The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1892-11-18
THE DRIFT OF SOCIALISM.

uc AOuuOu XUuTCofCV ItoCt6U LII
looking over the field, says that the
political weathercock in England
points at present in the direction of
Socialism. ALREADY this particular
wind" it says, "has blown one party
into office in Thu country, and it is
not impossible that the same wind
may blow it out again." AS to the So
cialistic desires it says:
Popular faith in the virtues of free
competition is visibly shaken. The
cry is loud and general for legislation
and regulation. The hours of labor
are to be fixed, minimum wage is to
be decreed, work is to be found for
the unemployed old-age pensions are
to be provided, railways and all other
means of communication are to be
Mathematical" houses, building sites.
labor, capital, machinery, and all the
other instruments of production and
exchange are to be "municipalized. "
Government is to 'step in" and ''see
to'' this and that, until by and by the
people will have everything arranged
for them. There will be neither room
nor need for personal preference. mi
tiative Of enterprise. In
this way do the masses of the popula-
tion seem disposed to look compla-
Gently on the tyranny of majOrities-
for that is what is really meant by
state control in social life and indus
try. That there will be tremendous
reaction when people once begin to
feel the yoke, we do not doubt.
And while socialism is maki-g pro-
gress in England, it is also making
more or less progress in this country.
There is a growing feeling upon the
f, part of many that the troubles which
come upon the masses, can be entirely
removed by taking the control of
certain industries out of the hands of
the individual and putting them I'M
der the control of the government,
They would sink the individual en-
tirely and destroy his personal inter-
ests in affairs with which he deals.
Its growth in this country is marked
to certain extent by the appearance
of the Peoples party, as many of its
demands are of socialiStic nature.
This does not necessarily imply that
all those who voted for it believe in
the socialiStic nature of these de-
mands. It carried several states in
the late election, not because of these
demands, but because of the domi-
nance of the free silver idea in those
states at the present time, and their
strength in those states will disappear
with the adjustment of that question
upon some just basis by the nations
of the world.
But the advance of state socialism
is marked by the Incorporation of this
demand in the platform of a party
which calls for the public ear.
OF course it does not go the full range
of socialistic subjects, but is merely
the opening wedge.
1t is true there are many things in
the sociallstic theory that are very
plausible and apt to impress them
selves upon the fancy of the man who
has been tossed around, as it were,
upon the cold waves of the world.
The exactions of monopoly are to be
done away with, the government will
provide for all, it will temper the
cold winds of adversely to his bruised
form and lull his troubled soul to
sleep upon the cushions of ease. But
majorities in the past have sometimes
been severe taskmasters, and unless
the socialistic reformer can change
human nature entirely, they are apt
to be in the future, and there is moth
ing to guarantee but that they would
be as oppressive as the corporations,
whose place they are to take, are
charged with being.
But there is nothing in the demands
which look toward socialism that
tend to the building up of the indi-
vidual man, but rather to his subjec-
tion. This might work in country
where the degree Of intelligence is of
a very low degree, but where the
masses are as intelligent as they are
in this country it's success can hardly
be permanent, for it is a certain re-
gress into servitude with it's inevita-
BILE, though it may be but temporary,
lapse into mediocrity and perjury.
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