The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-10-19
DRIFTING.

from the individualistic principles Tentatively c-
tablished by the founders of our goyernmrut and
accepted by the people for more than Il century
and has gone along new sociological paths which
lead no man knows whittier. There is a suggestion
of paernaIism in the attitude of the federal govern
ment on the subject of the rights and sovereignty
Of the states, upon which the constitution of the
! federal government was founded In the interstate
commerce law and the pure food law and the anti
trust law, each of which seems to render inoper-
ative the contention of certain old-tmers in Amer
lean politics that the states were Independent
eregnties there is more than sufficient evidence tr
indicate a radical change in the sentiment Of the
people in favor of a strong central power resting
in Washington. 1t is hard to conceive of the dele
gates of the several states assembling "to form
more perfect union" unless in their wisdom they
sought to make that union paramount to the ind
vidual states which they represented. Omitted we
stand, divided we fall" and in union there Is
strength" seem to have come down to us from The
very foundation of the government.
But in other matters than a centralized govern
ment there are striking indications of portentous
changes from the accepted laws of sociology. Not
only has the government recognized in the past the
need of encouragement of thrift and economy, but
each man has been free to work out his own well
being in land so full of opportunities that he
could hardly fail of just reward Individual oppor-
tunites were as near equal when each one made his
living independently as they can ever be. And the
opportunities were broad for many years. covering.
indeed the whole history of the country until with
in the past decade or two. Then organization and
Capitalization in the business and manufacturing
world wrought wonderful changes in the economic
conditions of the country. There has been con
slant readjustment of wages and prices of com
modities, but the worker with his hands, the book
keeper, clerk-indeed, the whole vast army of wage
earners-even with industry and frugality and self
denial have not the opportunity to provide much
more than bare subsistence for themselves and
families, facing the future and the infrmities of
age with the almost certainty of insufficient saving
to provide ease and comfort in their declining
years.
This condition has been recognized not only BY
the workers but by the employers of labor besides.
and to meet the demand of the wage earners some
employers, through naturally humane instincts
probably, have established pensions for superannu-
ated employees In order to guarantee faithful serv
ice for themselves and at the same time lessen the
hardships which would surely follow the decline in
earning ability of the worker with advancing age.
Not only have companies and corporations inaug-
urated such pension system, but several states
have appointed commissions to investigate the feas
ibilty of state insurance and old-age pensions for
workers. Pensions for preachers, school teachers
and about every other underpaid profession have
been suggested and the suggestion has met with
very general approval. The pension theory may be
correct in principle. No questions the desira-
bility of providing for old age comforts and the
need of allowance will be conceded by fair
minded men as long as present conditions of en-
ployment are maintained.
But underlying the whole pension scheme
whether by the state corporation the conviction
ntrudes that we have drifted away from individ-
ualism and away from the ideal democracy which
it sought to establish with the western republic
The proletaire cannot provide for themselves, but
must accept their just dues in the form of charity
To admit the necessity of such wide diver
gence from the canons of democratic indi7idualism
is to acknowledge failure as the result Of form
Of government But to deny that necessity requires
a recognition of the conditions which brought for
ward the suggestion Radical reformation and a
return to that approximate equality of opportunity
which prevailed before the machinery of the law
was perverted to the advantage of the favored few
become vital to the maintenance of individualism
and freedom. To teach frugality and at the same
time macerate and starve the wage worker into do
cility with pension fraud is to invite destruction
Of all the cherished ideals of liberty, and will
eventually lead to the Inauguration of principles OF
government which would make industry inessential
and put premium on idleness. 1t were far better
for the individual and society at large to perpet
late the good by the elimination of the evil in pres
snt economic conditions than to permit the con
nued exploitation of the masses by Paternahsm
hat is as nsuerable as it is unjust and that must
cad eventually to revolution or slavery of those