Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1899-05-07

A production in common In the facto-
ries, In the dock-yards. and In the stu
dos of the nation; then an exchange
| II payment of the same kind. If there
is a surplus OF production, 1t is placed
in the public warehouses. from which
it is taken to meet whatever deficits
| may occur 1t Is system of balanc-
ing. Aud. like q stroke OF the axe. it
cuts down the rotten tree1 No more
competition, no more private cap
ital. no more business of any
sort, neither markets. nor Bourses. The
idea of gain has no longer any mean
Ing. The sources of speculations, OF
incomes won without work, are eX-
hausted.
but how with the men of incomes
Gunderman. for instance" Ca multi
| millionaire), inquiries Saccord.
1--WE are not thieves replies Busch
I'VE VIII compensate him for his mil
lions. all his values. his shares. with
possessions divided into annuities. And
think of that immense fortune replaced
thus by form of wealth having SO
many channels OF expenditure; in at
least one hundred years the descend
ants of Gunderman would be reduced
like other citizens to the necessity OF
work. for the annuties would become
exhausted, and they would not be able
to capitalize their forced economy, adj
uniting, even. that the right OF inner
ltdllCe remains intact. L Tell you tuat
That sweeps away at single stroke,
not only individual affairs, societies of
stockholders, associations of private
capital, but all indirect sources OF in
come, all systems Of credit, loans and
rents. There Is no other measure OF
value than work. The salary is natur-
ally done away with. not being in the
present state OF capitalism. equivalent
to the product exacted from the work.
since it only represents what is strict
ly necessary 10 the workman for his
daily subsistence; and 1t is necessary
to recognize the fact that the present
state alone is culpable, as the most
honest employer Is forced to obey the
hard law of competition. to exploit his
wOrkmen, if he would live. Ger
tainly the present social state owes Its
secular prosperity to the principle of in
dividualism, which emulation and per-
sonal interest render fruitful of produc-
tion renewed without ceasing. VIII
collectivlsm ever reach that fecundity.
stimulate the productive function of
the worker, the idea of gain having
been destroyed? There is, for me, the
agonizing doubt, the unstable ground
upon which we must build, If at all, the
social system. But we will conquer be-
cause we are right"
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT fears and
hates socialism and communism as
much rs capital can do, but for diff
fcrent reasons, and because, precisely
Of the reasons adduced by Busch for
them. 1ndividualism Is the thing we
value above all others, and 1t Is this
that capital and socialism are now
working to destroy, though from con-
trary directions. Capital and the COM
mune are both based on the same sor-
did material considerations, and either
or both are justified on those low and
groveling grounds of mere animallsm
But man needs more: personal indie
pendence. self-ldentity self-evolution,
not only in acquiring wealth, or produc-
ing the necessaries OF life for himself
but in all things, and particularly, in
individualism, as expressed in his in
tellectual, moral and physical being
and this Is impossible in a. socialism or
communism constructed for herding the
human animal, or the capitalistic sys-
tenn which flourishes on the principle
OF the survival OF the half
fattening by devouring the other half
Yet 1t Is sure that If capital persists
in its course, it will sooner or later
meet with communism or socialism,
which its example invites and its ruth
lessness provokes to meet It, and the
resistess brute force OF numbers will
prevail: capital perishing by the very
arbiter to which it now appeals.