state of individual and societary development. In the United States
the rise and development of American industry discloses the fact that
in most all the lines of business, capital has been organized and so
concentrated as not only to crush out competition, but to create such
a monopoly as to enable the stockholders and directors to fix such
prices to consumers as the big corporations and trusts deem advisable
from time to time, not in accord with the laws of supply and demand or
the cost of production, but in accord with their desire and ability to
command the tribute of the consuming public. The representatives of
these large interests, themselves, have combined and through liberal
contributions and the influence of their industrial and economic
importance have built up a system of political bosses, in complete
control of the two dominant old parties, and both the bosses and the
interests have united to pervert the local and national governments in
the United States from their true functions in the interests of the
people to advance and promote the welfare of special interests to the
neglect and detriment of the great majority. And thus a few leaders in
American industry have secured possession of the great natural
resources of the country, have obtained a monopoly of the business
opportunities of the great American market, and have utilized the
power of the governments to protect their unfair and unjust
advantages, in the freest and greatest democracy of the world. The
contest to overthrow this sinister and selfish government of the few
is exceedingly difficult, because of the minor and supposed divergent
and individual interests, social and political divisions of class and
party prejudice, and a general intellectual inability of the mass to
fully grasp the importance of the problems involved, so essential to
that united action on the part of the people, necessary to meet the
situation. The people now have the means at their command to have the
government administered in their interests and to control those
industrial concerns which have proved a menace to the general welfare,
but they must be educated as to how to use them. And to place the
means of production and distribution into the hands of the community,
in the present development of society, is simply to make it easier for
the few to exploit the many, and it is especially dangerous because
the leaders would have sufficient numbers in their employ and
administration to make it next to impossible to dislodge one set when
once in power, without a resort to arms and revolution.
The example of the Federal office-holders in the great majority in
voting and using their influence to protect their individual
positions, without regard to the larger interest of the public, is
such as to make all patriotic citizens acquainted with the facts wish
and desire that their numbers be not increased to any such extent as
would be the case in the community ownership of industry and business.
The history of American large cities, shows for the most part, that
these urban governments are controlled and administered by one set of
selfish political leaders after another, whose power is predicated
upon party machinery, held together mainly by party patronage,
favoritism and public graft. And thus to put industry and business
under the administration of the government is to more than multiply
the dangers to the public of those industrial and political leaders,
who have made representative government in the United States little
more than a mere form.
Economic Socialism would not only place too large a machine at the
disposal of political leaders to be used against the people, but it
would stifle initiation and tend too much to hold society in a static
condition. Under individual ownership of industry and business, under
the laws of legitimate competition, initiation is encouraged by
offering increasing rewards to those who adopt new methods and invent
new things to advance human welfare by lightening the burdens of life
and labor. The spirit of rivalry and competition maintains a constant
and steady demand for the best that can be produced for the people in
all lines of industry and business, which is among the strongest
incentives to new thought and invention. Man is naturally a
conservative being and without some stimulant will be content with
conditions as they came down to him from the past. It is true that in
spite of economic incentives there will appear now and then an
individual who is inspired by higher motives for the advancement of
the race, but the great masses of the people still require the power
and pleasure of possession, individual ownership, and the more
material rewards of industry and business. And so it appears to me
that Socialism would tend to bring society to a stagnant condition,
arrest human progress most seriously, and discourage in the future
those human benefactors, who, in the past have blazed the way for the
marvelous development and advancement of modern society.
Finally, after waiving many other objections to Socialism, it might be
well to observe that in the present state of society, if we were to
inaugurate the industrial Socialistic regime, we would have still
with us all the great social problems to be solved, perhaps in
different form, with some additional ones with entirely new features
and surrounded with new conditions. To my mind the different social
problems constitute the problem of civilization and through the coming
ages must be worked out together. All devices and schemes which do not
include the individual development and social progress at large are so
much wasted efforts that might be better spent. The final and ultimate
solution of all human problems is necessarily educational and will
have the best results if society is permitted to evolve in its natural
and normal way. All the uplifting forces of society must be utilized
to develop the social wants and economic demands of the masses,
through increased social and industrial opportunities. The people must
be brought into contact with an increasing variety of economic and
social phenomena, carrying with the process an ever growing demand for
the consumption of the best there is in life and mind. And until the
perfection of human nature, every age will have its problems and its
vices, in spite of what we think and do.
* * * * *
=Allen, John Robert.= (University Professor, Minister and Author.)
I am opposed to Socialism because I believe it will have an injurious
effect upon the development of individual power and character; since
it will withdraw the stimulus to achievement by destroying its
rewards, and since it will weaken the attractiveness of virtue by
trying to destroy the pains that follow vice. I do not believe that
Socialism will develop great individuals like the present conditions
even, unjust as many things now are.
I am opposed to Socialism on the other hand because I believe it will
be deleterious to society as a whole, because it will eliminate the
entrepreneur at the top, and I can conceive of no way whereby at the
bottom of the social ladder it can have the disgusting and unpleasant
work done, which, however, must be done for the well-being of the
race.
I am for "applied Christianity," which in common with Socialism denies
the right to use property merely for personal aggrandizement and
pleasure.
* * * * *
=Giering, Eugene T.= (Editor, The Wilkesbarre, Pa., Record.)
I am opposed to Socialism because I believe the discontent which it
represents can be very appreciably lessened, if not altogether
removed, by other means that have not yet been given sufficient trial.
Socialism appears to be striving after something unattainable under
such a form of government as we deem to be the safest and best. It
cannot be made to work out satisfactorily until human nature has
changed, and we are not yet near the millennium. Theoretically it is
appealing. Practically it is hampered by limitations that suggest
economic destruction, both of that which is good and of that which is
bad. We are now in the midst of an evolution. The higher moral
standards now in the process of establishment should suffice.
* * * * *
"_Why I Am in Favor of Socialism_" _is a publication
similar to this, and the price is also the same:
paper, fifty cents; cloth, seventy-five cents. It
will be sent to any address on receipt of the above
mentioned price. Address: Edward Silvin, Sacramento,
California._
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End of Project Gutenberg's Why I am opposed to socialism, by Various