has remarked that "if the +tendency to monopolize and direct for its own purposes all human +energies in channels of its own [i.e., the government's] devising were +unrestrained, we should eventually have an official art, an official +science and an official literature that would be like iron shackles to +the human mind."[2] The Socialist probably would object that this +statement is extreme, but at least it is logical, and if Socialism be +reasonable it must be logical, and it must be both reasonable and +logical if it is to be popularly accepted. + +The above might be stated in another way by saying that Socialism means +the substitution of governmental judgment for that of the individual and +for individual ambition as well. This is one of the strongest arguments +against Socialism. Individual ambition is not only justifiable but also +an absolute necessity for the integrity and growth of the human mind. +Like everything else, ambition may be wrongly used or directed. It only +goes to prove that the greater the value of anything the greater is the +wrong when it is abused and not rightly used. In fact, proper ambition +is the desire for greater opportunity for service according to the +dictates of individual conscience and it lies at the basis of all +religion and morality. Without ambition the individual mind goes to +seed, so to speak,--there is no further growth or progress. This desire +for greater service is the thing that produces patriotism, that causes +men and women to work at the expense of personal interest for Liberty +Loans, the Red Cross, Y.M.C.A., etc. + +Professor Richard T. Ely well expresses the same thought by +saying--"When we all come to make real genuine sacrifices for our +country, sacrifices of which we are conscious, then we shall first begin +to have the right kind of loyal love for our country. We shall never get +that kind of love merely by pouring untold benefits upon the +citizens."[3] Also, Edward Jenks, the brilliant British historian, says +that--"A society which discourages individual competition, which only +acts indirectly upon the bulk of its members, which refuses to recruit +its ranks with new blood, contains within itself the seeds of decay."[4] + +The attempt by Socialism to substitute a governmental standard of +happiness for individual desire and ambition is merely another attempt +to legislate human mind and character. A government cannot make a man +happy by law any more than it can make him moral or religious by the +same means. All that law can do is to endeavor to place a man in such an +environment that his moral or religious nature may be aroused and that +his desire or ambition be encouraged. It was the inability to understand +and realize this fact that caused the religious persecutions of past +centuries when Catholics persecuted Protestants and Protestants +persecuted Catholics, and both persecuted the Jews, and everybody +thought that it was possible to legislate a man's belief and enforce it +by the sanction of the law. Happiness, like religion, must have its +impulse from within. + +Furthermore, it is along this identical line of reasoning that +Socialism is essentially un-American. The primary object of the +government of the United States, the whole theory upon which our nation +was formed, is not to give happiness to the individual. The Fathers of +our country were too wise to attempt any such ridiculous undertaking. +The ideal or object of the United States is to give equality of +opportunity for each individual to work out his or her own salvation in +a political, a moral or an economic sense. In other words, to give +equality of opportunity for each individual to work out or achieve his +or her own happiness. That is the only possible way in which happiness +can be gained. For this reason the American people believe in public +schools and child labor laws and other forms of social, not Socialistic, +legislation, in order to help less fortunate individuals to help +themselves, and not to help them in spite of themselves. The former plan +is in accordance with the needs of human nature and with American ideas +and ideals; the latter is the essential basis of Socialism and +inevitably pauperizes and atrophies human character. + +There is as much difference between social legislation and Socialism as +there is between the common-sense advancement of the ideas of peace and +the selfish or cowardly brand of treason that is known as pacifism. In +both Socialism and pacifism the essential idea is that the individual +should mentally "lie down" and "let George do it." In contrast with +this, the common sense way to gain peace is actively to restrain wrong +in order that right may triumph. The United States recently has been +engaged in just this kind of an undertaking. Also, man is a social +animal as well as an individual being, so social consciousness or social +responsibility consists in the common responsibility of society to see +that each individual gets a "square deal" in the form of equal +opportunity for advancement by self effort. + +In fact, the American ideal is to restrain human initiative only to the +extent that is necessary to give equality of opportunity to all, and +that the government should act only on the principle of the greatest +good of the greatest number. Hence Americans believe that Rousseau was +right when he said that the individual gives up a small part of his +personal liberty, or license, in order to receive back full civil +liberty, which is much greater because it has a wider outlook and +possibilities and is guaranteed through the support of society. +Furthermore, they believe that real liberty is freedom of individual +action within the law as the expressed will of the people. + +But everything depends upon the fact that the impulse to use this +liberty must come from within, and not be commanded by a government from +without. In the words of the Declaration of Independence, Americans +believe "that all men are ... endowed by their Creator with certain +inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit +[not the gift] of happiness." On this basis alone was this nation +founded and has it prospered. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 2: _The Rebuilding of Europe_, p. 63.] + +[Footnote 3: _The World War and Leadership in a Democracy_, p. 111.] + +[Footnote 4: _Law and Politics in the Middle Ages_, p. 306.] + + + + +II + +WHY IT APPEALS TO OUR FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION + + +It is often remarked that a reading of the names of the members of the +present Socialist party, or of those who advocate Socialism in the +United States to-day, will disclose the fact that most of these names +denote foreign or Continental European, as contrasted with American or +British, origin. This can readily be understood when it is remembered +that the governments of Continental Europe are theoretically on a +different basis and of different origin from those of the United States +and Great Britain or of those countries where the English Common Law +prevails. + +Whether in democratic France, Italy, Belgium or Norway, or in autocratic +Germany or Austria-Hungary, the government is considered as in a sense +coming down from above. It is believed, and taught, that government +exists by divine right and that it has per se its own position and +rightful place of domination. That it exists for itself, and not as a +means to an end. But in Great Britain, the United States, and also in +the British self-governing colonies, as compared with this, the whole +order of things is upside down, so to speak. We believe that all +governments arise from the people, that they should derive their just +powers from the consent of the governed, and that they are merely an +instrumentality to help the people to help themselves--to protect them +in their inherent, inborn right to life, liberty and the pursuit of +happiness. Also the government should act upon the principle of the +greatest good of the greatest number as a test when there is any +conflict between individual and social rights. + +Of course it is now popularly understood that an autocracy like that of +Germany until recently, was built up on the theory of the divine right +of governments and of the princes who administered them. The +constitutions of the German states and especially of the Empire of +Germany, were the gift or gifts of the German princes to the people and +not the expression of the will of the people, as in the United States, +or of the people as represented in Parliament, as in Great Britain. Thus +the King of Prussia, who was also Emperor of Germany, was God's +representative on earth and responsible to God alone for the +administration of his office. He, as well as the various princes in +their respective states, were above all earthly law, were laws unto +themselves, and they and their serving (or servile) officials were to be +obeyed without question. Disobedience to the "princes'" laws was not +only treasonable but sacrilegious as well. This fact goes far to explain +the atrocities committed with the consent of German public opinion. +William the Damned and his bureaucracy were believed to be above all +moral or human law, and from the earthly standpoint were infallible and +irresponsible. Their orders must be obeyed without question. + +As already stated, few people realize that while even the European +democracies do not accept the bald theory of the divine right of kings +but believe in the divine right of the people, yet somehow or other +these divine rights come down to the people by the gift of the +government, and are not inherent or inalienable, as our Declaration of +Independence would say. This is well illustrated by the principle of the +freedom of the press, which is usually considered one of the greater +guarantees of individual liberty. An examination of the provisions of +various continental constitutions shows that this freedom is given or +guaranteed by the government or by these documents themselves. + +"The press shall be free," says the Constitution of Italy (Article 28). +"No previous authorization shall be required in order that one may +publish his thoughts or opinions through the press, except that every +person shall be responsible according to law."--Cons. of The +Netherlands (Art. 7). "There shall be liberty of the press."--Cons. of +Norway (Art. 100). "Every third year the Riksdag (Parliament) ... shall +... appoint six persons of known intelligence and knowledge, who with +the solicitor general as president shall watch over the liberty of the +press ... If they decide that the [any] manuscript may be printed, both +author and publisher shall be free from all responsibility, but the +commissioners shall be responsible."--Cons. of Sweden (Art. 108). "The +freedom of the press is guaranteed. Nevertheless, the cantons, by law, +may enact measures necessary for the suppression of abuses.... The +Confederation may also enact penalties for the suppression of press +offenses as directed against it or its authorities."--Cons. of +Switzerland (Art. 55). "The press is free; no censorship shall ever be +established; no security shall be exacted of writers, publishers or +printers. In case the writer is known and is a resident of Belgium, the +publisher, printer, or distributor shall not be prosecuted."--Cons. of +Belgium (Art. 18). But this same Constitution later on says quite +pointedly (Art. 96, clause 2) when prescribing the administration of +justice,--"In case of political offenses and offenses of the press +closed doors shall be enforced only by a unanimous vote of the court." +Also (in Art. 98) "The right of trial by jury shall be established in +all criminal cases and for all political offenses of the press." A +further reading of the provisions of these constitutions will show that +the whole intention of the documents is to _grant_ various rights and +privileges to the people. + +In contrast with these establishments of the freedom of the press by the +constitutions and governments of the various European countries, the +Constitution of the United States merely says in the First +Amendment--"Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of +speech or of the press." Stating this in other words, our Constitution +merely protects an already existing, inalienable right. Its guarantee is +in an entirely different sense from that of one of the above named +European constitutions. + +In case of riot or disorder, the divinely constituted government of a +country of Continental Europe need merely "suspend the constitution," +usually by the method of executive decree, and it suspends the freedom +of the press and all constitutional guarantees with it, as was done in +Hamburg, Germany, recently. In the United States this would be +impossible. Even though Germany or some other nation should invade this +country and destroy the governments at Washington and Albany, let us say +for extreme illustration, yet if any person were unjustly thrown into +prison in any part of New York state and a judge of any duly constituted +court happened to be nearby, he undoubtedly would issue a writ of habeas +corpus and the person be brought into the court for substantiation of +the charges in a legal manner according to the common law. It would not +matter whether there were a government or not, the inalienable common +law rights of an American citizen would continue to exist and the +destruction of the government would only remove one of the means of +protecting these rights and not destroy the rights themselves. In other +words, the judge would merely act on the common law rights of the +individual. + +Furthermore, in the United States no person, whether high or low, +official or private citizen, is immune from the operation of the common +law. All are finally subjected to it, and the temporary immunity of the +President, a Governor, or any other official, only exists during the +term of office for which that official has been elected. At the +expiration of the term the obligations and penalties of the law +immediately are again in operation. On the other hand, in the countries +of Continental Europe the officials are not subject to the common law +but to the _Droit Administratif_ or Administrative Law, which is an +official law for the regulation or trial of officials. The average +European would consider it almost an act of sacrilege to hale an +official into court like any other private citizen. + +All the above goes to show why many of our foreign-born population look +upon a government as "something from above." They are wont to be more +subservient to it, or to look upon it as responsible for the welfare of +its citizens. Therefore Socialism, which stands essentially for the +dependence of the individual upon the State as well as for the +governmental direction of the individual and the substitution of State +for individual judgment, for this reason appeals to them, and it has +made its greatest gains upon the Continent of Europe or among the +foreign-born or descended citizens of the United States. + +The Socialists answer the charge that Socialism is not American by +saying--"Neither is Christianity. It is a 'foreign importation.' Its +founder was a 'foreigner,' and never set foot on American soil. Then +there is the printing press. It isn't American, either, though somehow +we manage to get along with it as well as the other 'foreign +importations' mentioned." Of course this smart kind of argument gets +nowhere. It is, in fact, intended to appeal to the half-baked type of +mind which has only begun to think and has never progressed beyond the +point of a consequent mental indigestion that would account for its +Socialist nightmare. What the Socialists do know and are not honest +enough to admit, is that this country was settled three centuries or +more ago by a people who did not come hither to enjoy the fruits of +other men's labor but who came here to carve out a new State in America +literally by the sweat of their brows. Also they consciously founded it +upon the basis of individual freedom and responsibility as proclaimed +and enforced by the precepts of the Christian-Jewish religion and by the +English Common Law. It is upon this foundation that they built their +success. Upon this same basis their descendants and successors to-day +weigh, measure and estimate that which is new in thought or invention +whether "native" or "foreign-born." And they have weighed Socialism in +this American balance and found it wanting. + +But they brought with them neither certain loathsome diseases nor +Socialism. All of these are likewise the results of immorality--_moral_ +and _political_--and of a type of decadent civilization still prevalent +on the Continent of Europe and at that time threatening to gain a +foothold even in England. It was this last-named threat from which the +founders of the American nation were wise and energetic enough to +escape, even though their escape meant going into the hardships of an +unknown and almost uninhabited wilderness. + +Socialism is not only essentially un-American, but it is essentially +undemocratic. A democracy means a government by public opinion, and this +opinion is the result of the co-operative impulse or community feeling +of the people of a free country--a people who are given the opportunity +to think for themselves, and are not thought for by a divinely +constituted government. As Thomas Jefferson maintained, liberty is not a +privilege granted by a government, but government is a responsibility +delegated to its officers by the people. "On this distinction hangs all +the philosophy of democracy."[5] The people must decide questions for +themselves and make their common will known through the representative +organs of a government which is after all only the instrument intended +to produce the best expression and administration of this public will. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 5: David Saville Muzzey, _Thomas Jefferson_, p. 311. + "Generally speaking, one may say of the German soldier that he is + normally good-natured and is not disposed to do injury to harmless + people, so long as he finds no obstacles put in his prescribed way. + But once disturbed, he becomes frightful, because he lacks any + higher capacity of discrimination; because he merely does his duty + and recognizes no such thing as individual conscience and, besides, + when he is excited becomes at once blind and super-nervous." "The + Germans are, indeed, a good-natured people, born to blind obedience + and humble willingness to let others do their thinking for them." + Wilhelm Mühlon, _The Vandal of Europe_, pages 172 and 251.] + + + + +III + +ITS CONFLICT WITH THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRACY AND RELIGION + + +In the course of a conversation during the past winter one of the +members of the present city government of New York remarked that +although he was not a Socialist, yet he failed to see how the election +of Morris Hillquit on his un-American platform to be Mayor of New York +would have had any result except as regards the national safety and the +immediate influence upon our international relations. He added that the +life of the city would have gone on just the same for a time at least; +hence why the great fear of Socialism? What this man failed to see was +that in fact the life of the city would go on for a time without change +only on account of the impetus the former democratic government had +given. That the policy of individual responsibility and judgment, which +had always been the professed aim of American government in the past, +had produced leadership and popular experience by the process of natural +selection, and that this leadership would last only until the time that +the deadening influence of Socialism had its true effect. + +Let us consider for a moment the result of Socialism as a permanent +policy. It means the substitution, as already shown, of government or +official judgment and initiative for that of the individual. The whole +process would be one to deaden and atrophy the powers of the people in +general, with the result that there would follow a leveling down to a +plane of mediocrity rather than a leveling up according to individual +capacities and ambitions, exercised through equality of opportunity. + +It should not be forgotten that the varying degrees of success in the +different walks of life finally have caused so-called social +differences. These differences result from the attempt on the part of +mankind to meet "the inequality of men in their capacity for the work +with which they are confronted in this life," said the New York _Journal +of Commerce_, with great acuteness, in a recent editorial discussion of +the phase of the question.[6] It continued by saying,-- + +"What we must strive for is intelligent understanding and sound +reasoning on the question of rights, and a just application of +principles for the common benefit. Everything should be done to develop +and train intelligence and increase the capacity of the people for their +various tasks and duties, and they should be stimulated by the rewards +to which they are fairly entitled in the results; but that cannot be +made to mean that they are all equal in contributing to results and +entitled to equality in the returns. Nothing could be more inconsistent +with a sound democracy than the distribution of the material results of +productive activity applied to the resources of nature, regardless of +the merits or just claims of those engaged in the work. To apply that +so-called principle of equality of rights without regard to the part +taken in producing results, would deaden the energies applied in +achieving them, and greatly reduce the product. It would prevent +material prosperity and defeat national progress." + +In a Socialistic State, inevitably there would be formed a bureaucracy +of selfish office holders. Although, owing to the impetus of our +previous free Democracy, the first Socialist officials might be men of +ability who had gained their places through successful experience, yet a +close corporation of officials would follow them and retain the exercise +of power. The people gradually would sink to a level of servile +conformity. + +We have a perfect illustration of this in the Germany of the past forty +years. There is a good reason for the fact that Germany, in the hands of +a selfish and conscienceless autocracy, made more successful use of +practical Socialism than any other nation in history and even carried +efficiency itself to a point of great success. Her close corporation of +bureaucratic officials, playing upon the remains of feudal and +aristocratic loyalty among the people that have survived the darkness of +past centuries as nowhere else among civilized nations, successfully +carried through Socialism in many practical ways, just as Morris +Hillquit and his un-American followers probably would have succeeded in +doing in New York for a short time. But the inevitable followed. The +German people have been reduced to a very low level of political +ability. + +The German is one of the poorest politicians in the world, as every +student of political science knows. His lack of ability to run a +government on constitutional principles has been found in the inane +vaporings and factional maneuvering of the Reichstag, the supposedly +"popular" House of the Parliament, which was merely a machine to +register the will of the aristocratic autocracy. The individual citizen +is the most servile and unthinking person in any civilized country of +the world to-day. He has been trained to political incapacity. + +What has the success of German Socialism amounted to? We find that +Germany, from the political standpoint, is nothing but an organized +machine without soul. Professor Ely, in taking the Moral side of the +matter into consideration, well says that "it may be added that truth, +an attribute of the gentleman, is less valued in Germany than in English +speaking countries. As long ago as 1874 Professor James Morgan Hart in +his book _German Universities_ called attention to this weakness in the +German character. A German mother will say to her child, 'O, you little +liar,' and does not imply serious reprobation thereby, and Professor +Hart said that if you called a German student a liar, he might take it +calmly, but if you called him a blockhead, he would challenge you to +fight a duel. All this has been amply exemplified during the present +war. It was the German socialist Lassalle who said of the lie that it +was one of the great European Powers! It was natural enough that he +should have said it."[7] + +The public preparatory schools in Germany are so arranged that the +pupils are trained to unthinking subservience to the labor policy and +materialistic aims of a selfish, bureaucratic State. In fact, it is well +to remember that this German illustration only proves that Socialism, +instead of being democratic, is essentially undemocratic in its +effects. It produces an autocracy of officials which is as unfair and +selfish, because entirely materialistic, as any aristocracy of wealth or +birth could be. Shrewd observers note the same tendency in the +Commonwealth of Australia where the full fruition of its +semi-Socialistic policy of recent years has been somewhat retarded by +the individualistic influence of the English Common Law. When the +Socialistic autocracy is once completely in power, with its professed +policy of taking away human ambition and initiative, its position will +be almost impregnable and become more and more secure as the average +citizen becomes more and more servile, lazy and unambitious. Socialism +is politically decadent and contains within itself the germ of +self-destruction. During this process of self-destruction the people at +large will offer a rich field for exploitation by the demagogue, the +corrupt politician and the charlatan. + +Furthermore, Socialism is essentially unChristian. It also is opposed +absolutely to the whole basis of the Jewish religion as well. The +foundation of the Jewish-Christian religion, for they are essentially +the same in basis, is the belief in the value of the individual soul in +the sight of God, and the dependence upon its relation to something +Divine. The impulse from within the human heart is the basis of all +right living. Thus Christ taught the social responsibility of the +individual for his neighbor. The appeal always was made to the +individual and the responsibility was laid upon him. + +We read in the New Testament--"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus how +he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts, XX, 35.) + +Right giving, which results from an appreciation of the obligations of +service, is an individualistic action; receiving, which means a benefit +from the activity and initiative of someone else (and often irrespective +of the real deserts of the recipient), is essentially Socialistic in +tendency. The one causes a growth in individual character; the other +tends to stunt or weaken it. St. Paul mentioned (1st Corinthians XIII, +3) as one of the greatest possible forms of service the bestowal of all +one's goods to feed the poor. But he did not suggest as a better way +that the individual should sit back, let the State take over his goods +and attend to the feeding of the poor, and thus relieve him from +responsibility. In fact, "love" itself, which is declared to be the +greatest thing of all, is essentially an individual impulse and never +could be called forth from the human heart, nor supplied to it either, +by the fiat of a government. + +The same note runs through the Jewish Scriptures. At the beginning +(Genesis, chap. IV), in the old story of Cain's murder of Abel, when +Cain inquired of the Lord "Am I my brother's keeper?" the inference to +be drawn most decidedly is that the Lord thought he was, and not the +State, or the tribal government of that day, in his stead. Both the +Christian and Jewish religions are essentially individualistic in appeal +and social in responsibility, and so also is Democracy. + +May not the extreme brutality of the German soldier of to-day be the +result not only of the ruthless command from the official higher up but +also of the de-souling, materialistic influence of Socialism on the +common people of Germany during the past twenty-five years? Is not the +viciousness of Prussian militarism plus the demoralizing influence of +Socialism a sufficient explanation? + +According to Mr. J. Dover Wilson, "the German nation, in fact, is +suffering from some form of arrested development, and arrested +development, as the criminologists tell us, is almost invariably +accompanied by morbid psychology. That Germany at the present moment, +and for some time past, has been the victim of a morbid state of mind, +few impartial observers will deny. It has, however, not been so +generally recognized that this disease--for it is nothing less--is due +not to any national depravity but to constitutional and structural +defects."[8] + +Many Socialists point to the housing, sanitary, insurance and other +State activities of Germany as showing the care of the Government for +the laboring man. My dogs are well fed, are kept clean, dry, healthy and +amused, and are carefully looked after in every way. But they are still +dogs. They have no soul or any right or power of self-determination. So +recent events show beyond cavil that the German workingman, from the +standpoint of the State and Government, was in reality a political dog. +He existed only for the good of the divinely constituted State and its +God-given princely proprietors, and as such was used and sacrificed for +the imperial and national glory. The German laboring man was the most +exploited, the most servile, the most unfairly treated worker on earth. +He was given enough material comforts or even amusements (religious, +theatrical, musical or otherwise) to keep him seemingly content, but +politically he was not permitted to think--or economically either, when +taken in the broad sense of the term. Therefore those who expect from +the revolution or uprising against the Kaiser and his military henchmen +the immediate establishment of a well-ordered and democratic republic, +are reckoning without their host. People must be experienced in +self-government before they can make a success of democracy as that term +is understood in America, and experienced the German people are not. + +While the Socialists of the United States, "parlor" and otherwise, +include in their number many sincere and thoughtful, as well as +idealistic people, it is well to remember that a large part of them is +composed of individuals who have nothing, and want to divide it all with +everybody else. It is the old jealousy of the "have nots" for those who +have, which usually means the "will nots" for those who have the +ambition and will. Or if they are not of this kind, the best that can be +said of them is that they are foreigners, who are in reality not +Americans, who don't believe in democracy, but in autocracy, and +probably don't even know what democracy means. Autocracy is the +government of the many by and for the benefit of the selfish few. Real +democracy is the government by and for the many, who express their will +through their duly chosen representatives. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 6: Issue for November 12, 1918.] + +[Footnote 7: _Op. cit._ p. 172.] + +[Footnote 8: _The War and Democracy_, p. 58.] + + + + +IV + +SOME INSTANCES OF ITS PRACTICAL FAILURE + + +I have stated my conviction, and the reasons for it, that Socialism is +essentially undemocratic and unChristian, as well as unAmerican. Yet +after all it is in the practical realm of experience that it has proved +to be most lacking and inefficient. To prove this, it is hardly +necessary to point to the classic illustrations of the utter failure of +Socialism when actually tried in France under the leadership of Louis +Blanc and Albert during the days of the Second Republic in the year +1848, or again when tried under the form of the Commune in 1871. The +horrors of the extreme form of Socialism known as Bolshevism, as seen +in the Russia of 1918, are destined to implant a useful lesson, not soon +to be forgotten, in the minds of intelligent people throughout the +entire world. + +One of the best illustrations of the failure of a practical Socialistic +State is that of the "Mayflower" settlement at Plymouth in 1620. In +order to raise the money needed for the venture the Pilgrims borrowed +seven thousand pounds from seventy London merchants. In order also to +provide a species of sinking fund it was decided to accept the +suggestion of the creditor merchants that the net earnings of the +colonists should go into a common fund for the space of seven years and +then should be divided among the shareholders. It should especially be +remembered that the Pilgrims were a set of people small in number and as +a consequence easy to govern; of a high type of industry and integrity; +and that they were united by the strongest of all common and social +interests,--that of deep religious conviction. Furthermore, the relative +positions in life of the personnel of the entire Plymouth Colony showed +a remarkable equality. Their method of living was primitive and most +simple in form, without the usual complications of the life of even +three hundred years ago, much less of that of today. And yet this +communal or Socialistic system in Plymouth resulted in such a marked +lack of interest among the inhabitants, the whole arrangement worked so +badly, that the settlement verged on failure and destruction. The system +virtually was abolished after only three years trial in the year 1623 +and good results showed themselves immediately. "Individual effort +returned with the prospect of individual gain." The cause of the failure +is evident,--the system was opposed to the fundamental facts of human +nature. + +But what is "human nature"? Let us take a definition from the Socialists +themselves. "If the phrase means anything at all, it means man, with his +loves and hates, his desire for pleasure and aversion to pain, his noble +and ignoble traits, his interests, feelings, beliefs, prejudices, +ignorance, knowledge, fears and hopes. All these motives, desires and +emotions vary in each individual, some of them usually dominating over +the rest, yet all more or less active. Some one or more of them may be +cultivated by favorable environment or almost crushed by an unfavorable +environment. A saint may be dragged down to hell by adverse conditions +and a rake win eminence in the same environment. If the cultured +educator ... was suddenly forced to earn his living in a vile mining +center, his polish would soon wear off, and he would brood over a world +that now strikes him as on the whole all right. If cast adrift at sea, +within a week the wolf stare of hunger would make him and his associates +seriously consider casting lots as to who should be eaten. Later the +feast might actually begin and ... human nature find it easy enough to +gnaw the shin bone of a fellow castaway. This thing we call human nature +is a bundle of emotions and desires that will find expression in +different ways, according to the environment in which it is located, as +we have seen in the example given."[9] + +This is exactly true in thesis, though utterly false in detail. But it +is the object of democracy to give equality of opportunity for human +nature, starting from the essential point of individual impulse (which +is the precise expression of character), to work out the best of which +it is capable. On the other hand, it is the object of Socialism, acting +through political and economic machinery, to crowd out these varying +attributes of human nature and reduce the individual to the mental +status of a dull, unthinking animal. Of course human nature always has +rebelled against this repression and always will do so in the final +analysis. It is impossible for Socialism or any other system of uniform +and outward repression to fetter the human soul and it inevitably will +fail to do so in the end. It is from an experience of the difficulties +and dangers, the unhappiness and injustice that will accompany this +process of failure, that the opponents of Socialism and the believers in +Democracy wish to spare the people of the world to-day. + +This failure of Socialism especially is true as applied to Germany. The +un-souling of the people has come as the direct result of the use of +Socialism by the military autocracy for its own selfish purposes. Also +its failure is repeatedly seen in its actual working, and in spite of +the German boast of efficiency. The best illustration of this, because +the one most used by the Socialists on the other side of the argument, +is that of the railroads. + +Most of the railroad lines of importance in Continental Europe are owned +and operated by the various governments. I can say from my own personal +experience and observation that the only railroads that are really well +run, so far as I have traveled, are those under private ownership and +direction, as in Great Britain and the United States. I have tried the +various trains de luxe and Blitzzüge of Continental Europe and their +slow progress and often indifferent accommodations make one long for an +English or American express train. And then to hold first-class tickets +in Germany, and be refused admission to first-class compartments still +empty "because some officials may want them," as was my experience in +going from Nürnberg to Mainz, does not add to one's desire for +governmental control. The best European trains do not for one moment +compare with those of the privately owned British and American +railroads. + +According to statistics published in 1913, the railroads of the United +States were capitalized at $60,000 per mile under private ownership; the +government-owned German roads at $109,000 per mile, and this in spite of +the far cheaper costs of building. Railroad rates in the United States, +both freight and passenger, under private ownership have been among the +lowest in the world. The first thing that our government control has +brought about is a raise in rates that exceeds by far what the private +managements would have dared even to imagine, much less ask of the +Interstate Commerce Commission. And this has been accompanied by a +marked deterioration of service, all of which can by no means be blamed +upon conditions resulting from the war. Poorer service at higher cost is +the almost universal experience, in the long run, of government-owned +public utilities both here and abroad. + +The Boston _Commercial_ in 1913 called attention to the fact that in +France the year 1912 was marked by the largest increase in gross +receipts on record, for both government and privately owned railroads, +but the privately owned roads showed an improvement in net earnings +almost three times as great as that of the nationalized railroads. These +failings noted above are almost inevitably found wherever the government +owns the railroads or other utilities, or else these utilities are run +at a loss and the difference made up in the tax bills of the people. +Government control never is as efficient and economical as private +control, even though all questions of political power and influence be +omitted from consideration.[10] + +The important testimony of Mr. W.M. Acworth, an English authority upon +railroads, which he gave by invitation before the Senate Committee on +Interstate Commerce at Washington, has not been fully appreciated by +American public opinion. The National City Bank of New York rightly +stressed the importance of this testimony in one of its bulletins +during the year 1918. Mr. Acworth was in this country during the early +part of 1917 as a member of the special Canadian Commission on Railways, +and he told the Senate Committee that "while American companies have +revolutionized equipment and methods of operation, Prussia has clung to +old equipment and old methods. This is typical. In all the history of +railway development it has been the private companies that have led the +way, the State systems that have brought up the rear. Railroading is a +progressive science. New ideas lead to new inventions, to new plant and +methods. This means the spending of much new capital. The State official +mistrusts ideas, pours cold water on new inventions and grudges new +expenditure. In practical operation German railway officials have +taught the railway world nothing. It would be difficult to point to a +single important invention or improvement, the introduction of which the +world owes to a State railway." + +Is it not a rather significant fact that with all their boasted advance +in science and learning, the Germans have failed utterly in the two +realms of politics, as shown in the preceding pages, and of railroading? +And these are the two most extensive fields of the influence of German +Socialism. + +The American citizen has before him in clear outline the sure result +from a continuation of governmental ownership or control as a permanent +policy in the United States after the war. As regards railroad +personnel, if the positions from top to bottom were filled with Mr. +Bryan's "deserving Democrats," as was the case with our diplomatic and +consular service in 1913, the results would be as striking, though +perhaps in a different and even more serious way. + +Of course the Civil Service, which has been a solid measure of reform +and one from which we dare depart only at our peril, would probably be +called into use and be evaded in exactly the same way as it has been in +the past. And even if it were not evaded, we must remember that the +Civil Service examinations and rules are not a guarantee of efficiency +or excellence. The best that can be said for them is that they are a +protection against absolute incompetence and, to a certain extent, +against political spoiling. But in a positive sense, the Civil Service +is merely a guarantee of mediocrity. And mediocrity never yet made a +success of a great transportation or productive system such as our +railroads or industrial corporations. The political possibilities of a +"railroad vote" of several million employees of the government need only +be referred to, to be feared. + +Perhaps no one would suffer more from a policy of government ownership +than the present force of railroad employees in the United States. They +have won their present positions for the most part by individual +achievement, but their future advancement would depend not upon the +continued successful handling of their work, but upon either the +injustice of political favoritism or the undiscriminating rules of the +Civil Service. That some of the employees have not failed to grasp the +political possibilities is shown by my own recent experience upon a +train between Philadelphia and New York. I had a difference with one of +the train crew who was collecting the tickets in my car, and which was +caused by carelessness and indifference on his part. The employee +finally answered my protests by remarking--"Oh well, we don't care so +long as Woodrow Wilson is in the White House." The truth or untruth of +this statement is not the important thing, but the fact that he made it. + +The personnel would tend steadily to deteriorate in efficiency. The +successful government employee is the one who follows most closely the +beaten track of precedent and past experience. If he departs from this +track, he inevitably arouses the opposition of his fellow-employees or +of the unthinking part of the public, who usually desire no change. He +also takes all the risks of experiment and if he succeeds, the rewards +are uncertain and small; if he fails, he personally bears all the +consequences. This is the reason for the tendency toward steady +deterioration on the part of all public service. Employees of the State +must follow the path of absolute conformity to the past. This deadens +individual initiative, ambition and inventiveness. + +At this point it would be well to repeat the penetrating question +recently asked by Mr. Otto H. Kahn in the course of an address before +the American Bankers Association in Chicago. Said Mr. Kahn--"Now, you +and I, who are trained in business, have all we can do to conduct our +respective concerns and personal affairs with a fair measure of success. +On what grounds, then, can it be assumed that by becoming endowed with +the dignity of a governmental appointment, men of average or even much +more than average ability will develop the capacity to run successfully +the huge and complex business undertakings which the devotees of +paternalism would place in their charge?" + +Furthermore, the plant and its upkeep would be subject to political +influence and objects. Just as we have needlessly expensive or even +useless post office buildings, harbor improvements and other works of +national cost built as the result of sectional log-rolling of +Congressional politicians, so probably we would have railroad stations, +tracks, subway crossings, and service in general offered not from the +standpoint of efficiency and public service, but as indirect campaign +contributions to needy Congressional candidates for re-election. + +It should be realized that the mistakes and delays in our shipping and +airplane production during the first year of the war were probably not +so much the fault of the government at Washington and the administration +of affairs in these departments, as they were the inherent defects of +the Government itself doing the work, and these effects were overcome +only by the heroic efforts of Mr. Schwab, Mr. Ryan, and the other men +whom President Wilson wisely chose to insure the success of these war +measures as a patriotic necessity. + +Our present postal service, the most necessary, next to the public +schools, of all the means for the formation of community feeling and +public opinion essential to a democracy, has been under the charge of +deterioration and inadequate service for the past ten years. Also it +must be remembered that the government-controlled systems of telegraph +and telephone in the various European countries are unspeakably bad, +according to the standards of service to which we have become accustomed +through long years of efficient private management. Therefore, in the +light of this experience the taking over of our systems by the +government has its justification only as a war necessity. As a matter of +permanent policy, it would be an entirely different and very serious +matter. The marked deterioration that almost immediately appeared in the +telegraph service, is sufficient proof of this fact. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 9: Quoted from an editorial in the (daily) New York _Evening +Call_, issue for August 29, 1918.] + +[Footnote 10: "The advantages which might be derived from a single +united administration of all the railroads are doubtless somewhat +analogous to those we derive from the post office, but in most other +respects the analogy fails completely and fatally. Railway traffic +cannot be managed by pure routine like that of the mails. It is +fluctuating and uncertain, depending upon the seasons of the year, the +demands of the locality, or events of an accidental character. Incessant +watchfulness, alacrity, and freedom from official routine are required +on the part of a traffic manager, who shall always be ready to meet the +public wants." W.S. Jevons (reprinted in _Selected Readings in Public +Finance_, by C.J. Bullock, p. 103).] + + + + +V + +THE TRUE ANTIDOTE FOUND IN CO-OPERATIVE EFFORT + + +There is one term, the use of which is anathema to the Socialist, and +that term is "human nature." He never wishes to meet or discuss this in +an argument, and with good reason, for it has been shown that it is only +by ignoring human nature entirely, both in theory and in practice, that +Socialism can make even the semblance of a reasonable showing. But +another term, which the Socialist especially likes, is "co-operation," +and that is one to which he has no manner of right. Cooperation is a +social movement, the impulse for which comes from within the human +heart, while Socialism as already stated, is essentially a working +together only as the result of outward direction and dictation. The +first is the act of a free man; the latter results from the obedience of +a political and mental slave. + +We Americans have made one of the greatest successes of history along +the line of political co-operation. Our whole democratic type of +government is based upon this principle as a foundation. But we have +done little toward the free and successful use of co-operation in +business or production. It is here that our British cousins have far +exceeded us even though we have outdistanced them, we think, along +political lines of activity. + +It was shown in _The Journal of Commerce and Commercial Bulletin_ for +January 25, 1918, that this co-operative movement in Great Britain has +developed to such an extent that at the present time distributive +societies there number some 3,500,000 members. The turnover of these +societies last year amounted to $605,000,000, to which should be added +$350,000,000 from the co-operative wholesale and the hundred +distributive societies. As a contrast to this, the American people have +been so filled with the individualism necessary to the spirit of the +pioneers who in reality have been "subduing a continent" that they have +failed to realize what a wonderful field for efficient, popular effort +the commercial and industrial activities of the country offered if we +only would adopt the principle of co-operative organization. Probably +one of the greatest lines of development after the war will be this +co-operation between producers and consumers. In no other way can those +activities and profits of the middlemen, which are more or less +unnecessary, be entirely eliminated. + +I have it on good authority from members of the American Federation of +Labor that fully 95 per cent of its membership is opposed to Socialism, +and that the Socialistic 5 per cent is largely among the laboring men of +the Pacific Coast, with possibly a few in the Middle West, especially +Kansas. This latter is probably an after effect of the old "Populistic" +craze of the early 'nineties. On the other hand, American labor is +feeling the need of cooperative action, not only as regards themselves, +but also as regards capital as well, and Mr. Gompers has proved himself +of the stature of real statesmanship in appreciating and advancing this +idea in the most patriotic way since the war began. Individual laboring +men with whom I have talked say they "like the working together" that +Socialism advocates, but after explaining their position more fully, in +nine cases out of ten it is found that they utterly repudiate the +dictatorial, outwardly-directing theory upon which Socialism stands, and +in reality desire the advance of this spirit of co-operation. Thus they +look upon a bonus from profits as merely a partial gift on the part of +corporate management. What they desire is profit-sharing, as standing +for a recognition of the just right of labor to a larger part of the +just proceeds of its work. Thus probably the greatest antidote and enemy +of Socialism is profit-sharing, and after all it is only a recognition +of the fact that production is the joint work of both capital and labor, +that both are requisite and necessary, and that their whole success is +based upon this spirit of co-operation. + +There is no doubt that there are men to-day who are in official +positions of power and influence in our national, state and city +administrations throughout the United States and who are more or less +openly using the present crisis of unusual and war conditions in order +to precipitate the country into a complete Socialistic organization. It +may be that we shall come to Socialism as a final political and economic +development. Personally, I for one do not believe that we will, or that +even a small part of the real thinking American people, either native or +foreign born, would desire this. Even if we did enter upon such a policy +it would only be temporary in duration, and be followed by a terrible +struggle of readjustment to the old conditions. But if we do undertake +Socialism, let us at least do it with our eyes open. Let us realize that +we are entering upon an entirely new and untried policy which is +diametrically opposed to all the ideas and ideals, the history, the +fundamental thought and theory upon which this country was founded and +has prospered and developed so marvellously up to the present time. +Those officials, no matter where placed as regards power and +responsibility, who by underhand means would throw us into this entirely +new method of life without due thought and consideration, are +politically dishonest, no matter how sincere they may be, and are as +traitorous to American life and thought as are the pro-German or the +pacifist. + +The reaction against measures of government ownership and control which +have been made necessary by the exigencies of a great war crisis already +has appeared in Great Britain. The English papers contain open criticism +of the government operation of the railways, of shipbuilding and of +production in general. The London _Times_ said editorially last year: +"The railways are certainly short of labor, but is it established that +all the officials are putting their very best efforts into the solution +of the present problems? The railways are now Government controlled +institutions and competition has diminished where it has not vanished. +It seems to be a question whether quite the same amount of thought and +work is being put into the efficient management of the companies as in +the days before the war when the lines were keenly competing against +each other. This question which has been raised of a slackening of +effort directly in consequence of the nationalization of the railways is +a serious one and evidently deserves inquiry.... The public is entitled +to know if the railways are now using what remains to them (of labor and +capital) with the utmost efficiency." Also the best authorities, and +even the government investigators themselves, are urging a speedy return +to private ownership and operation at the earliest possible moment after +the war. The same undercurrent of feeling, or rather conviction, is +rapidly spreading among our own people in the United States. + +Mr. Hoover has expressed this same view in the most emphatic terms in +the course of an address to the special conference of Federal Food +Administrators held in Washington, D.C. on November 12, 1918. "It is my +belief," said Mr. Hoover, "that the tendency of all such legislation +except in war is to an over degree to strike at the roots of individual +initiative. We have secured its execution during the war as to the +willing co-operation of 95 per cent of the trades of the country, but +under peace conditions it would degenerate into an harassing blue law." + +But the advocates of Socialism are especially active during the time of +uncertainty and confusion that necessarily follows the close of a great +world war. At such times, they always are. In the words of Mr. +Kahn,--"They possess the fervor of the prophet allied often to the +plausibility and cunning of the demagogue. They have the enviable and +persuasive cocksureness which goes with lack of responsibility and of +practical experience. They pour the vials of scorn and contempt upon +those benighted ones who still tie their boat to the old moorings of the +teachings of history and of common sense appraisal of human nature. And +being vociferous and plausible they are unquestionably making converts." + +Recently I saw little "stickers" pasted on the walls of a railway +station in a small New Jersey city which read as follows-- + + The Masters Fear Slaves That + Think + If you think right you will act right + Study Socialism + +This is typical of the fallacious arguments so often encountered. First +of all, it has the tone of darkest Hungary or Bolshevist Russia, and is +absolutely contrary to the facts as regards conditions in the United +States. The so-called "toasters" or "capitalistic class;" for suppose it +is to them that this refers, have been in the forefront of the movement +to educate the masses, and have given their time, money and sympathy to +aid in its success. I heartily agree with the _non sequitur_ statement +that "if you think right you will act right." I am perfectly willing to +join in the demand that our people should "study Socialism," for if the +American people will not only study it but also think their way through +in regard to it, no sincere believer in democracy and in American ideals +need have any doubt as to the final outcome. + +We Americans believe that our people, in the long run, will decide right +upon any question to which they have given due thought and +consideration. So in their hands we may safely leave the whole question +of Socialism and government ownership or operation. All we ask is, that +they be given due knowledge and instruction. Furthermore, if Socialism +be true, it should not fear open and complete examination. If the truth +is the truth, it must prevail in the end. Therefore the surreptitious +and secret attempt to foist Socialism upon an unsuspecting people savors +much of the lack of sincerity and of belief in its real truth on the +part of its own advocates. At least they should stop making their appeal +mainly to the uninstructed foreign-born and to the apostles of +half-baked learning, and lay their case before the hard-headed laborer, +the business and the professional man. + + + + +INDEX + +Acworth, W.M., quoted, 64-66. + +Ambition, 15-16. + +American Federation of Labor, 77. + +American Revolution, 5. + +Australia, 46. + + +Beer, George, Louis, quoted, 4. + +Belgium, Constitution of, quoted, 28-29. + +_Boston Commercial_, quoted, 63. + +Brooks, Phillips, 7. + + +Cartwright, Peter, 7. + +Christ, individualistic teachings of, 47-48. + +Civil Service, 67-68. + +Civil War (American), 6. + +Common Law Rights, 31-32. + +Co-operation, 74-79. + + +_Droit Administratif_, 32. + + +Ely, Richard T., quoted 16-17, 44-45. + + +Fabian Society, 8. + +French Revolution, 5. + + +Germany, theory of government in, 25-26; + labor in 51-52; + failure of Socialism, 59 _et seq_.; + railroads in, 60-66. + +Gompers, Samuel, 77-78. + + +Hill, David J., quoted, 14-15. + +Hillquit, Morris, 38, 43. + +Hoover, Herbert, quoted, 82-83. + +Huguenots, 6. + +Human Nature, definition, 57-60. + + +Ibsen, Henrik, 8. + +Italy, Constitution of, quoted, 27. + + +Jameson, J.P., 7. + +Jefferson, Thomas, 10, 36-37. + +Jenks, Edward, 17. + +Jevons, W.S., quoted, 64 (note). + +Jewish Scriptures, and Socialism, 49. + +_Journal of Commerce_, quoted, 40-42, 75-76. + + +Kahn, Otto H., quoted, 70-71, 83-84. + + +Louis XIV., 6. + + +Moriscos, 6. + +Mühlon, W., quoted, 37 (note). + + +National City Bank (New York), 64. + +Netherlands, Constitution of, quoted, 27. + +Norway, Constitution of, quoted, 28. + + +Object of Government, 19-20. + + +Philip III (of Spain), 6. + +Plymouth Colony, 6, 55-57. + +Postal Service, 72-73. + +Press, freedom of, 27-30. + +Profit-sharing, 78-79. + + +Railroads, 60-71, 81-82. + +Rousseau, 21. + + +Seligman, E.R.A., 3. + +Shaw, G. Bernard, 8. + +Socialism, definition of, 14. + +Sweden, Constitution of, quoted, 28. + +Switzerland, Constitution of, quoted, 28. + + +_Times_ (London), quoted, 81-82. + + +United States, Constitution of, quoted, 30. + + +Wells, H.G., 8. + +Whitefield, George, 7. + +William, ex-Emperor, 26. + +Wilson, J. Dover, quoted, 50-51. + +Wilson, Woodrow, 10, 69. + +Woolman, John, 6. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Socialism and American ideals +by William Starr Myers + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13706 *** |