St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-09-06
APHAsE OF SOCIALISM.

The apt remark of Judge THURMAN,
that protection" is phase of social
ism, seems to have surprised several OF
our esteemed Republican contempora-
ries. The "Old Roman" however, was
right in the matter. Socialism, as we
understand it, is the tendency to con-
centrate the powers, resources and
duties of modern life in the government
for the benefit of society. To some eX-
tent all government is socialism, since
it IS the result of the cesSiOn OF lndlyld-
ual rights for the general good. and the
further this process is carried the nearer
we get to complete socialism. Take, for
instance, an American city like st.
Paul. People who never paid directly a
dollar in taxes are supplied with fine
schools taught by carefully edu-
Gated teachers; they walk Oh we'll
paved streets; they have gas and
electric lights on every corner;
they are supplied with abundance
of pure water: there are pleasant
parks where they may stroll in sum-
mer. They share in many luXuries as
members of the community, not one OF
which they could purchase in their in
dividual capacity. Take county gov
eminent. 1t builds bridges, repairs
roads, takes care of the poor, and per
forms many functions that, in former
times, were left to individuals or neg
elected altogether.
Take the federal government. In
addition to its other functions it carries
letters thousands of miles for 2 cents
and delivers them at our doors, taxing
the rich and settled parts Of the country
to supply star routes to the wilderness,
ard makes the man who writes to his
neighbor five miles away pay as much
as the man who sends a letter to San
Francisco.
1t selects particular kinds of manu-
features which it declares to be essen
tial to the prosperity of the nation, and
levies protective duties on foreign
goods of the same class to shut out COM
petition, thus building up special in
dustrieS at the general expense. 1t not
ONLY coins gold and silver, but creates
paper money, and does quite an extern
sive banking business through the post
Office department.
All this is modified socialism, since it
tends to narrow the field of individual
effort and enterprise and cut off COM
petition. There are people who want
the government to take another step in
the same direction; the natural Sc
ouence would be government ownership
of railroads; after that the government
might 90 into the Insurance business.
as BISMARCK proposes to do in Ger
many; and the advance of government
! ownership of land would then be easy.
/ How far this process of concentrating
the powers and resources of modern
! life in the government for the good OF
society can be carried, is the great prob
| lem of the age, and it is simply the
problem which high tariff protectiOniSts
! are giving to the people. Republican,
| ism, with its tendency to multiply the
functions of government, and put even
the social habits of the people under
state supervision, is in this country 9
menacing force; Democracy, with its
tendency to limit the functions Of
government to a few Fundamental
tasks, such as the preservation of order
and the administration of justice, anC
its disposition to trust to home rule ant
individual responsibility, is the con
servative force. 1t holds that that i:
the best government which governs the
least.