At the present time, Capitalism is tottering to its downfall. The world
is in chaos and revolution. The Supreme Court has handed down a decision
which ostensibly will assist in preserving established order, but the
United States is a Capitalist nation and, as Mr. Wilson himself has so
admirably put it:
"The masters of the Government of the United States are the combined
capitalists and manufacturers of the United States." ("New Freedom,"
page 57.)
Capitalism is disappearing from Europe--Russia, Germany, Austria,
Bohemia, Hungary--the list is growing from week to week. When the
President came back on his little visit to America there was one new
thing that he said, and only one new thing:
"The men who are in conference in Paris realize as keenly as any
Americans can realize that they are not the masters of their people."
(Boston, February 24th, 1919.)
"When I speak of the nations of the world, I do not speak of the
governments of the world. I speak of the peoples who constitute the
nations of the world. They are in the saddle, and they are going to see
to it that if present governments do not do their will, some other
government shall, and the secret is out and the present governments know
it." (Boston, February 24th.)
"I want to utter this solemn warning, not in the way of a threat; the
forces of the world do not threaten, they operate. The great tides of
the world do not give notice that they are going to rise and run; they
rise in their majesticity and overwhelming might and they who stand in
the way are overwhelmed. Now the heart of the world is awake and the
heart of the world must be satisfied. Do not let yourselves suppose for
a moment that the uneasiness in the populations of Europe is due
entirely to economic causes and economic motives; something very much
deeper underlies it all than that. They see that their governments have
never been able to defend them against intrigue or aggression, and that
there is no force of foresight or of prudence in any modern cabinet to
stop war." (New York, March 4th, 1919.)
Then comes Mr. Wm. Allen White on the 11th of March with a similar
statement. On the next day comes Mr. Lansing with the statement that
unless something is done and done quickly, the capitalist system in
Europe will be overthrown. The world is in chaos. The fabric of
civilization is threatened. The health and happiness--the very life of
the world--is threatened.
And those who speak particularly of those things; those who are seeking
to warn, to prepare the people; those who attempt to preach law and
order; who oppose war; who believe in peace--those who are attempting to
serve the interests of humanity--go to jail for ten years.
The highest authority in the United States has served notice on the
American people that from it they can hope for nothing in the way of
preservation of their liberties. Their liberties are dead. Well may
those Americans who still have in their souls a spark of the old fire,
turn back 143 years and read these words from the Declaration of
Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that
whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is
the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new
government, laying its foundations on such principles, and organizing
its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect
their safety and happiness."
* * * * *