Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1897-06-11
Washingtun Standard
OLYMPIA. WASH.
FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE II. 1897.
Debs' Utopia.

Debs' Utopia.
Eugene V. DchS. the labor acitator
ha> devised a means for in>tituting an
Id"al government according 10 his con-
ccptl"n ui what such an organization
should hr. The plan i t. enlist col
"ny 81 ;iy 10000 laturcrs to settle in
some Western State t. H., managed ON
the e" "lcratl'" plan. 1t i expected
that this colony will constitute Il power
large enough to control State cleo
tions. His plan involves conStitu-
tional amendment, 50 aS to enable the
legislatures elected 10y tie same intlu-
cncc t" formulate laws, and elect
courts to sustain them and executive
officers to enforce them, so as to give
free expression and full force to these
progressive" ideas that have been the
source OF so much discomfort the past
few years. He proposes to hold Il con-
ventlon in Chicago, to select field of
operations for the new commonwealth,
and raise the means for its support I'M
til fully instituted. He believes that
after all preliminaries are arranged
that within few months member
ship can be secured and fund of $50
OOO month contributed for TINS OBJ.
ject. After the colony, which is to be
cooperative in all its labors, has been
instituted, it is expected that it will
soon become self-supporting and afford
a surplus of products that will ensure
its permanency.
This ideal government will, it is pre-.
sumed, have to be managed by an ex-
ccutivc head and have some form of
government until it enters the politi-
cal field fully panoplied for aggressive
warfare, and the query arises unbidden
who among all the ten thousand would
be so well qualified for the position as
Eugene V. Debs? Then it is to be
further presumed, he will need force
of lieutenants to aid him, and who
could act with more circumspection in
controlling the votes of the common
wealth than his personal friends?
With contingent of $4,000 per
month to be added to the increment
of the colony, there will no doubt be
surplus sufficient for Debs and his as
sociates to pretty comfortably" feather
their nests"
1t seems, however, that 10000 people
is rather a large number to control
with absolute unanimity, no matter
how feasible and praiseworthy may be
the scheme involved. Discomfort is q
prominent trait of human nature, and
if the object of a model cooperative
government is to obliterate class dis
tinctions, the difficulty of instituting
any form of government whereby some
must be obeyed and others obey, some
receive perquisites in the form of sal
aries and others pay for the service
rendered in management of govern
mental details, is apparent. Unless a
class of people may be found who are
absolutely free from the dross that en-
tiers into poor human nature, the new
colony will be quite large enough to
split up into all sorts of schisms and
factions before many months have
passed after the wheels have been set
in motion. No man, unless sustained
by some form of religious faith that
absolutely subordinates reason, may
expect to parallel the Mormon history
at Mt. Deseret. The army that Debs
will congregate, if noted for one pecu-
liarity above another, will be composed
of men captious for what they con.
ceive to be their rights and jealous of
the power which in any degree re-
strains their actions. They are the
last people on earth to mold into a
plastic, yielding contingent, for pro-
noting any object, however meritor-
ious.
The plan may therefore be regarded
as purely utopian and impractical.