Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-05-23
Socialism AND orHER TsMs.

In the general condemnation OF the so
oiallstic outrage III Chicago, few hAy,
stopped to ask what must be the prlnci
pies Of party or organization that coulc
encourage such practices. We have read
much about socialism and communism
but 1t was so far away that the American
people have not concerned themselvc,
with thinking that they would be brought
face TO face with such isms. Such doc
trines were looked upon as peculiar "a
France and Germany, as evils that afillct
ed those countries, which we, happily,
were safe from. Now that that pleasing
delusion is dispelled, by the importation
Of not only the Ideas OF the socialists, but
OF the socialists themselves, who pro.
claim IN public here snd teach and prac-
tice the noxlous doctrines for entertain.
ing which they were vigorously prose.
cutcd at home, 10 Is time for Americans
TO acquaint themselves with the system
Of opinions held ard propsgated by these
exotlcs who are fixing themselves on
American soil.
Though the epitnets "sociallst" and
communist" are applied indiscrim-
inately to agitators who, like Most and
Spies and Parsons, oppose the estab-
lished order OF things, the terms are not
synonymous A communist may be a
socialist, but he IS something more
And there arc also differences among the
socialists and communists themselves,
as there are among sects who acknowl-
edge the Christian religion. Socialism,
as defined In the writings Of it's chief
apostles, is system which seeks to in
troduce a new distribution Of property
and labor, In which organized co-opera-
ton, rather than competition, is TO be the
dominating principle. Under II the hap
pincss OF the human race, especially Of
the classes without capital, IL to
be promoted to the highest point.
Ia the proposed new order of
things, property Is to be conascated
and taken possession of In the name
Of the people by the state for the benefit
OF Its subjects The products OF the
soil and OF manufacture are to be gath.
cred at large central depots of trade, con-
Quoted by the government, which fixes
the price of everything; and from these
central depots the goods are sent out to
branch stores for distribution among the
people at scale Of prices also fixed by
the government The government itself
is but the agent OF the people In facilitat.
Ing distribution Of the products OF labor,
and OF course, as persons cannot own
anything, nothing can be conducted by
private enterprise, and the government
does everything, IL owns the. railroads,
the telegraph lines, the mills and mines,
the land-eyerything Of lasting nature
that Is susceptible of ownership. The
individual has only the product of his la
bor to call his own, and as he is
compelled to sell II ut price
fixed by the state, and TO pur.
chase at u price fixed by the
same authority, he is virtually the owner
Of nothing, Interest on property is abol
ished--an entirely unnecessary provision,
as there can be no Interest when no one
can hold property to bring It, The ma
chinery for carrying out this complex
arrangement Is so intricate In detail and
so stupendous In mass that II Ia impossi-
bic TO give even a brief outline Of the
scheme And as that machinery has been
found, even when put in operation on a
small scale, so defective as to be COM
plete failure, it is hardly necessary to
consider II as more than chimera-a
theory that reads well but cannot be
made TO work,
The communists entertain the princl-
pies OF socialism and go step further.
With them, not only is property common,
but they abolish the relation OF husband
and vile, along with the sys.
TEN OF domestic government which
is founded m parental authority.
In this respect 1t is but varia-
ton OF free-lovlsm. The writings of
Robert Dale Owen, himself one of the
most unselfsh of phllanthropists, teach
this abhorrent doctrine. He proposed to
improve the breed OF mankind by the
principle Of selection and the survival of
the tlttest. "The affections Of parents
Tor their own Gladden. so he writes, sis
TOO strong for their own Judgment ever
TO do Justice TO themselves, their chill
dren, or the public, IN the education OF
then own offspring -eyen II private fam.
llies possessed the machinery (Which they
never do to well manufacture character
from BIRTH Owen attested his sincerity
lathe belief of communism by sinking an
ample fortune In the endeayor, to estab.
lish u model commune, which, after
years OF support, was dissolved when the
projectors means We're exhausted and Il
had to depend on It's own resources,
The objection TO socialism, which an.
ply with greater force to communism, is
that IL makes human happiness too much
dependent on mere qualifications that II
roos msp OF that energy that springs
from ambition by taking away the in.
oeptlves to excel; that ii ignores an lndi.
vidualiSm and inequality 10 which Nature
herself has given an inyiolablc sanction:
and that by the abolition OF social re.
wards and punishment, IL neither holds
out any hope to the Industrious, nor ex.
cites any apprehension among the lndo.
lent Under il, society would sink, Man
must 80 forward or backward, He Gun.