The age-herald., 1900-05-20
Socialism is Impossible
By John J. Ingalls,

control the complex interests of all social life under the management of those who had failed in the successful administration of their personal affairs?
 The advocates of socialism are in the habit of pointing to the postoffice depart ment as an illustration of their theories. and of the tendency of states towards col lectivism
 On the contrary, the mail service of the United States is typical, burdensome and irresponsible monopoly of the most offen- sive description Beyond appointing host of officials to collect pouch, dispatch re- ceive and distribute the letters, papers and parcels, the government has nothing what ever to do with their transmission. They are conveyed by railroads, steamboats stage coaches and private contractors at extortionate rates. some trains getting the entire cost of maintenance and operation from their receipts from the postoffice. The government pays an average of cents the pound for an average haul of four and one-half miles, while the express com panies carry merchandise from New York to Chicago, a thousand miles, for $3 per hundred pounds, and some transconti- mental lines will take goods from New Orleans to San Francisco for S-10 of 1 cent the pound, while government, by law, com pels the citizens to pay for carrying their letters at the rate of $610 the ton As matter of fact, it is much nearer s1,OOO the ton, for very few letters weight the ounce which may be taken for cents postage.
 And not only so, but the government re- nounces all liability for the safe delivery or the property which 1t compels the citizen to intrust to it's charge except to the extent of $1O, when it is registered. And this is the basis upon which socialism would have all the business of the country conducted
 Any merchant who treated his customers as the United States treats its citizens in the postal service would be promptly ad- ,1Yaf md n tiary It cannot be denied that some as- poets of individualism are not altogether lovely Unrestrained competition has en- gendered a herd of moral monsters with the rapacity of the shark, the greed Of the wolf, t.e cuning of the fox, the ferocity of the tiger and the ingenuity of the devil
 = 1t these socialisms could neither banish nor destroy No change in the social order can extrpate selfshness or eliminate the evil ropensities of man. These are beyond statue or ordinance. They can be reached only by conscience and the reformation or the individual must come from within
 America has been the paradise and the nineteenth century the golden age of in dividualism. At no other place or time has the world offered richer prizes or freer field to capacity, courage and intelligence. There have been error sand evils. Perfec- tion is still remote, but there has been greater progress in science in popular edu-
 
 itation, in the means of communication, in the conquest over the mysteries of the universe, than in all the centuries that pre- ceded We have become the richest and most powerful nation because every man has been left free to be master of himself, to improve his condition, to obtain superior reward for superior merit.
 And this vast material development has been accomplished by unprecedented activi- ty of the moral and altruistic energies of the race. Never have religion, charity and self-sacriflce done much to alleviate hu- man wretchedness or wealth been conse- crated to nobler use. Colleges, universities technical schools, offer free instructions of recreation to the poorest Hospitals for the sick, retreats for the infirm. asylums for the unfortunate, exemplify the Golden Rule, and justify the faith that the broth erhood or man Is not an empty formula or a derisive fiction Society is a fortutous and accidental aggregation of individuals Societies have done nothing in this world, nor ever will. lhe fundamental fact of Christian civiliza- ton Is the immeasurable value of the in- dividual soul.
 Socialism is the final refuge of those who have failed in the struggle for life 1t is the prescription of those who are born tired It means the survival of the unfit, and the inevitable result would be de- generation. It would deprive ambition of It's incentive, industry of its stimulus ex- celence of it's supremacy, and character of it's reward.
 Indivdualism would lift alt the level of the highest. Socialism would drag all down to the level of the lowest Indi- vfdualism is progress and life Socialism Is stagnation and death