The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-07
No Short Cuts TO Glory.


The national antitrust conference.
mostly unknown to fame. declares
through its executive committee that
government control under private own
ership has proved failure ana that
government ownership is the only solu-
ton Of the evils Of which It complains.
Since the trusts are the foremost OBJ
jects Of It's solicitude, and since the
field of the trusts includes many and
diverse activities. It is plain that these
gentlemen must be prepared to go to
the logical extreme Of their tether and
advocate the full socialistic programme;
that Is. the direct management, super
vision and control by the government
OF all agencies for the production and
exchange Of wealth.
We may mention, in passing. that the
conclusion Of the best minds of the
country. as expressed in the various
antitrust conferences that have been
held. does not coincide with this ulti-
matum. We may add that practical ex-
perience does not supper. them. Even
small experiment in this direction in
this country, in the shape Of municipal
lighting and other plants. has not been
altogether satisfactory. But the pur-
pose here is not to cover the wide field
of controversy, but to point out the
fundamental faf1acy Of the notion ex-
pressed above. This is worth doing,
because it IL one that has found lodg-
ment in the minds Of many well-dis-
posed and intelligent people, who have
not realized that 1t contains q contra
diction In terms. 1t asserts that the
whole IL less than one Of It's parts; that
a man who is unable to lift a hundred
weight IL capable Of lifting ton with
ease. This is the assumption below the
socialistic theory.
1t has to be admitted that govern
ment control of private ownership has
been tried very extensively. We do not
think that. on the whole, 1t has proved
failure. 1t is imperfect. 1t falls short,
just in proportion to the defects and
shortcomings Of men themselves. But
II makes progress. One Of the absurd
est habits of the theorist IL to assume
that the people as whole are perfect:
but that, by some species Of sharp prac-
tice, the dishonest and the incompetent.
get into ana hold all the places Of pub
lie power and trust Hence the general
denunciation OF councils, legislatures
and congresses as instruments Of cor
ruption and abuse. Now, we believe in
the people; believe in them absolutely
and utterly. Were they not worthy, gov
ernnSent by the people would be mock
cry that must perish from the earth.
Nevertheless the people are not perfect.
They are not all-wise, all-honest, ALL
divine. They are only men, meaning to
do the right thing and always coming
closer to it, but as far from perfection
as the average man is.
In q representative democracy the
rule holds good that the average Of
the peoples representatives is the av-
erage of the people themselves. 1t must
be so, with free manhood suffrage. No
man can get into public place unless a
majority Of the voters put him there
| or permit him to remain there. All
power resides with them. 1t is nonsense
| to talk about the Vaccinations Of poll
tics. Not year passes that we do not
| see political revolution accomplished
somewhere with perfect ease. When
| ever the voters want a change, they
can get it. If they do not elect other
men to office, it Is either because those
whom they do elect represent them fair
| ", or at worst because there Is no mis-
representation sufficiently glaring to
make it seem worth while to make the
change that is always feasible. free
representative government is a govern
J n1ent OF averages. The government Is.
In the long run, the average Of popular
intelligence ana morality as surely as
! the average of a dozen amounts is the
quotient obtained by dividing the sum
of all of them by twelve. No political
magic can make 1t more or less. Il y