The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-03-20
DEGREES THE TREND
TOWARD SOCIALISM

Spoke Before vincitia Club Last
Evening on "The Burden Of
SeIf-government."
lizard and personal thinking and
courageous contribution to public opinion
are parts, and large parts, Of the burden
Of self.government," said Prof. Walter
Il. Howard Of Middlebury college In an
address before the members Of Vincitia
club last evening on the theme Of "The
Burden of lf.government." That Is the
intellectual side of the duty, he said,
Then, there is the physical side of the
duty, which includes going to the prima'
ries, the caucuses, and the conventions
and voting-at national elections, at
state elections, at municipal elections.
Prof. Howard urged upon his hearers the
necessity for strict adherence to these
duties, for, said he, our system Of gov
ernment Is still ON trial--it always will
be.
In the course Of his address, the speak.
er took occasion to score the "hysteria,-
as he characterized It, Of the last few
lNHfsf III WHICH Nut CtuHNIy udb btth
involved. On this point he said;
I'm my Judgment this cclntry and
this government are not drifting, but
whirling with frightful rapidity into the
roaring vortex OF old-world socialism, un-
der new world conditions. There is not
in this country to-day a real conserva-
tive party-would there were Each Of
the old parties seems TO be trying to
outstrip the other in the advocacy Of
radical measures. the priority of inven-
tion of new theories of government being
fiercely disputed by the partizans Of each
party, and the campaign trains Of the
Democratic and Republican candidates
seem to be but a block behind the lurid
smoke Of the red special II is quite
time that the whole American people ir-
respective Of party should stop and think
for themselves"
"We may escape immediate direful
consequences to-day by the happy selec.
tion OF the sonndest and sanest candidate.
But the seed has been sown, and we are
likely in no very distant time to reap
plentiful harvest. We have been told
so often about predatory wealth by
persons in exalted position that the 10
called proletariat have been fortified In
their belief that all property IS theft.
The villany you teach me, / viii execute
and ii shall 20 hard but better the
instruction Children do not make fine
distinctions; neither does the proletariat.
All this talk about predatory wealth,
about the voracious rich, abount unscrup-
ulous trusts, about the arrogance Of
wealth; all this advocacy of confscation
Of property, all this surrender to social
istic schemes under Epecious phrases and
all these new and yet old and dangerous
catch words of anarchy and desperation
that have been screamed in the ears oil
Europe from the day of Babeuf to the
day of Debs, these are the things thar
will some day usher in a reign of terror
in this country that viii make the French
Revolution seem like the playtime of
summers day--if we don't watch out
"The pulpit is little less to hlame.
This continual harping on the sins of
the rich, as If the poor had no sins;
this daily and weekly preaching against
the sins of people who are not present;
this eoddling Of those who have nothing
and teaching them that they have some
sort of mysterious grievance against
those who have something; this perpetu-
al rant against the rich and the prosper
GUS whose wealth and prosperity, nine
times out Of ten, are the result Of their
own industry, temperance, and frugality
this dangerous and false insinuation
that the Lord loves the poor and hates
the rieh-all these things that come from
the pulpit, press, and platform teaching,
as fast as they possibly can, the most
dangerous soeialistic doctrines, setting
class against class,--these are lighting
FIRE that may shoulder long, but will be
hard to quench.
What we need in this country and
at this time is more brains and less
Mysteries; more common sense and less
rant; more patriots and fewer DANA
gogues, more thought and less wild bar
barrie yawp.
And here is a concrete case in point. |
Some people are very much exercised
over the Wall street inuuence, fearing
that New York will ruin the business
of this country; but it is quite |
possible that we shall yet see the fnan- |
cial theories of Oklahoma put into prac-
tice and the singularly simple socialistic |
plan adopted Of compelling the rich and
the prudent to contribute to the losses
Of wildcat bankers and sage-h brush finan- |
eiers. Between cowboy politics and
iack-rabbit finance we are certainly be-
tween the devil and the deep sea-
Il know the reply that the hysterical |
statesmen make. If we don't ! ield to
the demands Of socialism we shall do a |
great deal worse. That is not the exact /
wording Of their reply, but when it il
sugared off that is just what it means
It is the same old socialistic story
make a good dollar lug a bad one-make
the frugal lug the the spendthrift-make
the worker lug the lazy and the loafef
The demagogue and his dupe we have
always with us, and while we may hate
the one and despise the other, we must
not lose sight Of the fact that the one
has influence and the other has votes"
Following Prof. Howard's address,
President Frank L. Small of the club
the Rev. Edward C. Downey
Of the Universalist church, who spoke
for ten minutes. Gilbert
sons orchestra furnished music during
The evening, and at the close Of the en-
buffet lunch was served.