The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-03-03
CHICAGO OFFICIAL A
 CONVERT 10 SOCIALISM
COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC WORKS PATTERSON TENDERS
 HIS FASCINATION

Feels That the Continuation of the So-
 cialistic Idea the Only True Solution
 of Economic Problems--His Principle
 to Make Laws for the Ordinary Young
 Man--Believes Socialists Will Gradu-
 ally Gain Control of Chicago and of
 Other Big Cities.
 | Chicago, March 2.-Commissioner of Public Works Joseph Medill Patterson on Wednesday rendered his resignation to Mayor Dunne. Nothing was public ly known of the resignation until to- day when a copy mailed by MT. Patter- son at Washington, D. C., was received by the City Press association In let ter to Mayor Dunne MT. Patterson de- clares himself socialist and says that the mayor has not gone far enough in the matter of municipal ownership.
 New York, March 2.-Joseph MedilI Patterson, whose resignation as com missioner of public works of Chicago. was announced to-day, and who at present is stopping in this city, express | ca hls views on socialism tonight, in- cldentally mentioning that he believed Mayor Dunne was the best mayor Chi cago had ever had, but that he did 1lot carry his ideas far enougn MT. Pat- l terson came out fiatfooted as q. socia1- ist, indicating that he felt that inc oi,l- mination of the socia1isic idea was the rr1VJ 1 lems
 He related the process by which he arrived at his decision spoke of condi- tions in Chicago So far as they affected his department and maintained that government ownership of public utilities and of private enterprises so far as they affect the welfare of the masses l should obtain.
 He said he knew that many people would say that man who declares himself a socialist is 'dead one'' but he did not care. 1T have never read but one work on socialism and there fore am not capable of logical argu | ment now" MT. Patterson said. .'but believe in it.
 His principle, he said, was to make laws for tsse ordinary young man of to- day.
 'Of course the extraordinary young man will rise" he said. When we said that things should be divided equally we mean that every man | should have a chance. Men like Schwab and Carnegie have risen from poor young men to mean of wealth but they are the extraordinary young men. The ordinary young man is not able to rise above dlis birth, and the extraordianrv young man is one, in the million. Pres ent laws are not for the ordinary work man. l don't mean by this that all the money in the country should be cut up Into equal parts What I mean is | that the people should own in common all the means of production, the, sources of wealth, and divide the re- suits. The talk of economical equality Is no more ridiculous now than was the talk of social equality years ago.Y Then MT. Patterson went on to illustrate:
 Suppose Alfred G, Vanderbilt has 900 invested in his railroads. Say there are 25,00O employees. Out of his investment he receives say per cent, which is $250000 a year. He does not turn a wheel he does not move an en- zine, he does not do a thing for the railroad. He simply owns it. He does not contribute toward making the road safe. These men earn so much money for him. Suppose he should give them what they earn, instead of taking it himself?
 "Ny idea is to have things equally divided so that when man dies his children shall not inherit wealth"
 Then MT. Patterson explained that so long as wealth was centered and ufi- earned, consolidation is inevitable, and to this remark he added: There is nothing more ridiculous than the Sher- man antitrust law"
 As to the progress of socialism he said he believed that the socialists would gradually obtain control of the city of Chicago; that this would be followed by their control of other cities and finally of the country. As an illus tration he spoke of the Luncheon club in Chicago, which he said has twenty- five members, well to do men, all of whom had imbibed the socialist idea. You would be surprised at the extent of latent socialism in Chicago" he said. T may be wrong in my ideas, but there are many people who know that exist ing conditions are wrong and who are | IL.