New-York tribune., 1878-11-12
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
H1TcHcoCK ON SOCIALISM.

which without engaging in any prolOuhu uiS
,usson of principles illustrates certain aspects Vi
the subject in manner that may be cohsiasieu "'
once opportune and instructive. Inc author COM
mences with some judIcious remarks on the III
eouolitv of condition in civilized life which sug-
Qests the most significant problems that dlnerenu
schools of socialism haveattempted to solve In
equality of social condition, he afirms, is per-
manent fact in political economy, variable only ID
degree II 1t could be got rid of to-day it would re-
turn tomorrow. Most of the causes OF this IN
.eonality are likewise permanent. Mankind
are not equal in endowments either intellectual OF
physcal In stamina of constitution, one is strong
and another weak In one man the brain is large
and fine i'll another coarse and SMALL Ohe man ID
lust able to keep soul and body together; another
with the same chances, manages to lay up surplus,
Whether or not he has earned more he has saved
more this sur plus is capital and If every man had
saved labor and capital would never clash inns Is
irrespective o. sickness and accident ana OF those
casualties which often plunge whole families lhto
want. by striking down the husbands and fathers
whose daily labor brought them their daily bread.
But the greatest inequality is that which comes of
immOraties, iGtempeTance, licentiOusness, and Will
full idleness. The greater part of all our paupers
and outeasts may be ascrbed to these three causes
This inequality of condition, DIR. Hitchcock de-
rlares was doubtless greater in the ancient world
than it is at present, butt is greater now than IL
was four hundred years ago, greater than u wasOhe
hundred years ago. SOme writers contend that u Is
still increasing But. in the opinion of the author
France is certainly better off than she was nifty
years ago, and England is better Oft than she was
twenty-five years ago. 1t would perhaps be safe to
say that the tide has turned, that the INEQUALITY Is
aow diminishing; but still the times are critical ;
md our civilization is sharply challenged.
4T lltv 'lar1g-
ian. is described by the author as essentially
naterialistic. It's special task has been the
ubiugation of Nature. The result is great wealth,
rapidly accumulated with inequality of disIlbu-
uon which, it must be admitted cannot be wholly
justified. The average European peasant of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was relatively
better off than the European peasant of the
Dineteenth century. in the words of Froude, as
quoted by DR.. Hitchcock, the upper classes have
more luxuries and the lower classes more liberty
while in regard TO the substantial comforts of life
they are now further. apart than they were then.
The greater the wealth of the nation as a whole,
the greater the inequality between its upper and its
lower classes.
DR.. Hitchcock does not hesitate to utter an ex-
plict judgment in regard to the character of this
social inequality, which has thus far been increased,
rather than diminished, by our advancing civiliza-
il with pain and SORROW 1t Offends the most rudi-
mental sense of human brotherhood. Socialism
proposes the two cardinal questions of our day ::
How has it come about that children of the same
family are so far apart in their fOrtunesH And what
can be done to narrow, and, if possible, annihllate
the chasm between themf In this sense of the
word, DR.. Hitchcock remarks, socialism is not
bad thing 1t seems very much like phlanthro-
py though with important differences. Philan-
thropy concerns itself about the whole nature con-
dition and destiny of man for time and for eteT-
nifty. Socialism concerns itself about the outward
environment, and ends with time. 1t overrates so
ciety and undertakes the individual 1t overrates
institutions and undertakes men. 1t dreams of re-
generating society," without regenerating the indi-
vidual or at all events it insists upon regeneratng
society first. This statement of the author it is but
lust to remark, is too unqualified, and rule does
not apply to the body of in this country and in
England who are sometimes known as social re-
formers, and who demand the improvement OF so
.ial organization only with view to the perfection
Of individual character.
The form of socialism called communism, as man
Tested in Paris years ago. in Pittsburg last
rear and in Berlin during the present year. signifies
wages without work, arson, assassination, anarchy.
Bot even this blOOd-stained and hideous spectre,
which is so justly regarded with adherence, should
not, as DR.. Hitchcock suggests, provoke us to be
leSpsers of history. Communism, In its essential
genius he remarks, "is not new, is not contempti-
ble is not abominable. 1t is tradition, philos-
ophy, gospel. As related to the tenure Of landed
property, it is one of the oldest traditions of the
race. As a philosophy, it deals with those social
and civil problems in regard to which man.
kind have been always tue most decided
and the most at fault. Its Gospel, to be sure
has no God, only humanity-the fraternity of the
fatherless, but it breaches social regeneration and
promises a millennium" The last clause in this
paragraph finds its correction IN the statement of
the author on a subsequent page, that of the four
teen cOmmunistic societies in the United States,
numbering about $500 persons, all but one
1.-THE Icarians IN Iowa. "have a religious basis"
Nor is the assertion in harmony with the historical
notices IN which DIR. Hitchcock refers to the agra
risnism Of Moses the pentecostal communism of
the Apostolic Church, the communism of the monks
in the early ages, which "a good thing for
Europe down to the time of Charlemagne" Plato
Sir Thomas More, and Fourier are also spoken of
by the author as among the favOrers Of com
munsm, but no one familiar with the writ
ines of those philosophers can charge upon their
systems the negatiOn of Doty. Fourier, especially,
was inspired with deep conviction of the presence
of God in the laws of the universe the creation of
man, and the development of history, so that his
teachings open to the criticism that they present
fancy Of speculative theosOphy rather than sys-
TEN of legitimate philosophy. Fourier however,
Whe is oddly enough classed with the communists,
was no communist at all. His works include
vehement protest against tho whole communistic
idea as contrary TO all true principles of social
science his sharp pOemic against ST. Simon and
Robert Owen is believed TO have demolished their
pretensiOns: while he firmly insists on the equi-
table distribution Of profits among the three factors
of production labor, capital, and skill the cardi-
nal feature of his industrial organization. 1t may