The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1891-04-11
or services us we'll as for all kinds of commo
itics.
Men Perpetually Desire Change,


The rcstlessness generated by pressure
against tho conditions Of existence pcrpctnally
prompts the desire to try q new position. Every
ono knows'how long continued rest in ono atti.
tude becomes wearisonfc-cvcryo one has found
how even tho best easy chair, at first rejoicetl
in, becomes after many hours intolcrable, and
change to a hard seat, previously occupied and
rejected, seems for a time to bo a great relief
1t is the same with incorporated humanity.
Having by long struggles cmancipatetl itself
from tho hard discipline of tho ancient regime.
and having discovered that the now regime
into which it has grown, though relatively
easy, is not without stresses and pains, its i'm.
patience with these prompts tho wish to try
anothcrsyste1n; which other system is, in prin.
ciplo if not in appearance, tho same as that
which during past generations was escaped
from with much rejoicing.
For Us fast rs the regime of contract is dis.
carried the regime of status is of necessity
adopted. AS fast as voluntary cooperation
is abandoned compulsory cooperation must he
substituted. Some kind of organization labo,
must have, and if it is not that which arises by
agreement under free competition it must be
that which is imposed by authority. Unlike
i'll appearance and names as it may be to the
Old order of slaves and serfs working under
masters, who were coGrccd by barons who
were themselves vassals Of dukes or kings, the
new order wished for, constituted by workers
under forcmcn of small groups, overlooked by
supcrintendcnts who are subject to higher
local managers who arc controlled by supcriors
or districts, themselves under q central gov.
ernincnt, must be essentially tho same in prin.
ciplc.
In ono case, as in tho other, thcro must be
established grades. and enforced subordina.
tinn OF each grade to tho grades above, This is
truth which tho communist or tho socialist
does not dwell upon. Angry with tho existing
1pY |, ,iChr no1, ,.,f,,
himself, while all of us sec that each has fai,
play, hc thinks how much better it would be
for all Of us to take care of each of us, and he
rcfrains from thinking of tho machinery by
which this is to be done.
Inevitably if each is to bo cared for by all
then the embodied all must get tho means
the ncccasarics of life. What it gives To cacl,
must be taken from tho accumulated contribu.
tions; and it must therefore require from each
his proportion-must tell him how much he has
to give to the general stock in tho shape of pro.
duction that lic may have so much in tho shane
of s',stcntation, Hence before ho can be pro.
vidcd for ho must put himself under orders
anu obey those who say what he shall do, and
ut what hours and where, and who give him
his share of food, clothing and shelter Ifcom.
petition Is excluded, and with it buying and
selling, there can be no voluntary exchange of
SO much labor for SO much produce; but there
must be a2iortionmcnt of tho ono to tho other
by appointed officers. This apportionment
must be enforced. Without alternative. the
work must be donc and without alternative
INC benefit, whatever it may be, must bc ac.
ccpted. For tho worker may not leave Ills
place at will and offer himself elsewhere.
Under such system he cannot bo accepted
elsewhere, save by order of the authorities
And 1t is manifest that u standing order would
forbid employment in one place of an nsubor-
dnate member from another place; the System
could not be worked if tho workers We're scv.
crallyallowetl to 90 or como as they pleased
With corporals and sergcants under them tho
captains of industry must carry out tho orders
OF their coloncls, and these of their generals
up to tho council of the cunmander-in-chef
and obedience must bo required throlghou,
the industrial army as throughout a fighting
army. "Do your prescribed duties, and take
your nppOrtioned rations," must be the rule OF
tho one as of the other.
"Wcll, be it so" replied tho Socialist "Tht
workers will appoint their own officers, anf
these will always DO subject to criticisms o
tho mass they rcgulutc. Being thus in fear o
public opinion, they will be sure to act Judi
ciously and fairly; or when they do not, will b,
deIh}scd by the popular vote, local or general
Where will be the grievance Of being under
superlors, when the supcriors themselves arc
under democratic control?" And in this ut
tractivo vision the socialist has full belief
Iron and brass are simpler things than flcsl
and blood, and dead wood than living nerve
and machine constructed of tho ono works ir
moro definite ways than an organism cou
structcd OF the othcr-cspecially when the mn.
chino Is worked by the inorganic forces o
steam or water, while the organism is worked
by the forces Of living nerve ccntcrs. Mani
testify, then, tho ways in which the machine
Will work arc much moro readily calculablt
than the ways in which the organism will
work. Yet in how few cases does tho inventor
forcseo rightly the actions of his now appa
ratus! Read tho patent list, and it will bt
found that not more than ono device in fifty
turns out to be of any service. Plausible n:
his scheme seemed to tho inventor. ono or othcl
hitch prevents the intended operation ant
brings out IL widely different result from tha
wlIich ho wished.
What, then, shall wo say of these scheme.
which have to do not with dead matters ant
forces, but with complex living organism.
working In ways less readily forcsccn, anG
which involve tho co-opa ration of multitndcs
OF such oIganisms2 Even the units out OF
which this rrarranged body polite is to bt
formed arc often incomprehcnsblc. Every one
Is from time to time surprised by othcg' lchil
vior, and even by tho deeds of relatives who
are best known to him. Seeing, then, how un
certainly any one can forcscc the actions of or
individual, how can he with any certainty
forcscc the operation of a social structure2 III,
proceeds on the assumption that all concerned
will judge rightly and act fairly-wlll think as
they ought to think, and net as they ought tt
act; and kcnssrlmcs this regardless of the daily
experiences which show him that men dc
neither the one nor tho other, and forgetting
that the complaints he makes against the cx.
isting system show his belief to be that men
have neither the wisdom nor tho rcctitudc
which his plan requires them to have.
French and American Experimcnts.
Paper constitutions raise smiles on the faces
of those who have observed their results and
paper social systems similarly affect those who
have contemplated the available evidence
How little the men who wrought tho French
Revolution and were chiefly concerned in set
ting up tho new governmental apparatus
dreant that one Of tho carly actions Of this ap-
pcretus would be to behcad them oil! How lit
tlo the men who drew up tho American Dec
laration of Independence and framed tho re,
public anticipated that after sornc generations
tho legislature would lapse into the hands of
w1repulers; that its doings would turn upon
tho contests of Office seolecrs; that political
ton would be everywhere vitiatetl hy the IN
trusion Of n foreign element holding the bal
ance between parties; that-eiectors. instead OF
Judging for themselves, would habitually be
led to the polls in thousands by their "bosscs, "
and that respectable men would be driven out
of public life by the insults and slan,,efs of pro-
fessional politicians.
k+or were there better provisions in those
who gave constitutions to tho various othe,
states of the New Worh in which. unn;m.
bercd revolutions have. shown with wonderful
persistcEeo tho contrasts between the cx-
pectel results of political systems and The
achieved results. 1t has been no less thus Will
proposed systems OF social reorganization, sc
far as they have been tried. Save where cell
bacy has been insisted on, their history has
been everywhere one of disaster; ending with
the history of CADETS Icarian colony lately
given by ono OF its members, Madame Flcury
Robinson, in The Open Court-a history ol
splittngs, rcsplittinc5. 1e-frsplittin.ss, ac.
c"mnaIicd Ds numerous individual scccssions
and final dissolution. And for the failure oi
snch social schemes as for the failure of tl.l
political schemes, there has beer. one general
cause,
Aletanorphosrs is the universal law, cxclnpli
fed throughout the heavens and on cartl,-cs
Iscially throughout the organic world. and
above all in the animal division Of it. No Great
ure, save the simplest and most minute, com
mences its existence in a form like that which
it eventually assumes, and in most ease, III,
unlikencss is great-so great that kinship be
tween tl:. Irsl and the last forms would bc in
credible We're it not daily demonstrated ir
every poultry yard and every garden. Nor.
than this is true. The changes of form arr