The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1908-01-30
PATERNALlSM OF THE PERIOD.

IA LhIfAIiSN VI lllI tIflUDs
Not long ago st. Louis was the scene
Of curious spectacle. Eight hundred
men, led by Socialistic agiator, march
ed in body to the City Hall and de.
manded that the city provide them with
work A like parade was attempted in
Chicago last Friday. Last Sunday in
Boston a similar gathering paraded
through the streets, poured into what is
sometimes called "a fashionable" church
az if religions and worship can be as
sorted according to clothes and purses
interrupted the service and afterward
made such COmmotion in the streets
that they were dispersed by the police
The cables bring the news Of like dis
tnrbances in Berlin, under the super
vision Of the Socialistc leaders of the
German capital At the Berlin meet
ngs the Socialistic agitators, including
certain Socialistic members Of the Reich
stag, demanded that the Government
provide work for the unemployed.
Hunger, want, misery may beget rev
olution. They, matched against ty-
ranny, extravaganza and oppression,
have produced revolution in times past.
They can deaden the power Of self con.
troll and the mechanism of logic and set
the victim on fire with emotiOnalism.
Emotionalsm does not bother with con
crete things, with philosophy or with
methods. 1t does not stop to reason, If
it could, but wants, and, wanting, pro
ceeds to get, if it can, Selfishness and
hate coinmingle in this brand of emo
tionalism. Ia the instances cited the
crowds in ST Louis Chicago, Boston
and Berlin-revolution il neither threa
tened nor the seed OF revolution feared.
Emotionalism may figure some, but the
main Ingredient here is the peculiar
sophistry of the leaders and agitators
who have worked out the theory that
governments owe individuals living.
They adhere to the idea that the Govern
ment is everything and the individual
nothing. They nurse the doctrine of
paternalism in government-that the
Government should provide for the in
dividual as the father would provide for
his child Hence the movement to de-
mand of the municipality or the nation
employment rs II duty to the citizen and
a corresponding right of the citizen
Daily the propagandists of Socialism
spread this doctrine of paternalism.
Truth to tell to the superficial and the
lazy-even to the poor man or the nn
fortunate ont of work-the notion that
somebody else OF some public institution
should care for him and save him the
worry and exertion Of looking out for
Number is peculiarly catchy. And 80
the ranks of the Socialists have gained
some IN numbers in recent years. But
such paternalism must flourish on in.
dolence and the deadning spirit of i'm
providence. Only the man willing to
forego his powers, rights, possibilities
and ambitions M an individual sub
scribes to the idea that the community
must furnish him his livelihood.
Fortunately, the race has not degen-
Grated to 80 great an extent HI to fall
prey to this ism of stagnation, retrogres
sion and decay. 1t is individual effort
hat lifts n man to success; it is self
reliance that makes the world move mp
ward; it Is the struggle of the individual
~ better his lot, to better his country
and to better his people that constructs
nations.
The theorist among the Socialists, who
mistakes his particular KIND of ideal
lsm for altruism, will declare the doe.
rrine Of individuality be the doctrine
Of selfishness on the ground that It re
solves the problem Of life into a com
netition for the conquest by the self
lsh man OF his fellows But it would be-
difficult TO conceive amore selfish notion
than the one exemplifie9 in ST. Louis,
Chicago, Boston and Berlin, when the
crowds demanded that their communities
hould provide for them. They wanted
their neighbors to 10 something for
them They asserted the theory that
governments exist AZ a private snap.
Socialism and anarchism aim nj the
anne result by widely different routes
The first would destroy the individual
BY eubm-rgng him with government;
the latter would destroy him by abol
ishing all government, which is an in