Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1885-01-24
Socialism
straightforward Exposition BY a local
apostle.

beautiful sentiment Of Professor Gilman Of the
John Hopkins University, concluding with
the noble word: "Ncver be afraid ofthetuth'
encourage me in the following comment upon
your article headed " Destruction Ism"
"You have put Tightening cap on your
baby tDestmciion Ism, but upon closer in.
speciion that cap docs not TT IT, and seems to
have been exchanged enormously with that Of an
old wretch, who travels and impose, upon man.
kind under " law.anI order" cap; or else
your composi,or perhaps another Of those
terrible " Dcstmctioni,ts') must have yenturcd
on unauthorized modification Of your copy. For
you say "It j, the ultimate destruction Of
existing institutions and the establishment Of a
better condition ofthing,, at which all four is
mistsl meaning Agarilns, Communists, Social.
lists and NihlislsD aim It is sefeyident
that the aim here is really the =" establishment
Of better condition Of things and that the
"ulumate destruction Of existing institutions is
simply a necessary preparatory work for the
accomplishment Of the aim. The following
sentence in the self same article is plain evi.
dence Of that
{" We, whom the mtf4oh Of many Of the
ismets have repealed, often lose sight both OF
the frdUdeW Of their bWbofs and the tyOyocd.
zion Of their msfhoi." Here you distinctly
discern bn,por from metiodsj you approve Of
the pN,bo,c and even suggest an excuse for the
harsh medHt. How then can you consistently
call Us " Desuuctionistsi" Would you call a
man " destuctionist,' who, intending to
construct beautiful building upon spot
where an old shanty stands, is obliged to tear
down the old shanly, before he can build up
his palace, especially, il that old shanty is SO
rotten as TO cndanger the lives Of many people,
II permitted to tumble down unexpectedly,
which is inevitable sooner or latcr2 You would
be very unwilling to call that man a ode.
struct onisi," who. forseeing the mischief which
liable TO do, takes its composition carefully
apart, separates the worn out material from
the good and uses the latter in the reconstruc-
ton Of new and safe edihcc. Such man is,
III tNlllNailpni hbN htHNlu'llhllatt bhl u
rorstfuc,ioniSt, builder
However, headings are valueless to the care
fu reader; moreover, | am inclined to think, Mr..
Editor, Judging from the general tenor Of your
article, that its heading is simply sort Of fir
tation with your old love =" Capitalism, whose
wrath you may no, be over eager to provoke
by sudden separation.
But now to our "deplored methods, ex.
travagancieS and criminalties" wherein dc
they consistf My argument just used will
partly dismiss that scare" If one building
is to be put up in place Of another, the old one
nectJ5a,rly must be removed; this is self.cvi
dent. In taking apart the composition Of the
old building and pitching the good material out
Of it, it is advisable to be careful and waste no
good material, but lin doing SC, i, becomes nee
esSary to destroy some not very sound OF even a
few sound bricks, itwould certainly be much NOR,
beneficial to do that, than by their unexpected
fall to endanger many more good bricks.
Did not fear to take up too much of your
valuable space, should prove the necessity o.
the so much " depored methods, extravagin-
cies and criminali,ies" Of the " destruction SIS
from the peculiar circumstances existing in the
respective countries where they are employed
But this is hardly necessary. History, which
is said to "repeat ITSELF, will show the fallac,
and inconsistency Of the " moralzer," who be
walls the methods OF the reformer Let mt
point to your own native country, Mr.. Editor
which am sure you dearly love and are proud
Of, lie, me ask you How was that boosted .oi
American liberty and independence" estab,
lshed And how was the boosted of "eman.
cipa,on of four millions of slaves" accom-
pished How was the establishment Of the
French, the Swiss, in fact of all the republics
OF the earth accomplished Were they no
accomplished by the same "deplorable meth
DDS, " by the same estravagancies and cfim
nalities, that you so "abhor1'
The difference is jus, this The institution
OF the reforms mentioned has been successful
they are accomplished facts, whereas the in
s,itution OF the intended reforms has so fa
been. as far as attempted, nnnneeeS5jiR: the,
are yet theories The world wants success. 1t
condemns the French Commune because i
was 'unsuecessful" /; it de6es the American Re
public, which indeed is but the ground. worl
for Socialistic state and was partly the mean
Of infusion of the spirit of genuine liberty ant
independence into the French workers, be
cause it was S.eceJlfM Had the Commune
gone forth ,riu.nphantly (as it certainly vii
sometime. in a modihedforml all the great in.
iellec's" in creation would have lain at her fee
and deiheo her; had America failed in her at.
tempt to free herself, those same "great in
,ellects" would have heaped everlasting infan,,
upon her, as they do now upon the Commune
Had the South been victorious in upholdin,
the principle of the "vested rights" Of ont
human being to hold property in the lives o
others, ehittel.slavery- would still be con
sidered vested right" and justi6ahe. an,
the same savish little beings that to-day pro
nounee "ves,ed rights" as sacred and nviol
able, while eondemning chatlel.slavety, woul,
still bein favor OF chattel. slavery to-day. Ha,
Bismarck been less i.eky in his political career
which may have perhap' depended upon Gen
eral Mol,ke OF even upon some plain courageou
private in the German army, he would hav,
sunk into Oblivion like General Beuedrck o
other perhaps more able but less heky gen
erals ard politicians, blu, Bismack was lucky
he was successful, and the whole world laud
and praises him up into the skies, and evel
Hawaiian editors quote his meaningless It'll
sayings As authority upon subjects that shout
not be settled by "au,horities but b
osm,nes esN and reason. You quote Ri.
marck as comparing Socialists with "a ma
who scales wall to pull down an overhangin
eoping, lest an earthquake losen it some da
and IL kill some innocent man, and in III
kniehtly act is himself destroyed That
nonsense. The man who scales wall etc
etc" attempts to provide against an accider
which ~,s&f fssnby occur sosefis.f, psyAas