New-York tribune., 1908-05-28
pEHSIONS AND SOCI4LISM.

In connection with the disbursement of aca-
deuic pensions by the Carnegie Foundation for
the Advancement Of Teaching there has recently
snr,7ng IN n controversy over the apparently
socialistic tendency Of this and similar endoW-
ments This discussion, waged chiefly in college
circles has brought 70 the fore certain misun-
derstandings of the socialistic issue which for
the sake Of many good things not at all social
jsric ought 10 be cleared UP. Although the many
debates among professors and the frequent let
ters in the correspondents columns OF scientific
journals have happily demonstrated the extern
sjve hostility of the academic world TO all "rtho-
dox socialism, they have also revealed the much
less agreeable fact that, even among "Intel!ec-
tuals" the fear OF socialism is dangerously
vague This appears in the earnest but unag-
gressive opposition to all great private quasi
charitable educational endowments like the Car
negie Foundation, the General Education Board
and others While welcoming the immediate
benefits of these princely lifts and applaudins
the motives of the givers, the proteStants stll
maintain that the peIsioning Of teachers and
other magnificent kindnesses are pernicious be
cause they help set the trend toward socialism
A few critics go far as TO say that the Car
negie Foundation is simOn-pure socialism on Il
small scale.
The close student of socialism is naturally not
to be found in these groups. Far from seeing in
such vast philanthropies the first tremors of n
MARKHAM revolution, he considers them among
the surest preventives Of such a catastrophe
And this view is shared by the more acute So
cialfsts who view with dismay every betterment
of the social order that does not make socialists
of us all How is it, then that the opposite
opirion exists among the educated classes: Why
is the cry of ''paternalism' or communism
raised against even privately endowed charities
like the Carnegie Foundation: AS Professor
Simon y Patten. Of the University of PennSyl-
yania DontS out to the readers of Science
the Carnegie Foundation aims simply to increase
the efficiency of teachers and hence of higher
education. by giving security and freedom from
worry for wife and child" And this clear
minded social investigator adds valuable COM
ment on the misinterpretation OF the fact. lie
writes:
1t also seems odd 10 me to call schemes for
yironr1entai Improvement paternal and socialis-
tic. The confusion of thought involved in these
statements IS due 10 not seeing clearly the diff
ference between the provision which each age
makes for its successors and the and
troll which some individuals exert over their con-
temporaries. We leave little to our descend
ants except better conditions, sound Constitu-
tions and freedom to utilize the forces of nat
and society upon which their daily lives de-
pend We make for them the conditions under
which they work; the distribution Of current
income they must settle for themselves Pater-
nalism and socialism seek to control this annual
recurring income and the activities of those who
cooperate TO create current wealth. Every
scheme Of socia! progress calls for a constantly
improving environment. but every scheme can
not therefore properly be classed soCalistic
and paternal Is ii paternalism for parents TO
give their children a sound constitution? Should
their children at maturity be allowed TO choose
between health and the present worth of a good
BODY say 10000? Is the man who tries to buv
his health with pills and nostrums superior to
him whose health IS gift from his ancestors?
The point is acute it ought TO be obvious
And il indirectly suggests the cause of the
slightly prevalent confusion Of great benefac-
tions (public and privateD with socialism The
men who dread teachers pensions are guilty of
confusing the goal of socialism with the method
OF attaining that goal What the socialist and
every other reformer. from the wiSest statesman
down To the veTiPst fool. are working ter Is
world from which the greatest possible amount
Of discomfort shall have been banished. DIFF
ferences arise soon the specific methods
of getting ahead are discussed The socialist is
called socialist and opposed by Level headed,
practical men because he thinks saIvatias will