New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-09-02
SOCIALISM.
ITS TYRANNY AND ITS LACK OF LOGIC

Edited with in'Soduc,iSns by j. IL Lew ~
Charles Scribners Sons
There are those who vainly reckon Socialism a
sort Of advanced Republicanism unmindful Of the
fact that the two are essentially hostile There
are Americans who give moral and verbal aid
and comfort 10 the Socialists OF the Old World
because they falsely deem these revolutionists the
advance guard Of European Republicanism, de-
voted to the abolition Of monarch!cal institutions.
But IT is not against the tyrannical features OF
monarchy the Socialists are striking it Is against
the more liberal features against in brief, the
rising spirit Of Repubcanism. The German
Socialists deest the autocratic rule OF the Kaiser
But still more do those of England storm against
the reign Of the Queen who does not rule, ana
In greater degree do those of France plot the
downfall Of the Republic And above and beyond
all these they denounce the Republic OF these
United States. more offensive to pure Social
ism than sway Of Car or Kaiser Has not one
OF the chief English Socialists. after living
few months in the United States, openly pro-
Stained our system to be more hateful than that
of Russia itself? The Republican theory Is tha'
that Government is best which governs least IN
terferes least with personal liberty; whle 'he
Socialist theory is that that Government is Dest
which governs most and that as for Individual
liberty there should be none. True. there are
those who call themselves Social Democrats
meaning Socialistic Democrats. 1t is contrad.c-
ton in terms. One might as well speak OF
liberal despotsm.
NJ Guyot has written this book against So
cjalism because he sees that Socialism is tyranny,
and he is a hater Of tyrants His keynote is an
echo Of LoweIrs Man is more than constitu-
lions" We believe he says. more In Man than
in the social entity called the State. The So
cialist would make the State the unit and the
man an insgniticantly small fraction NJ Guyot
makes man the unit. and the State group oi
units Moreover, he sees that great evli OF '"eSe
days is intellectual vagueness. Men think LOOSE
", talk wildly, and hence act wrongly. VISION
airy novelist writes a catchpenny romance luh VI
plausible phrases and To- it is declared the sospeI
Of the new social dspensation. There Is need OF
straight seeing and sound thinking. beyohu
question NJ Guyots mind Is what Huxley CANS
"a clear cold logic-engine. He sees most thihss
as they are He reasons upon them logically ana
ne expresses his thoughts with lucid precision.
Small as this volume is. each of its six books
is a comprehensive treatise; the whole iorai!
of political economy.
In the beginning NJ. Guyot substantially con-
trssts Lassalle with Darwin. Socialism with Evo-
luton In truth. Evolution is not part OF the
Socialist programme While AL the rest OF the
world moves forward the disciples of LassaIe'
Marx and the Congresses Of Gotha. Halle ana
Erfurt would move backward. even 10 the sociai
order Of the Stone Age. They are seli-coh''a-
dictory too as we'll as retrograde; Tor they ue-
mand freedom Of suffrage. Of speech. OF the pres
of religion but in industry they say: Abolish
personal freedom. Make the State car. FROM
the political point Of view" says NJ Guyot 10 the
Socialists you wish TO be men; from the lndus-
trial no,nt Of view you wish to be automata";
uin
mart with my economic liberty than with my po-
litical liberty; they are inseparabe. taking up |
the chief Socialistic sophsms. he refutes them IN
short order Does NJ Sant-Crcq say, Labor con-
stitutes the wealth Of a people and needless
doctrinaires re-echo it? Then the more labor, the |
more wealth; wherefore let all labor-saving DE- |
vices be abolished The Law of Least Effort. NJ
Cuyot reminds U.S. impels man to use his TABOR III
order in the long run. TO lessen It, AS 70 the Law
~ suppy and Demand, the author was actually |
denounced because he would not vote for the re-
neal OF il from the statute book; such Is the wis
dom of Socialist statesmanship To each ac-
cording TO his needs" they say, is the rule by
which wages should be fixed. Then replies NJ
Guyot the least capable workman, the invahd'
the cripple, should receive the highest pay.
There is another venerable sophism to the enect
that machinery is a foe of labor. Proudhon
held that view, and his disciples sought to de-
stroy factories and pull up railroads When Ark
wright invented his loom. 1900 persons in Eng
land were working at spinning and weaving ana
they formed unions and rose in mobs TO prevent
the use Of the looms which would deprive them
of work But to-day not 1900 but 100000 persons
are employed in English spinning factories 80
o,,roads drove a few thousand coach-drtvers and
teamsters out Of business. and to-day give work
TO 23o 900 men, The wages they receive have In
creased in almost equally impressive ratio Ihere
ia overproduction says the Socialist But has
every person all he wants OF food ana cIo'hihg'
Certainly not Then there is no overproduction;
for the supply Is not equal to the demand Is the
av. Of Nautilus quoted, that population grows or
tends TO grow more rapidly than wealth? NJ
Cuyot quotes in reply few incontrovertibe hg-
ures From 1850 TO 1880 the population OF the
United States increased III per cent. and us
wealth 526 per cent. In France in 1891 the popu-
lation was trihe less than In 1876 while the
average wealth had increased about 800 per cent
progress is poverty shrieks an American 80
cialist Then why have Lancashire cotton factory
wages increased so per cent from 1S5o 10 1871!
And French miners wages 100 per cent from 1874
TO 1891? And general wages in Germany from 20
IN 40 ner cent in fifteen years? These are not
signs of misery and decay. such as are announced
an cIamorously by the seers Of Socialism" Prog
ress does not mean poverty 1t means increasing
wages shortening hours Of labor. decreasing cost
n living. and a general raising OF the standard
Of life That 1.-The sch are growing richer and
the poor are growing poorer ia concusiveiy
shown to be untrue as 1t had been thousand
times. before this book was written. 80 with
Proudhon's Property is robbery, and MARKS
"Au capital has been stolen from the laborer'
and a whole host Of similar articles OF the social
istc creed plausible. ncendiary; the COOL quiet
logic Of facts sweeps them swiftly into hmoo'
Book III is on Socialist Legislation. actual ana
proposed; the whole spirit Of which. NJ Guyot
,hows. Is tyrannical oppressive to the individual.
and destructive Of progress and prosperity. The