Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1905-04-21
MORE WORDS FOR Mr.. COS.
Ed. STANDARD:

compliment him upon his strenuous
effort to sustain what he believes to be
the interest of dying middle class.
Mr.. Coo, in his last article, uses the
term "competition" and the phrase
competitive system" interchange
ably; Commissions of term produce con
fusion OF ideas. A clear cut compre.
hensiOn OF the terms used is necessary
to an intelligent determination OF the
question Of facts effecting the princi
Piles in controversy. The word "com.
petition" used in connection with
"system" serves a double function; il
names the system and indicates the
character of the system. Webster de.
fines system: "A whole plan OF
scheme consisting Of many parts con.
nected in such a manner as to create
chain of mutual dependencies"
Some OF the most important parts ol
the competitive system is private ow-
nership of the means OF life, profit and
wages. Socialists interpret means ol
life to be land, machinery, railroads
and all instruments used in transporta.
ton.
In the whole scheme of the compe.
titive system the parts are so connect.
ed as to form mutual dependency
based upon private ownership of the
means of life, which the owners use as
means OF exploitation.
Mr.. Coo, you failed to present Any
facts in support OF Your affirmation,
that the want OF a competitive system
is the cause of existing evils. The
trusts is the effect of the system and
benefits the trusts magnates. We will
soon have system OF trust conditioned
for by our present profit system
Trusts is not limited socialim; they
are conditioning for socialism.
Socialist find no fault with human
nature. Human nature changes with
the change in economics and environ
ments. You say" Destroy competi.
ton and you destroy all incentives to
human progress" aud have conceived
the idea that Socialists condemn com.
petition. Now, Socialist believe in
and contend for competition, mutual
strife for the same object, as the basis
OF all human progress. But they main.
tain that the nature OF the thing com.
peted for determines for progress oI
retrogression. Men strive to become
expert gamblers, expert burglars, ex'
pert pickpockets, experts in getting
the wealth Of others and hundreds oil
other things that is destructive to So
ciety.
From the above facts it appears thai
to destroy competition you destroy al
incentives to degradation and crime
Therefore. the remedy for present evils
is not in creating more competition
but must be found in the things com
peted for. If crime, misery, demoral
ization and poverty exists in any great
degree in the social structure, it fol
lows as a logical conclusion that we
are competing for the wrong things
Trusts force you to abandon you
contention. Destroy competition
and you destroy all incentives to prog
ress," are catch words sent out by de
signing political demagogues to scare
and deceive the people and the adher
ents Of the different political parties
thoughtlessly repeat them as argu
ments against the Socialist. The oil,
parties stand for the present competi
tive profit system.
Socialist stands for every man get
ting the full product of his labor
The old parties stand for producing
for profit, the Socialist for producing
for use. Hence, the only golden eggs
that I can see that the Democratic
party can lay is profit egg or an egg
for profit.
But to return to the competitive sys
tenn, and inadvertently to economi
determinism. Socialists start from tn
proposition that the production of th
means to support human life and th
exchange of the things produced is tn
basis OF all social structure; that pro
duction, the manner in which wealth
is distributed, and how produced AM
how products are exchanged. deter
mines the decision of society int
classes.
From this viewpoint the final cause
of all social changes and political rev
olutions are to be found, not in men
brains, not in philosophy. not in wha
is taught to be eternal truths, but ii
changes in the mode of production
and distribution. Hence, a clear in
sight into causes OF changes in differ
ent epochs of the world is found in th
economics Of particular epochs. Wha
is right in one epoch becomes q Grim
in different epoch. What is just il
one epoch is injustice in another
Right and wrong, justice and injustice
are relative terms, dependent upon th
manner Of production and distributor
These declarations are demonstrate
in the changes occurring in the pro
duction and distribution in the Unite
States. Under our present system
production and distribution it is
crime for the laborer to take what n
produces. Now others can take pos