The Washington times., 1906-03-07
20 the Editor Of &c washlngton TImes:

The announcement that Joseph
Medil Patterson. The young Chicago
millionaire, had resigned the Office of
commissioner Of public works OF that
city SO that he might promote the so
cialistic propaganda, has excited con-
siderable interest, and has put people
guessing what socialism means and
puzziing their brains as to how to dis
tinguish the real brand from the va
rious spurious brands now in the Sc
ciaIistic market
Mr. Patterson, II appears. is for the
real brand. The press dispatches re-
port him as saying:
Mr., Patterson's Platform.
I'm for the real brand of socialism,
public ownership of all the sources OF
wealth. We have had a little Govern
ment ownership for years in the way
Of the poHtoffice the police force, the
water department, and the public
schools. But that limited number Of
Government-owned Institutions has not
materially lessened the friction be-
tween capital and labor Not until we
have removed all forms of ruinous
competition by having all the sources
Of wealth owned by the people shall we
have reached perfection. Then there
Will be a Job for everybody.
By what process Of reasoning he has
reached the conclusion that the police
force, the public schools. and the post
Office are sources Of wealth, he does not
c0ndescend 10 explain. Water, OF course
is source OF wealth, being embra ced
in the term land. the passive factor
or all production. and the real source
OF all wealth. The postoffice is a pub
lie utility whose function is the trans
mission Of intelligence; and, consequent
ly, is not a source OF wealth.
Socialism, however, embodies a salu-
tary economic trutf which statesmen
and political &C Uomists, alike, have
ignored Man is IL integral, a separate
sires and powers from his fellows and
requiring for the use of those powers
and TO satisfy those desires free play
and freedom But he is also d gregar-
lOus beiU z. designed TO dwell in harmony
with his fellows, and by association de-
velOp his mental powers For the law
OF human progress Is association un-
DER conditions of equality. Hence there
Is a field of sociS. activity as Well az
field Of individual activity. There
are some things which each person can
do best when left entirely free and un-
hampered. On the .ther hand there are
some things which he cannot edo for
himself and which, therefore. ought TO
be done by collective society through
governmental agencies. The tendency
OF progressive civilization Is to extend
the field OF social activity, and contract
the field Of individual activity. One of
the causes of the ineQuitabie diStTibu-
tion Of wealth is attributable to leaving
TO individual activity enterprises that by
reason of the growth of population and
! development of industry have passed
into the field of SJc-aI activity, and
again the production OF wealth has been
retarded and its distribution distorted
by governmental restriction and inter
ference with enterprises that naturally
belong to the field or individual activity.
Monopolistie Enterprises.
Enterprises that are in their nature
niOnopolistic, such as the railroad, tele-
graph. telephone, wafer, lighting. street
ar lines. etc. ought to be managed
by the national, State, or municipal
governments, as the case requires: nor
yet ought the Government exercise the
power Of taxation TO build up one in
dustry at the expense of another, by
increasing the prices of what some
have 10 sell and others must buy, or
attempt to direct individual industry.
But while there is salutary truth in
socialism as thus defined, which indi-
vidualiSts Ignore, there is a class OF So
cialists who ignore tho truth there is
In indiyidualism and whose propositions
for the betterment OF social conditions
seem ahsurdly prepoSterouS- The social
lists like Mr. Patterson. who would nave
the Government own all the sources of
upon the modern complex organization
Of society and fail 10 see that princi-
pies obvious in a primitive condition are
not abolished or reversed by the more
Intricate relations that result from the
division of labor and the use OF complex
methods and elaborate uachineTy. They
are entangled in the economic fallacies
Of the orthodox political economy which
teaches that wages are drawn from cap
ital and that labor cannot be employed
only as capital is accumulated.
Big Task for Government.
Their scheme is that of men who.
recognizing the inadequacy and con-
fusion Of the orthodox school, are still
dominated by its fallacies and bexfI-
dered by its copfusions. The control and
management of all industrial activities
by the GAvernment. as a remedy for the
growth CT monstrous fortunes on the
one side. and providing jobs for jobIess
men on the other, is certainly a tremen-
dous task for any government to under
take The scheme looks plausible. That
IL all men were provided with prouer
employment and all wealth equitabIy dj-
Nided, everyone would have a Job and
there would be 10 injustice in 6fstrfbu-
ton, is as indisr utable as 4 geometrical
axiom.
But this scheme, like all others which