The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-12-06
TO QUESTIONS FROM
A SOCIALIST

Replying to criticisms from a So
cialist recently the Enterprise prom
ised to point out some of the vagar-
les of socialism if the critic would
indicate what he considered the
strongholds of the socialist propagan-
da Accordingly, Mr.. Geo c. McDou-
gal, a prominent Sanford socialist,
presents the following:
IF machinery continues to sup
plant hand labor to the same extent
in the next generation that it has in
the past generation-if not socialism,
then what?"
Our Celery City comrade contem-
plates a condition that exists, if at
all, only in the abstract; for as a con-
crete proposition machinery has in
no way supplanted labor or lessened
the demand for labor. On the con
trary, it has opened new avenues for
labor and extended old ones. For in
stance When a barefoot boy the
writer was advised not TO learn the
printers trade. as the great linotype
machines then being introduced,
would supplant hand work and throw
an army Of printers out Of employ
ment. The economy of the machine
has been added to the output of the
printshop instead OF being subtracted
from the pay roll The modern daily
newspaper, requiring in some offices
as high as % acres of pulp timber to
furnish paper for a single edition, is
the result Thus the new machine
has increased the demand for labor
in the timber lands, in the paper
mills, in transportation lines, in the
mail service and various other ave
nues, and at the same time has not
diminished the demand for printers.
The same results are shown from
other great labor-saving devices. II
was once thought that the telegraph
and telephone would practically do
away with mail service. Has it? We
once thought that electricity would do
away with coal oil, but more oil is
being used than ever before. Mucn
of it is being transformed into gaso-
line which product made possible
the automobile the gasoline engine
and the bi-pIane. the manufacture
and use of which opens new fields Of
labor. We declared the auto the bike
and the steam pillow would supplant
the horse, but the price of horse
flesh holds its own A vast and COM /!
plicated machine has supplanted the
spinning wheel and the old hand /
loom, but a countless multitude is re-
quired in field and factory, in the |
markets and on the roads to supply !
our demand for clothing.
The further we advance in civil |
cation and progress the greater be-
comes our demands. We cannot do |
the work of today with the impIe-
ments of yesterday, neither can we
apply present-day theories to condi-
lions of tomorrow. Each generation I
must meet and solve its own civic !
problems. The fundamental princi- |
pies of truth and justice are I'M
changeable. but often need new ap-
plicatons to meet new conditions. IN
stead of socialism, therefore. we must
apply the eternal principles of hu-
man Justice embodied in the declara- |
ton of independence and the consti- +
tuition of the United States, and
these will prove sufficient for all re-
qurements of all men at all times
and under all conditions. If great |
wrongs have crept into our civic con
ditions it has not been due to the
system" under which We live, but
from a failure to properly apply the
great principles upon which our gov
eminent was established. We have
fallen short of our public duty and
failed to take our citizenship serious
ly.
When we have answered all of Mr..
McDougal's questions We shall write
our prescriptions to cure the diseases
of the body politic-Arcadia Enter
prise