Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-08-01

ts &S> o.$ bahe a'b -
tain sufficient control by the govern.
ment on the other to prevent the evil
Of concentrating absolute ownership in
a few persons Of those sources for the
production of necessities.
Popular Unrest.
In the work Of rousing the people to
the danger that threatened our civilj-
cation from the abuses Of concentrat-
ed wealth and the power it was likely
to exercise, the public imagination was
wrought upon and a reign of sensa-
tional journalism and unjust and I'M
principled undertaking has followed, in
which much injustice has been done
to honest men. Demagogues have
seized the opportunity further to in
fame the public mind and have sought
to turn the peculiar conditions to their
advantage.
In so far as inequality Of condition
can be lessened and equality of oppor.
tunity can be promoted by improve
ment Of our educational system, the
betterment of the laws to insure tte
quick administration of justice, and by
the prevention of the acquisition of
privilege without just compensation,
In so far as the adoption Of the legis-
lation above recfted and laws of a
similar character may aid the less for
tunate in their struggle with the hard,
ships of life, all are In sympathy with
a continued effort to remedy injustice
and to aid the weak, and l venture to
say that there IL no national admins
tratfon in which more reai steps Of
such progress have been taken than In
the present one. But In 80 far as the
propaganda for the sa abstraction Of un-
rest involves the promise Of q millen-
hum, q condition in which the rich
are to be made reasonably poor and
the poor reasonably rich by law, we
IRE chasing a phantom; we are holding
out to those whose unrest we fear a
prospect and a Dreams vision Of the
impossible.
~ Gotten Wealth.
In the ultimate analysis, I fear, the
equal opportunity which those seek
who proclaim the coming Of so called
social justice involves a forced division
OF property, and that means socialism.
In the abuses Of the last two decades
1t is true that Ill gotten wealth has
been concentrated in some undeserv-
ing hands, INC that II 1t were possible
to redistrtbute it OF any equitable prin-
ciple to those from whom it was taken
without adequate or proper compensa-
ton 1t would be a good result to bring
about. But this Is obviously impossi-
BILE and impracticable. All that can be
done is to treat this as one incidental
evil Of a great expansive movement
in the material progress of the world
and to make sure that there will be no
recurrence of such evil.
1t Is far better to await the diminu-
ton Of this evil by natural causes than
to attempt what would soon take on
the aspect of confiscation or to abolish
the principle and Institution Of private
property and to change to socialism,
Socialism involves the taking away Of
the motive for acquisition, saving, en-
ergy and enterprise, and a futile at
: tempt by committees to apportion the
rewards due for productive labor. 1t
means stagnation and retrogression. 1t
destroys the handspring Of human ac-
: ton that has carried the world on and
upward for 1000 years.
/ do not say that the two gentlemen
who now lead, one the Democratic
party and the other the former Repub-
licans who have left their party, in
their attacks upon existing conditions
and in their attempt to satisfy the pop
ular unrest by promises Of remedies.
are consciously embracing socialism.
The truth Is that they do not offer any
definite legislation or policy by which
the happy conditions they promise are
to be brought about, but If their prom
Uses mean anything they lead directly
toward the appropriation of what be-
longs to one man to another.
Don't Know Whore They Are Going.
The truth Is, my friends, both those
who have left the Republican party
under the inspiration Of their present
leader and our old opponents, the
Democrats, under their candidate, are
going in a direction they do not def
initeIy know, toward an end they can
not definitely describe, with but one
chief and clear object, and that is OF
acquiring power for their party by
popular support through the promise
Of a change for the better. What
they clamor for Is a change. They
ask for a change in government 80
that the government may be restored
to the people, as II this had not been
a peoples government since the begin
ming Of the constitution.
These gentlemen propose to reform
the government, whose present de
fects, If any, are due to the failure OF
the people to devote as much time as
is necessary to their political duties by
recurring a political activity by the
people three times that which thus far
the people have been willing to as
sumo, and thus they propose rene
dies which, instead Of exciting the
people to further interest and activity
In the government, will tire them Into
such an Indifference as still further to
remand control of public affairs to a
minority.
But after we have changed all the
Governmental machinery so as to per
NIT instantaneous expression OF the
people in constitutional amendments.
In statutes and in recall of public
agents, what then2 Votes are not