Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1912-04-04
Collective Ownership VS..
Individual Ownership.
Editor News:

Editor News:
In your issue of Thursday, March
2S, notice a communication from
Mr.. A. J. Brannan entitled 1.-THE So
cialist Way" in which Mr.. Brannan
considers the question of how the
change will be made from our present
economic system of private ownership
of property to the socialist system of
collective ownership. 1t seems to me
that Mr. Brannan is to be congratula-
ted on the temperate manner of his
writing and the mild methods he
would pursue if it were left to him to
undertake this transformation of our
economic system. In this he is as far
removed from the ways and methods
of some socialists as the north pole is
from the south. There ale, however,
certain points in his communication
upon which would ask him kindly to
enlighten us further.
In one paragraph he quotes certain
statistics from which he deduces that
there was decrease in the number of
homes owned free from about one
third of the whole number of homes in
1890 to less than one-fourth in 1900,
ten years later. have not the statis-
tics at hand, but taking it for granted
that Mr.. Brannan is correct in his
statements and deductions, / ask:
Does this decrease in the number of
homes owned free prove that more peo-
pie are poorer and unable to own
homes or does it simply show that
more money has been invested in
homes by those having surplus capital
to investf Again: If there is some
thing wrong about this decrease, is it
due to our economic system which Mr..
Brannan calls "capitalistic" or is it
due to an abuse Of this system9
Certainly, if our present system is
wrong in itself or fundamentally, then
it should be changed, but If it is the
abuses Of our system that are causing
the wrong while the system itself IS
fundamentally right, then the abuses
ought to be corrected but the system
retained and safe-guarded from further
abuse. / confess that am of the op-
inion that our present system, while
undoubtedly abused by greedy individ-
uals, is Fundamentally right and the
best system for securing to all men
the right in the material goods of this
world which God has given them.
Mr.. Brannan, presume. believes
that our system is fundamentally
wong and that only through a collec-
tive ownership of property and the
of production can the inalien-
able rights of all men be secured. Mr..
Brannan has as much right to his op-
inion as have to mine and if each of
us we're to let it go at that and say no
more about it, then we might live in
peace for the remainder Of our lives.
But it is evident that Mr.. Brannan
desires and very earnestly desires to
gain others to his way of thinking. He
is anxious to increase the number of
those who believe in collective owner
ship so that the millennium which he
80 sincerely believes will follow upon
this change of system may be the SOON
or brought about. We cannot blame
him for so wishing since such is his
belief, nor for doing all in his power
towards that end. But if Mr.. Bran
nan wishes to change us from our be.
lief he must prove to our satisfaction
that the collective ownership of prop
erty and the means of production will
cure the evils which are so evident in
society today. Our present economic
system has been in existence now in
it's fundamental principles ever since
the dawn of civilization. The burden
IF proof that it is wrong and colec-
tivism right, therefore, rests with |
those who propose to change from
private ownership to collective owner
ship.
SOCIAL REFORM ADVOCATE. |