The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1888-12-21
LOOKING FORWARD.
II r HAS LUCK, A NEW BOSTON
CLUB WILL READJUST HUMANITY.


Prominent Social workers-Gossip Of
the City of Hart and O'Brien.
From Our Special Correspondent,
BOSTON. Dec. 10.
This boiling caldron Of new and old schemes
for the emancipation of mankind from
mental. moral and physical slavery, from
whiskey, hierarchy or bustles is now sending
up a steaming mist of ideas which take the
shape of Nationalist club
In plain United States language, club
has been formed by men of considerable in
tellectual eminence for the purpose Of
educating the people Of this country to the
belief that the government ought to do
everything in the way of conducting the rail-
roads, telegraphs business agencies and
trusts, handling such natural products as
coal and oil, and, in short, doing away with
nearly all the present business system Of
middlemen
Though the club members are not specially
disciples of Henry George, his scheme of land
naturalization, by which the state would be-
come practically the sole landlord, is
natural corolary of their plans. They do
not regard it as panacea.
The members of the club are not bomb
throwers or chicken thieves They do not
wear long and greasy hair. Perhaps the
foremost figure among them is Rev. Edward
Everett Hale.
Mr. Hale is widely known for his bold
thought and speech on social matters. He is
also widely execrated by nervous persons,
who have heard of his book called "Ten
Times One is Ten," and have not been able
to dissociats his name from that diabolically
inane jingle. The title clings to the weary
memory like Mark Twain's rhymes, "a pink
trip slip for 6-cent fare; blue trip slip for
Scent fare"
Mr. Hale is also the author Of those dis
tressing maxims which run something as
follows:
Look up and not down.
Look out and not cross eyed;
And Lend ham.
Mr. Hale's purpose in writing the book
with the mathematical title was to prepare
the way for popular discussion of the subject
of national conduct of business functions, and
to advocate the virtues of combination as
opposed to competition.
Instead at lauding competition as the life
of trade" Mr. Hale holds that il puts a
premium on rascality, makes the course of
gold" the demon Of our society and is not
a sound business policy.
As proof of this fact, the new National
lists" point out that the tendency Of the times
is sweepingly in favor of combination.
The copper trust, the sugar trust, the shoe
trust, the railroad pools, the absorption Of
small corporations into big ones, are all
facts supporting tkis theory.
ssWhy resist tho tendency of the timesg"
gay the Nationalist. why not accept the
drift toward Capitalization In business as
Al Al A. 20 -I1L,
ness functions in government control is desr-
ables Ia it not plain that while the Standard
Oil company, for instance, has made snor-
nous profits, it has greatly benefited the con-
sumner by cheapening the product!
"Let us travel with the current, which is
setting in the right direction" say the Ma
tionalists
They are in no hurry. They are not furious
agitators They hold that there is a good
time coming. and that they can help It along
by Leading the men of brains throughout the
country to think upon the scheme
They have, as u club, no connection with
the Socialists of the city The latter are a
band numbering at times several hundred
The Socialists apparently include in their
number men of every grade of belief, from
outright anarchy to extreme Capitalization of
government In fact their volleys scatter
badly.
With the Unitarian, Dr. Hale, stands the
liberal Jewish rabbi, Solomon SCHNEIDER
who is an earnest worker in the "National-
list" cause.
One of the leading lights of the movement
is Edward J. Bellamy of Chicopee Falls,
Mass, the author of the book "Looking Back
ward" which attracted so much attention in
the press of the whole country short time
ago.
am informed that the book is having an
extraordinary and increasing sale as people
become aware of its originality. Its sale is
promoted like the sale of Henry Georges |
works, by the enthusiastic recommendation |
of it by one reader to another.
No doubt many thought, as I must confess |
did, that the extensive press notices of |
Looking Backward" were due to streak of |
luck such as is sometimes noticeable in book |
reviewing by newspapers The idea Of the |
book is so hackneyed. that it was easy to fall |
into the erroneous notion that the book was |
"a blooming fake" Newspaper wits have 30 |
often made use of the scheme of writing about |
life as it lis" in the next century that the |
notion has become wearisome.
But Mr.. Bellamy's book is not filled with
s'nuts from brown October's woods" 1t |
suggests measures that are delightfully."- /
plausible for removing the ills under which |
mankind suffer- it anticipates with remark
able ingenuity the objections that arise in the
mind of the reader, and gives a ready answer
70 them
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