The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-06-16
Danger Height of
LET 1T BE TRIED.

That the proof of the pudding is in
the eating is nowhere more true than
when it is applied to sociahstic expert
ment. From the days Of antiquity down
to the present time, men ambitious of
the development Of the race have con-
ceived and formulated elaborate the
cries by which the defects Of govern
ments might be remedied. All of them
have seen the vision Of the perfect COM
monwealth and dreamed the splendid
dream which touches the imagination
and the passion of every patriot and
worthy citizen, of a social order in
which equality and justice shall pre-
vail. The theories by which the po
litical millennium is to be introduced
are multitudinous and diverse. There
has never been one Of them which
stood the test of practiycSaal, Application.
We are to have another trial, We. are
assured. under the auspices Of MIR.
Debs and those who were associated
with him in the work of the American
Railway union, now defunct; and the
state of Washington, it is announced,
has feen chosen for the scene of &C.
ton. The idea of these people, some
of them schemers, but, as to the rank
and file of their following, undoubtedly
enthusiasts, is to colonize the common
wealth selected by small parties of
those who believe in the regeneration
of mankind through the agency of the
state. The plan is to locate small col
onies here and there that are to govern
themselves according to the socialistic
programme until there are voters
enough to control the policy of the
state. Then the whole machinery of
the state will be made over On the
socialists model, and the people will
proceed to legislate themselves into
virtue and happiness.
If, as is stated, the main ideas adopt
ed are those put forth by Mr. Bellamy
in his Looking Backward then the
project is doomed to failure, not merely
by q faulty theory, but by practical
experience. In the great interest that
followed the publication of Mr.. Bel
lamy's book, colonies were established
to test its theories in practice, and.
of course, they have all persisted mis-
erably. Every such community for
centuries has died of inanition. 1t
went out. like a candle in carbonic acid
gas, because there was nothing in it to
feed upon. The perfect state demands
the perfect citizen. 1t cannot make
him, but he must make it. Toward
the perfect state and the perfect man
the world has been working, and is
still progressing by the immeasurably
slow process of the centuries. But we
shall have no ideal system of govern
ment enforced In this world until there
are men ideally noble, truthful, unset
fish and altruistic to make their ideas
reality of the working day, instead
OF a blissful vision Of the restful night.
1t is as well to have all such expert
ments tried; first, to encourage the
aspiration for better things that is the
hope Of the race; and, second, to DEM
onstrate over and over again to men
inclined to vagaries that the road to
mundane perfection lies in the improve.
ment Of the individual, rather than in
change Of his conditions. Nothing
absolutely nothing will come of the
plan now under way. Some Oh
its leaders, at least, have shown in
the past that they are not fit to govern
men because they are unable to gov.
ern themselves. With the idealism OF
many are blended the ambitious sell
fishness, the hope Of political prefer
ence, and the desire to rule by many
others. These will create instant dis
cord, and the new communities will BIS
split into innumerable fragments before
the theories behind them have so much
as had a trial.
1t is q thousand pities that so much
fine aspiration and so many human
lives have beaten themselves to death
against the windows of that great bea-
con of human progress. Blinded and
dazz.ed they have not known the law