New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-05-10

| fha
in England, hut the principles relied on ana .ie
a-,unorts emnIoved are of universal application
and significance The aim of the work Is pro-
4ost. nrofest against those Sociaistic tendencies
which for wears have been developing more wloe'y'
| ord which urged in the name of the common "ed'
| are weaving a web of dangerous and lrfsoHe ie
straints and disabilities about the community anu
GRO hooinninp TO threaten individual liberty serl-
| ouslv The attitude Of Herbert Spencer toward
Socio1istic legislation is we'll known. No man has
resisted il more stoutly for thirty years, ana al
the same time no man has more candldly recog-
nized the reality of the evils TO remedy whlch uneSe
fallacious methods are employed II lndeeu human
experience warranted the belief that movements
of the kind once we'll under way, could be dhecked
or STONED by any argument, however In
telectuallv and logically conclusive, however I'M
| answerable much good might be anticipated
| from the publication Of such body or
cooent reasoning as lies between the covers of this
| volume For the case of Socialism is here frankly
and honestly stated, and it is then shown to De
an impracticable and irrational vision, based upon
| n radical and wholly fatal msoonception OF the
| conditions to be dealt with. Wherein this funda-
mental fallacy consists has been set forth Win
Characteristic lucidity by Mr.. Spencer In the con-
| Guiding paragraphs Of his admirable Inuoducuoh'
and something of his argument may well DE cited:
In the course Of thousands of years mankind
| have by multiplication, been forced out OF that
! ORIGINAL savage state in which small numbers sup
ported themselves wild food, INTO the clNlllIcd
state in which the food required for supporting
| great numbers can be got only by continuous
| labor The nature required for this last mode of
life is widely different from the nature required
for the first; and long-continued pains have TO DC
| passed through in remouldlng the one into the
| other. Misery has necessarily 10 he borne oy
constitution out of harmony with its conditions;
| and a constitution inherited from primitive men
| i Of harD
on existing men. Hence il is impossible to est2b-
| lish forthwith satisfactory social state No
such nature as that which has filled Europe with
| millions of armed men, here eager for conquest
and there for rcvenRe-no such nature as that
which prompts the nations called Christian TO vie
| with one another in hllbusterlng expeditions all
| over the world regardless of the claims of
aborigines. while their Iens Of thousands of priests
of the religion of love look on approvingly-,no
| such nature that which, in dealing with weaker
| races goes beyond the primitive rule OF lie tor
| life, and for one life takes many hVeS-nO such
nature, say, can, by any device, he framed INTO
| a harmonious community. The root OF all we'll
| ordered social action is sentiment OF justice,
! which at once insists on personal freedom and is
sOlictous for the like freedom of others and there
| hit present exists but very inadequate amount
| of this sentiment Hence the need for further
| long continuance of a social discipline which re-
Quires each man TO carry on his activities with
tue regard to the like claims of others to carry
| on their activties and which, while II insists
| that he shall have all the benefits his conduct
| naturally brings, insists also that he shall not
saddle on others the evils his conduct naturally
brings: unless they freely undertake to bear them
And hence the belief that endeavOrs to elude this
discipline will not only fail but will bring worse
evils than those to be escaped.
just So it might be said the French, at the
end of the last century, while protesting equality
and fraternity did not hesitate to overrun and
subiugate neighboring nations, nor to force upon
them, with fire and sword, acceptance of a 50
| called liberty, which was really the most grind
ing slavery. The illustrations, however, might
| " I,,~o
indeed only to look around to perceive plainly
enough that the old nature-the nature which,
Spencer says, is so incompatible with a harmoni-
Gus communicates undergone salutary change
of such extent as TO justify hope in the approach
of the millennium. And Herbert Spencer is en-
tirely right in his position. Socialism is wrecked
upon the rock of Human Nature. History teens
with examples of disaster incurred by relying upon
forms, systems and institutions. Given the best
form of government ever conceived, and a people
not fitted for selfgovernment, and the experiment
will fail-has failed a of times, in the face
of world unfortunately far quicker to forget
than to learn. But the search after royal roads
to social perfection is still favorite one, because
it appeals to the prevailing Incidence and selfish
ness of men. 1t is so easy to plan systems which
depend wholly upon external action. 1t is
so difficult to advocate the only kind
| Of advance which is real and permanent
the advance which springs from individual self
discipline and self-restraint So naturally, men
being what they are there is a tendency to ignore
the necessity for individual effort and to prefer
all kinds of governmental quack remedies, each
one of which, however honestly applied, has the
effect of weakening the moral backbone of the
community and of entrenching a new kind of
pauperism.
Because effective cures for existing evils take
time and the sufferers are impatient and ntoerant
of small gains even men of intelligence are led TO
approve the sociastic quaci remedies. The bane-
full but common disposition TO trust for immediate
, relief to some form of compromise, is vice which
American history down TO 1861 illustrates in the
grimmest and most impressive way. The rise of
the slave power is the chronicle of that vice
red to the furthest extremity, and the results of
/ that era of compromise perhaps not yet done
with altogether. English history also show
its catastrophes engendered by sefshness and in
docnce and the present generation, in the opinion
of some thinkers, is preparing fresh disasters by
: the employment Of the old discredited but none
the more abandoned methods. But we have spoken
thus far only of Mr.. Herbert Spencers introduce
ton to the volume under consideration. He sets
the key note, and as have seen, epitomizes the
anti-Socialst argument with special force and in
cisiveness Mr.. Edward Stanley Robinson follows
with paper on The lmpracticability of Social
ISM" Mr.. Wordsworth Donsthorpe discusses
The Limits of Liberty" Mr.. George Howell,
, NJ p writes Liberty for Labor; Charles
Fairfield considers State Socialism in the An
, tipodes" Edmund Vincent's topic is The Discon-
tent of the Working classes": Thomas Mackay
! writes Investment" the Rev. b. II. Afford on
8 Free Education; Arthur Raffalovich on The
Housing of the Working-classes and Of the Poor
. Frederick Miller on The Evils of State Trading
as illustrated by the Postofiice"; NJ. ID. OBrien
on Free Libraries; F. w. Beauchamp Gordon on
The State and Electrical Distribution; and the
4 Hon. AuberOn Herbert concludes the discussion
= with paper on The True Line of Delverance