, 1874-05-24
WHY TIE COMMUNE Is POSSIBLE IN
AMERICA

An attempt to organize the Commune presnp-
poses peculiar mental or moral state 4 man,
in order to try it, must believe the jingling no
that property is robbery, or he must think that
every two-lcgged animal without feathers hns
natural right to ba law unto himself, and to
act exactly as he wishes. Very many Americans
believe these two things already, and we, as
nation, are perhaps drifting towards that belief.
Take tho required mental state. The supply
OF quantities Of i1redeemable ehinpIasters is
boldly advocated by many political leaders in
speeches that arc, in some cases unoonsciously,
based on the maxim that property is robbery.
More greenbacks, they say, will make money
cheap. That is, they will make it possible to
pay debts with less value. In other words,
cheating his creditors will be put within the
debtors power. This reduces property-robbery
to practice. Tho tariff. again, is support
cd, in papers and platforms, by tho
plea that it gives employment to skilled work
men. This implies that it is the duty Of the
State to give them employment. II this is go
no valid objection can bo urged against the plea
that it is also its duty to provide work for the
unBkillcd. The crowds that demanded employ
ment, last winter. OF the civic authorities in New
York, Boston, Cincinnati. and Chicago, were but
the complement Of the majorities that have pass-
cd the high-tariff bills through Congress. Tho
constituents wcro butcarrying tho Congressmon's
arguments to their legitimate conclusion. Now
this is but the maxim: ''Property Ia robbery"
put into practice. For il every man has right
to his own, neither he nor his representative,
tho State, can Justly be called upon to share his
property With another man who happens to be-
in need.
Our tendency towards the Commune is acce1-
Grated by four maiu causes. Tho growing
disbelief in creeds that were formulated con-
turies ago induces thinkers to try to for
mulate new ones, adapted to this age,
but leads tho careless into contemptuous
rejection OF oil the ideas, moral and otherwise,
on which tho old creeds wero based. It ia char
acteristic OF ignorance to go to extremes. In
the second place, the nomenta1y triumph Of the
Commune in Paris. and it's struggles elsewhere
in Europe, have drawn attention to the subject.
1t is said that Berlin workingman agreed to pro-
claim tho Commune at the same time with their
Partisan fellows. and we're only prevented from
doing go by the untimcly discovery Of their
plot. The red flag waves now in the club
rooms Of tho German "Social- Democrats" and
their daily greeting is: "Wie geht's NIT der
Theilung ?"-"How goes it with the division
LOT properyl7" After thing has failed it is
very easy to think you see why. No doubt the
REASONS OF the collapse Of the Paris Commune
have been conned over in thousands Of brains.
Men imagine they could carry through such
echeme now, and arc impatient to t1y. Again,
the great influx OF foreigners has implanted On
American soil the ideas that have been the out
growth of centuries OF European want, woe, and
wrong. The circumstances here are not as favor
able to their growth but they grow nevertheless.
The 1eaven is at work It may Jet 1eaven
the whole lump. And finally, the growing gulf
between rich and poor, the sharply marked di-
vision between tho two in country in which |
cash and caste are apt to BE- cause and effect
thia is creating social atzntifcation in which