The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-10-18
REAL PROGRESSION

swer to an editorial that appeared in
our daily of Friday, under the cap
ton of Riches vs. Socialism"
We comply with the request for the
reason that we have a number OF So
| cialist readers, and they have no or
gan of their own, and we are perfect
| ~ willing that all sides of an argu-
nent should have a public hearing
it is a right guaranteed by our model
system of government
The article will be found in anoth-
er column, and it will be seen that
| the author admits that commercial
| ism has done a wonderful work w
| to the present time; but now, all OF
sudden commercialism has become
stagnant and oppressive, and must be
! superseded by some other form of
government, the same, he says, as
| feudalism and slavery were super
coded by cOmmercialism.
The author, If he supposes that
there were no capitalism or CONNER
cialism under slavery and feudalism.
is laboriug under a fallacy
If the author were fair and cand
he would be compelled to admit also
| that at this very hour what he terms
capitalism is doing more in the direc.
ton Of real progress than at any time
since the creation of the world
We are now in the very prime and
yigor; nay, we have reached tile very
flower of our national life.
In all departments of human effort
we are excelling all other ages. ana
it may truthfully be said that there
has been accomplished in the pas
one hundred years more than in any
other previous ten centuries.
AS wonderful as have been our
achievements some of the sciences
are still in their cradles, and many
startling sensations are yet in store
for US.
In whatever direction we turn We
are confronted with these marvellous
triumphs. See what prodigious al,
vancement we have made in the sci
ence Of surgery and medicine One
can be completely dissected, and be-
unconscious of it at the time the oper
alton is going on, or, by the use Of
cocaine, he can have his leg amputat
ed, and, while witnessing the operl-
ton, suffer no pain And what mar
yelous feats are being performed on
the operating table. See how the
medical profession has stamped out
small pOX and yellow fever, and il is
safe to say that they will soon find
the cause and the cure for tuberculo-
sis, cancer and other malignant dis
eases that have for so long a time
been a scourge to the world, and
stamp them out also.
When the world was girdled by
wires climbing over mountains and
under seas, and thus bringing the four
corners of the earth together, and
giving its happenings fresh at the
breakfast table in the columns of the
daily press, we thought it a great
achievement, but wonderful as it was
it was supplanted by Marconi making
whispering gallery of the world by
controlling the currents of the air.
Compare the household economies
of hundred years ago with the
household economies of today. Our
grandfathers of that period were not
even acquainted with the utility OF
so simple a thing as a friction match.
They were compelled to ignite their
fires with the bunglesome Undertook,
and our dear grandmothers did not
know the blessings of the sewing
machine, and the garments for all
the members of the household had ID
be made on the spinning wheel, and
by her plying the needle and thread
over the pale and fitful glare of the
tallow dip
She was denied the blessings of
hundreds of other little inventions
that are now so familiar in the do
mestic economy.
A detailed description of all the
numerous inventions with which we
have been blessed under what our so
cialist friends are pleased to term
the capitalistic system is not ne
cessary, but we may we'll say in a
word that under this system man
has made a conquest of ocean, earth
and air.
In government he has made it i'm
possible for slavery to exist in any
part of the world, and in this country
at least. in the race of life, he has
given every man an equal chance
the door of opportunity" is open
alike to all