The Paducah evening sun., 1910-03-31


he saw IL first; II is his by right of
discovery. What matters Il that he
was only a dreamer docking out upon
"a panorama; what matters II that an
!, Others ak cut the path through the
primeval forest, that other hands con-
quered the country. that other men
met conditions as they arose and
dominated them? Didn't he dub it
Ian Socialism, while yet the grubs
!, were hewing the way for the wagons
and the women into the promised
land?
But other men have scaled as high
a range and seen as far and said as
much; other men have looked from
those same peaks and observed what
no Socialist ever has been able 30
Iobserve in a retrospective survey
lorder and a systematic purpose. in
stead of chaos. To the Socialist the
ladvance means the discarding of
Everything that served in the old
order. But some men can look back
over the trail and realize that they
have been following a pillar OF cloud
by day and a pillar of fire by night:
that the same hand, which guided
Abraham out of the land of his birth,
sent an Aryan horde around the
mountains by another route into
northern Europe, whence. after civil
ization had made the circuit of the
Mediterranean, the fiaxen haired
kinsman of the Teuton, Saxon and
Frank swept its resistless tide OF hu-
imanity over the Roman empire and
carried back on its restless bosom the
truth that should make men free,
when another nation, the chosen of
all nations, should be called across
the waters.
What has the Socialist to say to
the inevitable logic of Providential
guidance? To the causes that pro-
duce effects irrespective of what any
man has to say on the subject? We
see in our time new trend OF
thought, an ethical change, the ad-
vancement of the interests of the in
dividual; but is that necessarily So
cialistic? II so, then our Declaration
of Independence is Socialistic. II our
institutions were conceived In the
fear that a dictator might arise TO
take from us our political liberties;
our federal laws today reflect a fear
that industrial tyranny may crush out
our manhood. President Taft IN his
recent Chicago speech uttered this
startling suggestion, that, II we find
ii impossible to check monopoly in
the production and distribution of
articles of food. the people may con-
ceive it the province of government
to establish the price at which articles
of food can be sold. Yet, does that
in principle go beyond the authority
already exercised by the government
OF telling railroads how much they
may charge for hauling freight? Is
| IL mconceivable that a government,
which already handles the mail,
should assume the function of man.
aging the telegraph and telephone
systems, which are but other means
OF communication between persons?
In other words, II we find ourselves
possessed OF adaptability to circum-
stances and environments, a capacity
for development in our social rela-
tions, with a constitution and. form
of government sufficiently elastic TO
meet every exigency of political life,
must we ever have IL dinned IN our
ears that We are going over to
Socialism?
Names do not bother us; It is the
underlying principle OF any propa-
ganda that will eventually test it,
IL Socialism means a belief in a
Providential purpose in the founding
and mission OF this country under the
theory Of the Declaration OF Inde-
pendence, that all men are born free
and equal and endowed with the
rights of life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness; and the doctrine of the
love OF God and ones fellow men
then will We say We are all Socialists;
but IL Socialism scorns Providence as
a guide and a national mission as a
delusion, adopting the theory that
men are two legged animals, which !
heretofore have been the victims of
the bullies OF the herd, and must |
rend their leaders to pieces and form
themselves into a hollow square with |
their food in the middle for mutual |
protection, We want none OF Il; nor
the advanced theories OF some So
cialist leaders that human beings |
should be bred like horses and dogs
with the ultimate view of extinguish-
ing weaker strains and developing a |
race of thoroughbreds.
We won't deny the Socialist the
possession OF some truths; but these
are not the exclusive property OF So
cialism. Whatever truth there is in
the cult is common to mankind, and
the propaganda itself is more the re
suit of change in the social order
than the cause of it. But Chanticler
crowed and the sun rose; so who
will convince Chanticler that the sun
would rise II he didn't crow?
5
I'D Gnn.n Gt4-lo. Al