The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1908-04-07
4 ROAD TO SOCIALISM.
Municipal Ownership Destroys
Individual Enterprise.

Professor Roberts Of Denver unissr.
sity Points Out the Dangers to a
Democratic Form Of .eevsrnhasnt
Which Results From Undue Estsn.
sion Of Government Activities.
Adam Smith In his Inquiry Into the
Nature and Causes OF the Wealth OF
Nations" gives the duty Of the govern
ment as threcfold-frst. to protect the
people from invasion by other people;
secondly. to protect the individual from
the injustice of other individuals; third
", to erect and TO maintain certain
public works and institutions which
are essential, yet not from their nature
remunerative.
Jefferson in his FIRST inaugural de
clared the sum Of good government to
be to 'restrain men from injuring one
another" and to "leayei them other
wise free to regulate their own pur-
snit Of industry and Improvement
but not to take from the mouth of
labor the bread 1t has earned"
Both jefferson and Adam Smith ex-
press the esprit OF vi institutions. the
freedom OF business as long US the
rights of individuals arc not interfered
with.
The American people are asked to ac-
cept a new principie-the principle Of
Socialism. AS stated by Robert Blatch-
ford that principle" the root idea of
Socialism, means two things:
"First.-That the land and all the
machines. tools and buildings used in
making needful things, together with
canals, rivers, roads, railways. ships
and trains used in moving, sharing
Distributing needful things and all
the shops, markets, scales, weights and
money used in selling or dividing need
full things, shall be the property of (be-
long to- the whole people (he nationl.
"Second.-That the lands, tools, ma.
chimes, trains, rivers, shops, scales,
money and all other things belonging
to the people shall be worked, a
aged, divided and used by the whole
people in such a way as the greater
number of the whole people shall deem
best"
1t is true that many who believe in
municipalizing the four utilities, water,
electricity, gas and tramways, deny
any further connection with Socialism.
Then there are Socialists who reject
limited municipal trading on the same
principle that a Prohibltionist votes
against local option, refusing a part OF
the programme, hoping by this means
to get the whole programme. Never
theless municipalization Of the four
utilities mentioned is a part OF the So
cialistc programme.
The International conference OF So
ctalIsts held In Paris In September,
1000. declared
THAT 1t is the duty of all Socialists
to make clear to all the value of mu-
niclpal activity. to recognize in all mu-
ntclpal forms the Importance which at
taches to them as embryos of collecti-
visit states and to endeayor to municipal
lie such public services as urban trans
port service, education, shops, bakeries,
water supply, ETC."
Thus the Issue is drawn between So
cialtsm and in~dividuallsm. There Is no
halfway ground, as the experience OF
English cities abundantly proves. Glas-
gov engages in forty-four different
lines of business, rabbits are bred
by Torquay, Liverpool raises beets,
and n English town actually raises
chickens. A momentum is gained
from the municipalization Of larger
utilities that inevitably carries the city
into further trading, thus competing dl-
rectly with a large number Of inhablt.
ants.
A fundamental error In the belief
that leads to the socialistie programme
Is that all persons have the same needs
md desires. The advocates of the doc
trine overlook the fact that as the COM
plexity of mems lives increase their
needs and desires increase; that it may
be necessary for one man to use a
phone, while his neighbor has no DOS
stble need for It.
In al individuallstfc community the
government may be an unprejudiced
arbitrator, but in a Socialistic one II
must always fight for its W rights,
Its natural tendency Is to crush out all
competition. The overgrown, evilly ad-
ministered corporation may do harm
In an individualistic community, but
when the corporation and the govern
ment are n the combination has In
fnitely more power to injure and does
not fail to use It. In the former case
the people may divorce corporation in
fuence from the government, but in
the latter the two are combined and
poo- o,-,.Y, a.