Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1908-11-14
ITHE ONLY CURE.
IN Diagnosis Of Economic Evils
and a Prescription.

eere Intelligent Public Opinion Form
the One Effectual Remedy.
In considering the evils, unquestion-
ably many and serious, of our present
economic system there is apt to be a
lack of discrimination between the
evils that inhere in that system and
those which. while existing under it..
are not necessarily the product of 1T
The Socialist thus attributes to CAPT
aaIism all the evils Of civilization from
lpoverty to prostitution. He ignores
the individual characteristics which put
the satisfaction of present desires be
fore future welfare and which are in
many cases responsible alike for the
pauper and the prostitute. On the
other hand, the economic stand patter
refuses to acknowledge that part of
ahe poverty and degradation is due to
an unfair division of the product OF
the combination of labor and capital.
Net this unfairness is not an inherent
factor of our capitalistic system any
more than are unbridled appetites. So
cialism will eradicate neither selfish
mess nor self indulgence from human
nature. In fact, by prescribing rem
edy which does not reach the root or
the disease 1t lessons the likelihood of
remedying the real wrong.
Similarly in considering the evils.
unquestionably many and serious,
which have existed under corporate
operation of public utilities there is
apt to be a lack Of discrimination be-
tween the evils which iphere in that
system and those which are not neces-
sarily the product of it. The municipal
Socialist attributes to private owner
ship all the evils of public utilities,
from the impertinence of the hello
girl" to a typhoid epidemic, with high
prices and poor service ever in the
foreground. He utterly ignores the
facts which prove that these evils have
no necessary relation to private owner
ship because they are equally in evil
dence under municipal ownership. The
notorious impudence of the govern
ment telephone girls Of Paris contrasts
most unfavorably with the courtesy
d'COlQtO W AOlNIhOhN NSNAN
In New York. In the cities of more
than 100000 population in the United
States the average typhoid death rate
Is slightly lower in the cities where
there are water companies than in
those in which the supply is under
public management. And so every
cause of complaint under private own
ership can be paralleled by similar or
worse conditions under public owner
ship The latter will eradicate neither
incompetence nor Indifference to the
general welfare. In fact, by prescrib-
ing a remedy which does not reach the
root Of the disease it postpones indef'
nitely the real cure.
What is the real cure? The bringing
home to public utility companies of
their responsibility to the public for
good service at reasonable rates and
on the other hand, the convincing OF
the public that such companies are en-
titled to a fair return upon their in
vestments and furthermore that the
CRATER in city council or state legisla
ture who tries to levy tribute on these
companies is public enemy. How is
this to be accomplished? By state
boards of control, removed from local
antagonisms and clothed with powers
adequate to the protection Of the pub,
lie on the one hand and of the compa
MES on the other. It is only about
year since the public utilities Of New
York and Wisconsin were placed un-
der such control yet already some cor
pOratiOns have been disciplined.
No permanent cure for economic
evils can, however come from such
boards Of control unless there is
general awakening to a higher type Of
civic consciousness and of individual
integrity. In a large sense we are
personally responsible for the ecOnom-
ic conditions under which we live. SO
long as we worship wealth without re-
gard to the methods Of it's requirement
we are silent partners of the men who
get it dishonesty or by oppression.
SO long as we are negligent of the
character of the men we choose TO
represent us politically we are parties
to every graft game Of our representa-
tives. We don't need a new political
system, but we do need a new sense
of aggressive righteousness in politics
and business alike. With the coming
Of that will come the remedying Of the
economic wrongs which give the So
cialsts their most effective arguments,
and without it no system whether so
cialiStic or capitaliStic, will be satisfy
ing or stable.
Public opinion Of the right sort is n
tremendous power for good in both
business and politics. 1t encourages
and sustains the man who is honest,
straightforward and fair and rebukes
and defeats the man who seeks I'M
worthy ends by unworthy means. But
public opinion of the right sort is rare.
1t must be not only intelligent, but
sincere, and its sincerity depends alb
solutely upon the character of the