The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-02

IL.
and utterly vile Il is only a question
OF a short time before this government
viii die Of It's own decay. and then the
city, viii be absorbed by the progress
sIre Tondon which surrounds Il Ike a
ring-"the county"
Progressive London Is in control Of the
I county council. The county council j.
made ~ OF men who do not receive sal
aries and who are chosen because OF their
illness and not because OF their political
pull. Its two main forces are known as
conservative and progressive Up TO the
last election che progressivcs were IN the
I large majority and 20 this sact may be
attributed the enormous improvements
which have been made Of late i'm London
Vastly 10 evcrybOdy's surprise the last
election returned progressive majority
. OF one only Whether or not this viii
mean pause I'm the pushing Of improve
ments remains TO be seen.
Under the county council many things
have been rnunicipaliZcd. and private
. monopolies, which had before the forms-
ton Of this body taken advantage OF their
/ position. have been forced 10 serve the
! public better al smaller cost. This is
I true Of the omnibus and tram companies,
I whose rates Of fare have been very gen
: orally reduced until one can ride a. far
from the Battery 10 Fourteenth street
in New York for n penny two ccnts). Il
4 is true OF the water companies, who have
[ been compelled TO improve their service
and reduce their rates; it is true OF the gas
and electric companies, and the under
ground railroads have had to adopt a
I workingman's fare in their third-class
/ carriages during certain hours.
But the most important socialistic work
I which has been done by the county coun-
/ ell is the destruction of the slums and
Z their rebuilding. In some cases after a
[ bad neighborhood has been wiped out, the
land already purchased or leased by the
city. has been offered for sale or lease to
I private builders. privileged to construct
new houses under certain restrictions. but
i'm most instances the building has been
undertaken by the city itself. who has
I thus become one Of the greatest of the
London lardlords-the landlord. I'm every
[ instance OF houses well built BEAUTIFULLY
planned, and offered at cheap rentals. This
/ has done away with the contract system
/ in public works.
OF the party which has brought this
| and many other similar. but perhaps less
important advances about, Sidney Webb
| is, and has long been. the leader. His
I London Programme" Is probably the most
delightful socialists dream, next to Ed
/ ward Belamys Looking Backward"
] which has ever been written, and II is
J better than Look ng Backward" be-
cause Is admitted to be entirely practi-
/ cal. Mr.. Webb's influence has been gained
4 largely through his connection with the
| Fabian Society, an organization of adj
! vanced and educated socialists, which
was born in 1884, and which has during the
eleven years Of its life gained an amazing
I Importance. Its plan has been work.
work. work. It's members, many of them
/ scholars, have devoted every moment of
/ their leisure to spreading the propaganda
/ OF socialism, issuing tracts which have
/ sold in enormous numbers at a penny each;
] m "a ga
/ dressing crowds on street corners. At
/ first the society was made up entirely of
well-to-do men. The meetings were held
in the drawing of the members,
/ and this, Of course prevented working
men from Joining the organization. 1t
did not. however, prevent the Fabians
from joining the workingmen's societies,
and that they did with a will, pledged to
carry out the campaign of Educate, ag-
! itate. organize" AT first they planned to
| bring about tremendous smash-up of eX-
| isting society, to be followed by complete
socialism. 1t was then the expectation of
| many of the members that the social rev.
| clution would come quickly--1sS9, the cen
tenary of the French revolution being
! freely fixed as its date. 1t soon became
| evident however, that the blood-thirsty,
| sentimentally enthusiastic notions of the
original society were not going to accom-
| plish real good.
of his reviews of the work, that the soci-
ETY. contracted the invaluable habit Of
! laughing at ourselves, which has saved
us from becoming hampered by the gush-
ing enthusiasts, who mistake their own
emotions for public movement From the
first such people fed after one glance at
US, declaring that We were not serious.
Our preference for practical suggestions
and criticisms, and our Impotence of all
general expressions of sympathy with
working class aspirations not to mention
our way of chatting our opponents in pref
ference TO denouncing them as enemies
! of the human race, repealed from us some
warm hearted and eloquent socialists, TO
whom it seemed callous and cynical to be
even commonly self-possessed in the pres
ence of the sufferings upon which social
lists make war. But there was far too
much equality and personal intimacy
among the Fabians to allow of any men,
her presuming to get up and preach az
the rest in the fashion that the working
, classes still tolerate submissiVely from
, their leaders We knew that a certain
sort of oratory was useful for stocking up
public meetings; but we needed no stolI-
ing up, and when any orator tried the
process on us, We soon made him under
, stand that he was wasting his time and
, ours. l for one should be very sorry to
lower the intellectual standard of the Fa-
, bian, by making the atmosphere of its
| puDnc DISCUSSIONS the leaSt DIT more con-
genial to stale defamation than it is at
, present. If our debates are to be kept
wholesome they cannot be too irreverent
or too critical. And the irreVerence which
has become traditional with us, comes
+ down from those early days when we Of
e ten talked such nonsense that we could
a not help laughing ourselves"
!. This shows Mr.. Webbs attitude very
= wen indeed. He is a socialist of the
e most modern and practical type. He be-
= leves in doing things instead of talking
!, about them. Certain results are to be ac-
S complished, and as long as they are ac-
v complished he does not mind what chan
$ mel the advance comes through.
I Mr. Webb's wife, a handsome and at
I tractive woman of brains, works with
s him. They have written many socialistic
d books together and both love the work
n Thus there is one family of happy social
II lists in the world who are fairly vel