The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-14
The Coming Revolution.

Additions to the literature of social
science come thick and fast. The latest is
by Henry L. Call and it is to be COM
mended as a mastery survey of existing
social conditions. Mr.. Call is clear, logi-
cal and comprehensive writer, so long as
he keeps to his study of existing condi-
tons. He has an easy grasp upon his SUBJ
ject that holds the readers interest and
excites his admiration. He shows clearly
the absurdity of carrying the doctrine of
'the struggle for existence" on from the
lower ranges of life to the one where rea-
son is supposed to reign, and demonstrates
that this struggle in society is not due to
any natural or necessary law but to exist
ing faulty systems. After showing that
less than thirty thousand men own one
half the entire wealth of this coun-
try of some sixty million lnhab-
itants, he makes an examination into
the methods by which this small minority
have come to their wealth, and finds
these fortunes to have been acquired from
some one of six capital sources, namely,
Inheritance, monopoly of land, the present
banking system, private control of trans
portation and other facilities, the plumber
of markets by speculation, or the corporate
control of industry. "Honest industry"
never vet accumulated a great fortune
The monopolies, the legalized injustice,
the class legislation that have made
and logically set forth, and the
condition of labor is shown to be IT.
remediable under the present system.
The various chapters of the book, Signs
of the Times" 1.-THE Struggle for Exist
ence," 1.-The Privileged Glasses, 1.-The
Fruits of Privilege" etc, lead up
to the one in which Mr.. Call has out
lined his particular remedy for existing
evils. In this chapter, which is entitled
the hardships of the masses are due en-
tirely to evils produced by vicious institu-
tions, he considers how these institutions
may be modified.
He would do away with the right of in
heritance. Decedents' estates would be
settled as now, but the proceeds would be
added to the money supply of the country,
and distributed as the ordinary circulation,
free of interest; if credit is extended to
the purchaser the debt incurred will also
be interest free.
He would do away with land monopoly
and nonresident land ownership, land
being held for occupancy only.
The national banking system he would
also abolish, and transportation under the
new republic would be conducted for pub
lie instead of private profit. Above all
he would abolish the trust, that com bina-
ton of corporate capital that has laid
such a heavy hand upon labor. AT
the same time he would retain the corpora
ton. Mr.. Call here seems to lose sight of
the fact that combinations of corporations
are as logical an outcome of corporations
as these latter are the logical out
come of those com binations of capital
known as private partnerships. To allow
men to enter into partnership for the more
economical and efficient conduct of bust
ness; TO allow partnerships to enterinto
corporate existence for the still further
economizing of cost of production, and yet
to refuse to allow corporations to combine
still further to carry out this perfectly
10 gical and desirable idea is to endeayor to